Category Archives: Science

OU Explores Fall Risk for Elders

By David Arnett

A University of Oklahoma (OU) researcher at the OU Health Campus in Tulsa is undertaking a study of one of the most common health risks facing older adults: falls that occur in the home.

An estimated 14 million Americans, or one in every four age 65 and older, falls every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While that risk of falls increases as we age, it is estimated to be two to three times higher for those 70,500 Oklahomans among 7.4 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease.

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Space Academy & Freedom in Space

By Newt Gingrich

There were two fascinating developments this week in the American effort to carry freedom into space.

President Donald J. Trump announced that the United States would be creating a Space Academy modeled on West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Air Force Academy. The new academy will provide a steady stream of competent leaders working to get America into space. It will also provide a center of intellectual excellence for thinking through the challenges of a space-based economy and humans living permanently beyond earth — from low earth orbit to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Furthermore, by making the new academy military and civilian, it will be a little like blending the Merchant Marine Academy and the Naval Academy.

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On Inola: Mazzei Was Right

By Wade Burleson

Analysis: I’ve learned something over the last few years that I wish every American understood:

A nation that cannot produce the metals necessary to defend itself, power itself, build its airplanes, manufacture its automobiles, maintain its electrical grid, and supply its factories is not really industrially independent.

That is why the controversy surrounding the proposed aluminum smelter at Inola, Oklahoma, deserves more than campaign slogans.

Rendering of the proposed Inola primary aluminum plant.
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CBP Specialists Make First Discovery

By David Arnett

ROMULUS, Mich. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists made a first-in-the-nation interception of a potentially destructive moth at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport earlier this year.

According to a departmental release September 1, the initial discovery took place in January after an agriculture detector canine alerted CBP staff to luggage from Ghana during a routine inspection. Closer examination of corn and seeds found within the luggage revealed a small, winged insect, which U.S. Department of Agriculture specialists later identified as a non-native straw crest moth (Mesophleps silacella) on Aug. 12, and records indicate this a first encounter with the species at a U.S. port of entry.

A straw crest moth intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. USDA identified the non-native species, marking the first recorded encounter at a U.S. port of entry. Photo: CBP
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Mapping Recoverable Phosphorus

By Staff Report

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The United States could exhaust its domestic phosphorus supply within 40 years. Europe, Latin America and Southeast Asia already depend on imports from China and Morocco to meet their needs. Without phosphorus, crops cannot grow — and without a reliable supply of the mineral, the world’s food supply is at risk.

“You talk to any farmer and they know the ‘NPK.’ The nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, so NPK, are the three big ones that we typically have to add to make sure we have enough to grow crops,” said Becca Muenich, an associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas. The chemical symbol for potassium is K.

Becca Muenich, faculty, research, field work, official portrait
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