As anyone with a green thumb knows, pruning can promote thriving vegetation. A snip here, a snip there, and growth can be controlled and directed for a more vigorous plant. The same principle can be applied to machine learning algorithms. Removing bits and pieces along coding branches in those algorithms can reduce complexity in decision trees and increase predictive performance. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have done just that. Ex

RICHLAND, Wash. – Ongoing environmental changes are transforming forests worldwide, resulting in shorter and younger trees with broad impacts on global ecosystems, scientists say. In a global study published in the May 29 issue of Science magazine, researchers led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that rising temperatures and carbon dioxide have been altering the world’s forests through increased stress and carbon dioxide fertilization and through in

One player suggests a set of coordinates to another, hoping to find the elusive location of an unseen vessel. That is a good place to start in assessing the search for dark matter. PNNL physicist Christian Boutan, in fact, even uses the analogy when explaining his own dark matter research. The big difference, though, is that a plastic toy battleship may be found in a half hour, give or take a few minutes. And the search for dark matter? It has been nearly 90 years since Swiss astronomer and

Personal protective equipment (PPE) has been at the center of the fight against COVID-19. Like rarely before, the unforgiving virus has shown medical providers the essential importance of top-line devices. With this crisis as the backdrop, a super-liquid-repellent substance called ElastiDry may soon be entering the marketplace at a providential time. PNNL materials scientist Curtis Larimer and his co-workers spent two years researching, testing, and retesting potential coatings before developi

Standing at the prow of the Grant Street Pier suspended above the Columbia River, Barry Cain took on an aura of a conductor facing the orchestra. Cain, the developer of The Waterfront Vancouver, relished the crescendo. There, he says, that new building on the left is home to Twigs Bistro & Martini Bar. Next door, Maryhill Winery. Upstairs, Barlow’s Public House. And there, the other building. That’s home to WildFin American Grill. Yes, the second floor is vacant. More on that later, he says. S

Oregon biz leaders talk culture change, the social and political divisions that find their way into the office or factory and how they attempt to influence the hearts and minds of their employees. As America enters the second year of Donald Trump’s presidency, social and political polarization has intensified. An October 2017 study by Pew Research Center found that 44% of Democrats and Democratic leaners have a very unfavorable opinion of the GOP; and 45% of Republicans and Republican leaners

It was 10:40 a.m. on a brilliant Sunday in early May. Jenkins had slipped above the Bergschrund, a crevasse near the summit. His metal-pointed crampons clipped the snow, but he kept falling, his body rotating and rapidly gaining speed. There would be no "self-arrest," the mountaineering technique climbers use to stop slides, typically by digging an ice ax pick into the surface. After tumbling 600 feet, Jenkins finally came to a stop in a flatter area called Devils Kitchen. Climber Jesse Corne

As a 13-year-old Boy Scout, Phil Knight worked as an usher at Portland's Multnomah Stadium -- now known as PGE Park -- and watched his first University of Oregon football game. The Ducks lost, 63-0, to the University of Washington. Knight's destiny was not deterred, in part, because his father, UO alum William H. Knight, pointed the Cleveland High School track star toward the university. And legendary track coach Bill Bowerman provided the magnetic pull. Five decades later, Knight is basking