The Keeling Curve (starts 5:00) Friday, August 12th the Boulder Shambala Center hosts:  Living Beyond Hope And Fear:  Social Confidence And Climate Change.  One leader of the event is the daughter of scientist who created the Keeling Curve for tracking CO2.  Emily Takahashi talks about how the memory of her father’s work inspired her to do the symposium.

Electric Airplanes (starts 8:12) The constant drone of airplanes has many nature lovers wishing planes could be quieter.  It’s starting to happen, thanks to tinkerers and scientists who are building reliable electric powered airplanes, such as Randall Fishman of ElectraFlyer.  

courtesy: Boulder Audubon Society

Moth Parties (starts 15:03)   It’s that time of year when butterflies, dragonflies and other colorful insects fill the air.  A more humble flying creature is the lowly moth.  Boulder Audubon Society‘s, Pam Piombino .says moths are gaining enough of a following, some people now hold Moth Parties about . . . moths.  (Moth music is “Moths Around the Candle Flame.”)

Hosts: Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Headlines: Alejandro Soto, Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender, Kendra Krueger
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:28 — 25.2MB)

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Quantum Dot Antibiotics (c Shelley Schlender)

Quantum Dot Antibiotics (starts 1:00) This programmable antibiotic might keep pace with quickly evolving superbugs.  Unlike most drugs – it’s not derived from biological sources.  It’s a tiny version of the semiconductors in everything from TVs to iphones to solar panels.  This “antibiotic” is made of nanoparticles, known as quantum dots.  CU Biofrontiers scientists Prashant Nagpal and Anushree Chatterjee explain their new invention.

South Pole ozonesonde (balloon) launch. c noaa

Shrinking Ozone Hole – (starts 15:24) The ozone hole is finally growing smaller – we’ll find out why and how long it will take to completely “heal” the ozone hole from Birgit Hassler, a researcher with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Susan Moran
Producer:Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:17 — 30.1MB)

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David Sumpter’s new book is Soccermatics–Mathematical Adventures in the Beautiful Game.  It’s about how the mathematical patterns of how to win at soccer — and much much more — like how a math algorithm of how a slime mold seeks out food can help engineers design an efficient subway system.  The math that helps a soccer team win can also help a business team succeed.  . . . and in this special summer pledge drive show, it’s also a chance to hear about KGNU Community Radio and how you can make a difference by making it happen.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender & Maeve Conran
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:23 — 26.0MB)

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Front Cover of The Carbon Farming Solution

The Carbon Farming Solution – (Starts 2:13) Carbon Sequestration is the act of removing carbon from the air and putting it . . . somewhere else.  Kendra Krueger talks with author Eric Tunesmeier about his book, The Carbon Farming Solution, with surprising information such as how driving to a remote organic farm stand can cause more carbon pollution than getting groceries at a close-to-home supermarket.  However, done correctly, including thinking through how to get food to people who need it, Tunesmeier says carbon farming could sequester hundreds of billions of metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere . . .  with plants.

Artificial Light at Night

Light Pollution –  (Starts 17:36) Over one third of all the people on earth live with such extensive light pollution, they can’t even see the Milky Way at night.  That’s according to an updated world “light pollution” atlas.  Shelley Schlender talks with NOAA scientist Chris Elveidge about NOAA’s “Earth at Night” maps and “The new world atlas of artificial night sky brightness and the artificial Sky.”

Hosts: Kendra Krueger & Shelley Schlender
Producer: Kendra Krueger
Engineer: Kendra Krueger
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:24 — 25.1MB)

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Cell Phones & Cancer  (Starts 1:00) A $25 million study reports cell phone radiation boosted brain cancer in rats . . . and rats exposed to radiation lived longer.  Frank Barnes, CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explains these paradoxical findings and implications for people.  (Related stories — 2011 Cell Phone Radiation and 2014 An Electric Silent Spring)

chronic pain – courtesy wiki

Narcotics Prolong Chronic Pain (Starts 11:35)   CU-Boulder neuroscientist Peter Grace explains his team’s new findings about how and why morphine can prolong chronic pain.   Rats with induced nerve pain received morphine for 5 days; their pain lasted nearly three months — twice as long as the nerve pain for rats that got no morphine.  This is one of the first studies to test long-term effects of treating chronic pain with opioid painkillers.  (Related story: KGNU call-in show on the opioid addiction epidemic)

Host/Producer/Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:07 — 23.0MB)

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2016 Illustration for Gold Lab Symposium

((Starts 00:00)) Today we speak with Larry Gold, founder of the GoldLab Symposium that brings scientists and thinkers from around the world to share their perspectives about health and healthcare.  The theme of this year’s symposium is: Standing Together—Health Care for Our Common Good

Host / Producer / Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:16 — 25.0MB)

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((Starts 00:00)) We speak via Skype with Renowned English Ornithologist Tim Birkhead, about “The Most Perfect Thing.”  That’s the title of his new book.  It’s all about taking a scientific look inside, and outside, a bird’s egg.

Host:  Shelley Schlender
Producer:Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:02 — 24.8MB)

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credit Karen McKinnon – Pacific ocean and atmosphere can predict a heat wave in the Eastern US.

Prairie Fire (start time: 0:57) Journalist and Megafire expert Michael Kodas discusses the raging Kansas prairie fire and how it compares to wildfires in Colorado.

Pacific Temperatures Predict New York Heat Waves (start time: 6:58) Climatologist Karen McKinnon says it’s possible to use precise monitoring of Pacific Ocean surface temperatures to predict heat waves on the East Coast 50 days in advance.

Mapping Nitrogen Pollution (start time: 15:45)  CU scientist Sam Simkin explains how human-caused nitrogen pollution  may be killing off plant diversity throughout the US . . . and his maps show where.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Susan Moran
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Tom Yulsman
Executive Producer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:35 — 22.5MB)

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credit: NOAA

Flying into Methane (5:10 – 13:40) Susan Moran talks with the director of Boulder’s Scientific Aviation, Steve Conley, about how his company’s painstaking and nauseating flights documented the Los Angeles methane blowout and the huge amount of pollution it created  . . . equivalent of 600,000 cars driving for an entire year!  Conley also explains why we need more flights like these to find other major gas leaks.  

credit: Kika Tuff

Climate Change on Steroids (14:04 – 23:59) Shelley Schlender talks with CU-Boulder PhD candidate Kika Tuff.  Tuff’s research on thermal biology is showing how cutting down trees at the edge of a forest puts climate change on steroids and may spell disaster for heat-sensitive animals. 

Headlines (00:57 – 4:55) – CU scientists document that Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) emissions are higher than industry is reporting, Colorado student scientist wins 3rd place at national event, Denver Science Museum hosts special day for girls & science.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Susan Moran
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Additional contributors: Alejandro Soto
Executive Producer: Joel Parker