Western Water

This week on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Robert Crifasi about his new book, Western Water A to Z: The History, Nature, and Culture of a Vanishing Resource. This book is the first ever field guide to Western water. Organized as a collection of terms, the book addresses the most salient water issues and provides helpful background information regarding their origins and implications.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shannon Young

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The Science of Sex in Sports – Women Athletes

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with Christine Yu – an award-winning journalist who has turned her reporting on women athletes and the relationship between science and athletic performance into a comprehensive book on the subject. In UP TO SPEED:The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, she covers topics ranging from a historical overview of women in sports to the role of hormones on performance to the physics of designing jog bras, and much more. If you’re an athlete, a woman, or simply interested in sports, you’ll enjoy the conversation with Christine.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineering and Headline Contribution: Shannon Young

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Biomechanics for Dummies

On today’s show Beth speaks with biomechanics Katy Bowman about her new book, Rethink Your POsition. Are you a fitness fanatic? Or a couch potato? Whichever, there’s something for you here. Katy’s biomechanics background, allows her to assess the movements of everyday life and describe how to perform them correctly, based on human anatomy. Moving from the head down, she dissects everything from sitting at the computer to running marathons and gives easy-to-follow instructions for improving. You can find video and more at her website.
Executive and Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Rosanna Longo-Better and Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shannon Young
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Fire in a Hotter World

In this week’s How on Earth, Beth speaks with author John Vaillant about his new book, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. He explores the phenomena of fire, the wildland urban interface, and climate change in the context of a precedent-shattering combustion in a modern city.This colossal wildfire in Alberta in 2016 almost consumed a city of nearly 100,000. In the process the fire blew up expectations and responses to wild fires. Vaillant gives an in depth exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind along with personal stories of loss and bravery on the front lines of this horrifying event.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shannon Young

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Honeybee Trials and Tribulations

This week on How on Earth, Beth replays in interview with Professor Mike Breed, who has been studying social insects, including ants and bees, at the University of Colorado here in Boulder, for decades. She spoke with him last year about the fascinating biology of these important pollinators, in an interview that is still timely, because the many problems facing honeybees, and other bees are continuing to mount. He describes the challenges these important insects face in the modern world, and what we can do to protect them.

Executive Producer: HOE Team
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions:Benita Lee & Joel Parker
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

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Chasing Heirloom Seeds with the Seed Detective

In this week’s show Beth speaks with Adam Alexander, author of The Seed Detective, a treasure trove of stories about heirloom seeds and the plants they grow into. Not only does he entertain with his adventures in exotic places, but he also takes the reader on a journey through the history of many common cultivated plants such as peas, lettuce, brussels sprouts, and beans.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett and Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett and Colette Czarnecky
Engineer: Shannon Young

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How to Make STEM Better

Today on How on Earth, Beth speaks with William Penuel, faculty in the School of Education at CU Boulder, and part of the Renee Crown Wellness Institute. He designs and studies curriculum materials, assessments, and professional learning experiences for teachers in STEM education, especially in science. His work is beginning to focus more on cultivating compassion and dignity in schools and on promoting equitable collaboration in small group learning in STEM classrooms.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Engineer: Shannon Young

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A Less Stressful Life- in Seven Days?

On today’s show Beth talks with Dr Elissa Epel, about her book, The Stress Prescription,Seven Days to More Joy and Ease. As the director of UCSF’s Aging, Metabolism, and Emotion Center and associate director of its Center for Health and Community, she studies stress, aging, and obesity. Her book is quick and easy to read yet leaves you with so many applicable practices that can change your outlook and reduce the stress in your life while simultaneously giving you the basic science on the how and why of stress and the role of the techniques she espouses. And, an upcoming lecture on the CU Boulder campus on bioarcheology, March 15.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producers Beth Bennett and Leilani Henry
Engineer Shannon Young

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Animal Creativity

This week on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Professor Carol Gigliotti about her new book, The Creative Lives of Animals. She provides a new perspective on animals as agents in their own lives, as valuable contributors to their world and ours, and as guides in understanding how creativity may contribute to conserving the natural world. Presenting a powerful argument for the importance of recognizing animals as individuals and as creators of a healthy, biodiverse world, this book offers insights into the creativity of animals.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran, Tom McKinnon, Joel Parker
Engineer: Shannon Young

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The Health of the US Public Health System

On today’s show, Beth speaks with Michael Stein, primary care physician and researcher, who has been writing about medicine and public health for decades. In Me Vs Us, he instigates a conversation about how we might change the current situation in which public health loses out to individual medicine and how public health nevertheless holds the solutions to our most concerning health crises, such as Covid-19 and obesity. In the end, Stein argues, we need to recover and sharpen our sense of health based on a reverent appreciation of both the health care and public health perspectives.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Benita Lee and Shelley Schlender
Engineer Shannon Young

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