Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty.

Wake up seven days a week with the Cascades Reader. Get local news, event information, podcasts, discounts and more. Sign up now! Sign up When it comes to making music, every musician has their own ...

In the Big Data era, data is not only becoming bigger and bigger; it is also becoming more and more complex. This translates into a spectacular increase of the dimensionality of the data. For example, ...