Halloween Sadism and Detecting Modern Deepfakes

 

Halloween Candy cc: wikimedia

Halloween Sadism – (Starts 2:45)  Criminologist Joel Best researches questions such as, Do Halloween apples ever harbor razor blades?  and “Has anyone ever died of poisoned Halloween candy?” One of Best’s answers may surprise you.

Detecting DeepFake Video Criminals  (Starts 16:50) Deep fake images during a video conference have fooled people into wiring bad actors millions of dollars.  Detecting these deepfakes requires huge amounts of computing power.  CU Computer Scientists Sangtae Ha and Tuan Tran are are part of a team developing a detection system that uses more than 100 times LESS computing power, paving the way for catching these deepfakes more often.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Juliana Krigsman
Show Producer & Engineer  Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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Boulder vs Suncor – Chris Winter Explains Why and What’s at Stake

Suncor near Denver in Commerce City – cc James on Wikimedia

Legal and Environmental Expert Chris Winter explains the Boulder Vs Suncor lawsuit, what it’s about, what’s at stake, and why it’s become the lead case, being heard at the US Supreme Court, about whether lawsuits attributing climate change damage to a corporation are allowed to be tried in court . . . or not.  This episode also explains some upcoming public talks and forums happening at the Wolf Law Center at CU Boulder.

Host & Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

 

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Regenerating Cartilage to Heal Osteoarthritis (Achy Knees) CU-Boulder Stephanie Bryant

 

Stephanie Bryant and Colleagues are developing a single shot that helps restore cartilage to a joint where the cartilage has worn away. cc University of Colorado

One million Americans get knee replacements every year, for a cost of up to $70,000 per knee, plus a year-long recovery.  CU-Boulder scientist Stephanie Bryant leads a team that’s developing a single-shot hydrosol that helps the body regenerate cartilage in the knee, so it can heal in just a few weeks, and cost much less than a knee replacement.  Bryant will present her findings on October 20th at the CU-Boulder Biofrontiers Institute.  Go Here to get more info and reserve a ticket for this talk.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

 

 

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Replaceable You: The Science of Growing Body Parts

The Quest to Replace Human Body Parts (start time: 3:06) In this week’s pledge-drive show, science writer Mary Roach discusses her latest book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, which was recently released in paperback (W.W. Norton & Co.). Roach is a New York Times bestselling author of Stiff,  Fuzz, Bonk, and several more books. In Replaceable You, she explores the centuries-old audacious quest to replace and improve human body parts
—sculpting noses from brass, to borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, to ongoing efforts to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show and Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Joel Parker

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Youth+Adult Climate Engagement

From Climate Week to Societal Climate Engagement (start time: 1:22) Last week tens of thousands of people from environmental nonprofit organizations, private companies, academia and other sectors came together in New York City for Climate Week NYC, which coincided with the United Nations General Assembly and the UN  Climate Summit. While climate activists, communicators and others discussed political and economic challenges and opportunities related to transitioning society to clean energy, world leaders at the UNGA displayed in their speeches a widening chasm between nations’ world views. On one end of the spectrum, President Trump rejected warnings of global warming, and on the other end Brazilian president (“Lula”) da Silva urged nations to protect forests and decarbonize economies. In these hyperpolarized times, it seems at once impossible and essential to talk across political divides, and to connect the dots between a healthy climate, a healthy economy, and a healthy human species. In today’s How On Earth, host Susan Moran interviews Dr. Maxwell Boykoff, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder , Faculty Executive Director of the SPIKE Center for Sustainability Education, and author of the book Creative (Climate) Communications;  and Sofia Billich, a junior at CU Boulder and Co-President of the CU Boulder chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan organization devoted to promoting climate solutions in Congress.

Host/producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Abby O’Brien
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Symbiosis – Maybe We Are All Living Together

In this week’s show, Beth speaks with author and evolutionary biologist, Rowan Hooper, discussing the themes and examples of symbiosis from his current book, Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life’s Greatest Collaborations. He explored the history of study of symbiosis, as well as wonderful stories illustrating this complex phenomenon. And, he went beyond examples to discuss the unifying theme of cooperation in the story of life on our planet. A lesson for our future.

Executive Producer” Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Headlines Joel Parker
Engineer Abby O’Brien

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Measuring War: Aaron Clauset

CU Boulder Professor Aaron Clauset

CU Boulder Computer Scientist Aaron Clauset says military leaders frequently underestimate the ultimate length and size of a war.   Clauset offers a new way to measure wars, not just by counting deaths at a war’s end – his research shows how death rates change, throughout a war.  This provides insights into what causes wars to escalate, and carries the hope of leading to more ways to avoid wars or help them end.

Go here to reserve a spot, for Clauset’s 6 PM, September 22nd, public presentation, at the CU Boulder Biofrontiers Butcher Auditorium.  Clauset titles his talk:  A Fragile Peace: What the statistics of war tell us about our future.”

Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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How Megafires are Transforming Conifer Forests

Red Feather Lakes landscape 6 years after Cameron Peaks fire. Photo credit: Susan Moran

Forests Vanishing in Wake of Megafires (start time: 7:55) Increasingly  large and hot wildfires are turning many conifer-dominated forests in the western U.S.and Canada into shrublands or grasslands, largely by making it impossible for ponderosa and other pines to reseed themselves. The stakes are high, for flora and wildlife, as well as humans. For instance, charred conifer forests are causing winter snowpack to melt earlier, changing the timing of water availability and threatening future water supply for the 40-plus million people who live in the Colorado River Basin states and on tribal lands. In this week’s How On Earth, host Susan Moran interviews  Dr. Jonathan Coop, a fire ecologist at Western Colorado University. He’s been monitoring shifts in dry-conifer forests in the western U.S. and Canada for many years. Dr. Coop is the lead author of a study, published recently in the journal Science Advances, about how pine seeds aren’t able to regenerate after super intense wildfires. He also co-authored another recent study, in PNAS, which projects a major further erosion of remaining conifer forests in northern New Mexico if current wildfire patterns persist. Dr. Coop was featured in a recent New York Times article on wildfire trends and impacts.
Action Resource: Fix Our Forests Act

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Headline Contributors: Beth Bennett, Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Screens & Tech Safety . . . in Schools

A Boulder Middle School-photo by Juliana Krigsman

Teaching through screens is part of getting kids ready for the digital world.  But when do tech and screens help students and when do they get in the way?  CU-Boulder Journalism Student Juliana Krigsman explores these questions with teachers, with Boulder Valley School District’s Academic Services Director Lynn Gershman, and with CU-Boulder Psychology and Neuroscience Professor Rosalinde Kaiser.

Host: Benita Lee
Show Producers: Juliana Krigsman and Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Moving Beyond Climate “Hushing”

AI-generated image

Climate “hushing” (start time: 5:41) Since President Trump began his second term as president in January, 2025, his administration, at a dizzying pace, has attacked climate change as a Democratic elite “hoax” and gutted federal funding for climate-related research and institutions. Partly in response to these attacks, and in an attempt to appeal to more centrist voters ahead of the midterm elections, many left-leaning politicians have decided to stop talking directly about climate change, and to pull back on initiatives to combat global warming. This pattern is known as “climate hushing.” Some argue that it doesn’t mean these leaders care any less about climate change, and that it’s a necessary strategy to reach more centrist voters. But critics  argue that climate hushing is more insidious and, in effect, it is spurring a vicious cycle: The less leaders talk about climate change, the less the public thinks it’s important and feels inspired to take action. In this week’s How On Earth, host Susan Moran interviews journalist Sammy Roth, who recently wrote an article about climate “hushing” on his Climate Colored Goggles Substack; and Dr. Leah Sprain, an associate professor of Communications at the University of Colorado Boulder, who studies democratic engagement.

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Abby O’Brien
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline Contributor: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:51 — 36.9MB)

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