The KGNU Science Show
Critical Earth Minerals Hiding in Plain Site – Colorado School of Mines professor Elizabeth Holley shares how the US could break its dependency on critical earth mineral imports, and lead the world in environmentally safe ways to do it.
Show Producer/Host/Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)
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Great Steam . . . from a Heat Pump (starts 1:00) Time Magazine named CSU Engineer Todd Bandhauer one of 2025’s top climate innovators. His heat pump makes steam better than fossil fuel steam boilers. Interview thanks to Rocky Mountain Community Radio and Aspen Public Radio.
CU-Boulder at COP30 Climate Conference (Starts 7:05) CU Boulder’s Max Boykoff attended the world climate conference –the first in 30 years without an official US delegation . He describes China filling the vacuum left by the US , and also oil and gas lobbyists attending “Blue Zone” talks where indigenous groups – who often are suffering the worst effects of climate change, being banned. For the CU-Boulder report Go here.
Show Producer/Host/Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:46 — 36.8MB)
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Dustbowl Days Today (starts 5:00) Colorado State University grasslands scientist Melinda Smith explains the study she conducted with the grassroots help of nearly 200 scientists around the world. Their research indicates grasslands are vulnerable to Megadroughts, which climate change is making more common. Just 4 years of drought in a row may trigger Dust Bowls on the scale of the Midwestern dustbowls of the 1930s. Smith explains why and what can be done to save regions around the world from dustbowls.
Hosts: Abby O’Brien, Lorraine Healy, Mac Hebebrand
Show Producer/Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:55 — 59.3MB)
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US Critical Earth Metals “Hiding in Plain Sight” (starts 1:00) Colorado School of Mines has just published a new study that indicates the US has enough critical earth metals to stop importing them from other countries . . . if we develop the capacity.
Bill McKibben – Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization. (starts 3:15) Celebrated environmental journalist and activist Bill McKibben will be part of a nationwide “Sun Day” day of action September 21st, celebrating the power of clean energy.. McKibben will be in Boulder Tuesday, September 23rd for a book talk at 6:30 pm at Unity of Boulder Church.
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer:Shelley Schlender
Additional Contribution: Benita Lee
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)
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A Common Sugar Substitute Increases Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke. (starts 11:00) CU-Boulder Integrative Physiologist Chris DeSouza explains his recent study that shows why the commonly used artificial sweetener, Erythritol, may be increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.
50 Years of Open Space! (Starts 1:00) Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff members share how local citizen activists helped protect natural lands in and around Boulder. This is an excerpt from the podcast series, Voices of Open Space.
Hosts: Shelley Schlender and Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Listen to the show:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)
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Teens are in Crisis – Some people warn that Cell Phones are to blame. But Colorado Native and Pulitzer prize winner Matt Richtel says our tech can be a useful tool, IF we better understand the purpose of adolescence, That’s the focus of Richtel’s brand new book – How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence
Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:00 — 30.9MB)
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Merlin Bird ID App (starts 1:00) Boulder Naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman explore the benefits of the Merlin smartphone app, along with its sometimes hilarious mistakes.
Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (Start 5:48) Crew Leader Eric DeFonso explains how the Conservancy’s Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions Program provides detailed data about birds and their habitat, to better understand the steep decline in bird populations and what birds need to thrive.
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Elena Klaver, Eric DeFonso, Steve Jones, Ruth Carol Cushman
Listen to the show:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.0MB)
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We talk with scientists who report that a common weight loss/diabetes drug known as a GLP-1 receptor agonist (Wegovy, Ozempic for instance) is associated with an increased risk of blindness. The study was published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Association Ophthalmology, about a form of blindness known as “wet” macular degeneration. The scientists we talk with today are Marko Popovic and Reut Shor. We also refer to a different, unrelated study, underway, to evaluate a ketogenic diet and eye health, specifically, whether or not a ketogenic diet can reduce diabetes while providing better protection to the eye.
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)
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Larry Gold speaks about the GoldLab Foundation’s 2025 Symposium.
Cardiologist Nelson Trujillo (Starts 2:55) Nelson Trujillo will speak at the Symposium about the existential crisis doctors face today, and solutions.
The GoldLab Foundation Symposium takes place Thursday and Friday, May 15 and 16, at CU Boulder’s Muenzinger Auditorium. Sessions start at 9 AM.
HOTLINKS:
Biochemist Larry Gold – Extended interview.
Cardiologist Nelson Trujillo – Extended Interview
Gold Lab Foundation 2025 Schedule and symposium registration
Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
This is an extended version of our interview with Boulder Cardiologist Nelson Trujillo. For the broadcast version, go here.
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:21 — 77.4MB)
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