GLEE (starts at 8:06) We just recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing. After the Apollo missions, scientists have returned to the Moon with robotic missions because of the scientific clues the Moon can provide about the history of the Earth and the solar system, as well as learning more about the lunar environment and resources in preparation for an eventual return of humans – perhaps for the long term.
The journey to the Moon and space research often evokes images of large complex spacecraft costing hundreds of millions of dollars. However, a new project plans to take a new approach: sending hundreds of much smaller and much less expensive spacecraft. This project is called the Great Lunar Expedition for Everyone, or GLEE, and our guests today are here to talk about GLEE, how it will work, and what science they plan to do.
Victor Andersen is a Research Manager at the Colorado Space Grant Consortium that is one of the groups leading the project. Tristan Schoeman is a student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is a Project Manager and Mechanical Engineer on GLEE.
Host, Producer, Engineer: Joel Parker
Additional Contributions: Beth Bennett, Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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With graduation season is upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is our annual “Graduation Special”. Our guests in the studio today are scientists who have or will soon receive their Ph.D. in a STEM-related field. They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next.
Marcus Piquette – CU Boulder, 
David Reens – CU Boulder, 
Abigail Reens– CU Boulder, 
This special edition of How on Earth is produced in conjunction with the 
n today’s first feature, we hear about 
Our second spacey feature is about a mission that you might describe as exploring “beyond the beyond”. The piano-sized, nuclear-powered 
Feature: Titan (starts at 8:55) 
Climate Change (starts at 6:30) 
Dogs have an incredible sense of smell – it’s so good, people can train dogs to sniff our everything from illegal drugs and explosives to lost people and even computer “thumbnail” drives, that maybe someone is trying to sneak into a high security building so they can sneak out information. So how about dogs sniffing for something life-saving, such as a dangerous drop in blood sugars for an insulin-injecting diabetic? For a healthy person, the amount of sugar in the entire bloodstream at anytime is roughly 1 teaspoon. One teaspoon of sugar in around 5 liters of blood. That’s it. For most people, the body’s own insulin production keeps blood sugars in a relatively healthy range, with the pancreas adjusting insulin levels in miniscule amounts to keep blood sugars in balance. For a diabetic who injects insulin, the injection itself can end up putting too much or too little insulin into the body, and this is especially dangerous when it forces blood sugar levels to go far lower than they normally would. Modern technology is reducing the risk, somewhat, through continuous blood glucose monitoring devices. But even these have a lag time, and since sometimes a diabetics blood sugar levels can change dramatically in just 30 minutes, there’s still risk. But now, there are new “blood sugar monitors”. They don’t require batteries. They’re very friendly, they have incredible noses, and they even come equipped with wagging tails. In today’s edition of How on Earth, we talk about “Dogs for Diabetics”.