Walking Doesn’t Have to Get Old

In this week’s show Beth talks to author Annabel Streets. Her book 52 WAYS TO WALK, takes you week by week, through a smorgasbord of walks in silence, rain, mud, or wind, as well as sunshine, scents and birdsong. She explains exactly how our bodies and minds benefit from a wide mix of terrain and styles of walking. She also details when to set out alone and when to share a walk with others, and the best walking techniques for women, children, the elderly and the time-pressed. And, she presents a cornucopia of science underpinning the many physical, emotional and cognitive benefits you can reap by doing walking.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Headlines: Joel Parker and Shelley Schlender

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Climate Change and Local Fires

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks to 2 climate scientists about their (very different) fields, and how climate change can play into local disasters, especially the recent fires that devastated the Front Range towns outside Boulder. Twila Moon is a glaciologist turned climate scientist who researches the effects of ice sheet melt on climate. Her TED talk conveys this message clearly. Brian Buma is Associate Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of Colorado at Denver. He studies landscape ecology and is especially interested in natural disasters, like the recent Marshall fire. You can hear Shannon Young, KGNU’s station manager talk to Brian about his recent book here.
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett

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Top Ten from 2021

2021 saw many remarkable science stories making it difficult to pick the top contenders. The How on Earth team struggled with these decisions but here they are!

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additonal contributions by: Benita Lee, Joel Parker, Jill Sjong, Shelley Schlender

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The Fentanyl Epidemic: Why It’s Growing and Some Solutions

This week on How On Earth, we welcome Benita Lee who brought up the growing problem with fentanyl – a new street drug that’s killing many. Benita talks with DEA agent David Olesky about the scope of the problem and what the agency is doing to combat it. Beth talks with pharmacologist and policy maker Robert Valuck about how the drug affects the brain, causes death, and the protective effect of the blocking drug naloxone.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Benita Lee

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Can Cattle Reduce Climate Change?

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with Professor Fred Provenza, author of the book Nourishment: What Animals Can Teach Us about Rediscovering our Nutritional Wisdom. He returns to discuss his current venture into the utility of grazing animals in regenerating soil and reducing our carbon footprint. Yes, cows may actually reduce the rate of climate change.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett

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Building Bones without Drugs

On today’s show, Beth talks with Dr John Jaquish about his novel method for treating osteoporosis, using ‘osteogenic’ loading. His method has been shown in clinical trials to build bone without drugs, and consequently without the serious side effects of these drugs. The loading method has been validated in using the classic DEXA screening method as well as blood markers such as NTX or CTX (which measure bone breakdown) and P1NP (which measures bone formation).
Show Producer: Beth Bennett

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It’s A Dog’s World!

Ever wonder what the world would be like without us humans? Professor Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce answer that question from a dog’s eye perspective in their book, A Dog’s World. In addition to speculating about the future of our canine friends without us, they provide a thorough and well-researched look at all aspects of dog biology.
Show Producer: Beth Bennett

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Microscopic ‘antennae’ use quantum mechanics to harvest heat energy

In this episode of How on Earth, Beth talks with Dr Amina Belkadi about her groundbreaking work developing the microscopic ‘rectennas’ (pictured here in a scanning EM photo) to harvest heat energy from their surroundings. This novel approach could revolutionize energy technology.
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional contribution: Shelley Schlender

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New Treatments for Alzheimer’s Disease

On this week’s show Beth talks with Alzheimer’s Disease researcher Dale Bredesen. In his new book, The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s, he lets some of his patients speak. He also describes in detail his complex diagnostic and personalized therapeutic approaches.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett

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Ready for RoundUp?

Today on how on earth, Beth talks to MIT scientist Stephanie Seneff about her book, Toxic Legacy. Dr Seneff takes us on a fast paced tour of the large range of toxicities produced by glyphosate. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the most commonly used weedkiller in the world. Nearly 300 million pounds of glyphosate-based herbicide are sprayed on farms—and food—every year. Although the herbicide is claimed
to be safe for humans, animals, and the environment, Seneff summarizes research showing otherwise.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett

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