Think Out Loud

Oregon composer releases instrumental album inspired by peace travels in Africa

Five years ago, Joseph-based pianist Seth Kinzie was awarded a Rotary Peace Fellowship to study peace and social change in Uganda. Since then, Kinzie has created the African Peacemaking Database in Ethiopia and Malawi. He has now released a new album, “Bright Violet [https://kinziesteele.bandcamp.com/album/bright-violet],” with the Kinzie Steele Octet and will be performing in Portland at Holocene on Dec. 7. We talk to Kinzie and hear a performance of some of the music inspired by his travels.

University of Washington researcher helps build tool to detect dark matter

When we look at the night sky, we can see the moon, stars, planets and sometimes even faraway clouds of gas and dust. All that visible matter — the stuff we can see — has a gravitational force, the same way the moon pulls on our oceans and creates the tides. But for decades, physicists have noticed something weird: There’s more gravity in the universe than we should expect. Why?   Physicists think the answer lies with dark matter, an invisible form of matter that accounts for that extra gravity they're observing. University of Washington physicist Alvaro Chavarria helped build a dark matter detector deep below the French Alps. Chavarria joins us to help demystify dark matter, how the detector works and its potential applications.

How the US military shaped the outdoor apparel industry

From camping gear to gorpcore [https://www.instyle.com/gorpcore-8742147], consumers may not realize that the functional, tactical and practical clothing worn today has deep connections to the U.S. military. In the latest season of “Articles of Interest, [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/articles-of-interest/id1455169228]” host and producer Avery Trufelman takes listeners on a journey to learn more about how civilian and military fashion intersect and the ways in which the uniforms of soldiers have influenced the outdoor apparel industry. Trufelman joins us to share more on the history of military gear, the civilian-veteran divide, Portland’s Functional Fabric Fair and more.

CDC advisory committee votes to stop universal hepatitis B vaccines for newborns

The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices [https://www.cdc.gov/acip/index.html] voted Friday morning to change its recommendation [https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/12/05/nx-s1-5634004/cdc-hepatitis-b-vaccine-acip-meeting] on hepatitis B vaccines for newborns.    For more than three decades, the agency has recommended that all infants receive a hepatitis B vaccine, regardless of their risk status. Now, the vaccine will only be recommended for infants born to mothers who test positive for the infection or whose status is unknown. The committee’s decision still needs approval from the CDC’s acting director.   A group of researchers conducted a modeling study [https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.25340907v1] to assess the impacts of delaying the vaccine. The study has not yet been peer reviewed, but it found that delaying the vaccine by even two months could lead to more than 1,400 preventable hepatitis B infections and more than $222 million in additional health care costs.   Eric Hall is an assistant professor of epidemiology in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. He led the study and joins us with more details.

HBO documentary explores multibillion-dollar school shooter preparedness industry

Since 1999, there have been more than 430 school shootings [https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/school-shootings-database/]across the nation. Oregon alone has had eight incidents since 2008, according to CNN [https://www.cnn.com/us/school-shootings-fast-facts-dg]. With school shootings being a concern for parents, teachers and students, a new industry around school safety has emerged. Estimated to be worth $4 billion, school shooting preparedness and security is projected to continue to grow. From panic buttons and bullet-resistant backpacks to drill simulations and AI gun detection software, the amount of products and services being sold to schools and districts varies wildly. A new HBO documentary, “Thoughts and Prayers [https://press.wbd.com/us/media-release/hbo-0/hbo-original-documentary-thoughts-prayers-debuts-november-18],” takes a look at this industry and follows students, teachers and community members during a mass-casualty event drill in Medford, Oregon. Directors Zackary Canepari and Jessica Dimmock join us to share more about the school security industry.