Natural Gas Wells Leak More Methane and Benzene than Expected
This is an extended version of the KGNU Science Show, How on Earth. It features Greg Frost, a scientist with the University of Colorado at Boulder and with NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He’s on the team led by Gabrielle Petron which has been studying leaks from natural gas production. In this extended interview, Greg tells us about natural gas wells in Colorado that are leaking twice as much methane and benzene into the atmosphere as official estimates have indicated. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Benzene is a carcinogen. Let’s listen in now, as Greg Frost tells How on Earth’s Shelley Schlender what their study of leaking methane from gas wells found.
Snowshoe Hare Faces Uncertain Future (start time 6:35). They don’t get much cuter than bunnies. One of the cutest of them all is the snowshoe hare. It’s elusive, and well camouflaged, so you may well never have seen one. To survive, these hares change their coats with the seasons – white in the snowy winter and rusty brown in the summer. So now, some hares’ fur turns white before the snow covers the ground. Think what it’d be like to be naked in public, an easy meal for eagles and other predators. Whether these fragile hares can evolve and adapt to their changing homes fast enough is a question some biologists are studying hard. Hillary Rosner, a local science journalist and author, wrote about the plight of the snowshoe hare in the current issue of High Country News and now talks with How on Earth’s Susan Moran.
Cubelets Robotics (start time 15:00) is an award-winning modular robotics kit created and made in Boulder. The concept is simple: you take these magnetic blocks and snap them together to make an endless variety of robots with no programming and no wires. You can build robots that drive around on a tabletop, respond to light, sound, and temperature, and have surprisingly lifelike behavior. But instead of programming that behavior, you snap the cubelets together and watch the behavior emerge like with a flock of birds or a swarm of bees. To find out more, How on Earth’s Shelley Schlender talks with Modular Robotics Design Director, Eric Schweikardt. Cubelet theme song by Blorp Corp.
Hosts: Joel Parker, Susan Moran Contributor: Breanna Draxler Producer: Shelley Schlender Engineer: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
We celebrate 20 years of How on Earth, featuring the 1st ever KGNU science show, 20 years ago, including Bucky Balls, Electromagnetic Radiation and Cows, Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble, and along the way, we give updates on current science issues, including Tom McKinnon talking about applications for Bucky Balls (Fullerenes) today, a conversation with CU Electrical Engineer Frank Barnes, who is one of the world’s most sought-after experts on EMFs, Southwest Research Institute Astrophysicist Joel Parker gives an update on space telescopes, and CU Science Journalism professor Tom Yulsman talks about an issue NOT on the radar 20 years ago — global climate change. We also share information about tonight’s Denver Cafe Sci, with Brian Hynek, about “Mars: Are We Alone?” Special thanks to How on Earth original producers Sam Fuqua and Jeff Orrey for being here as part of the show.
Co-hosts: Joel Parker and Susan Moran Engineer: Shelley Schlender Producer: Shelley Schlender Executive producer: Shelley Schlender
Here is the ORIGINAL KGNU science show, broadcast 20 years ago in January 1992. For our science show on January 17, 2012, we’ll feature excerpts from this show, along with interviews with two of the show’s originators, KGNU station manager, Sam Fuqua, and KGNU Volunteer, Jeff Orrey.
This is an extended version of the interview with researchers at Harvard and the University of Massachusetts, which indicates that out in the real world, people who use nicotine replacement therapy in the hopes of an easier “quit” don’t fare any better than people who use will power and community support. Some people who use nicotine replacements are actually MORE likely to relapse. Here, Shelley Schlender talks with Lois Biener, a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Survey Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research was published in the journal Tobacco Control.
We hear about a book called Logicomix, featuring Christos Papidimitriou, who is one of the world’s leaders on computational complexity theory, and what happens when he consents to be interviewed by two 10-year olds. And in the headlines, we delve into a new report published in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine that indicates exercise helps kids do better in school. We fly to the moon with two GRAIL spacecraft, which stands for “Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory.” And we invite you to sign up for the free, “Mini Med-The Clinical Years,” being offered at the CU Medical Center.
Nora and Lee
Hosts: Joel Parker, Susan Moran Producer: Shelley Schlender Engineers: Tom McKinnon, Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
We take a look at favorite holiday sci-tech gifts, including the SparkFun Inventor’s Kit, Logicomix, Manga Guide to Electricity, Lego Mindstorms, a fun new novelty for anyone on your list – giant microbes. After the show, we also voted to add yet one more item to your last-minute gifts – a mesh bag of any size, for . . . what else? Catching neutrinos.
Local author and scientist Dick Williams talks with How on Earth’s Chip Grandits about Dick’s new book: Eating Your Heart Out? Williams, with coauthors Binx Selby and Linda Fong. In his book, Dick writes, “For over a half-century, careful scientific researchers have known what a good balanced diet really means, yet most of us have largely ignored this important information. We have preferred to continue in our culturally determined ruts, eating ourselves to death. Major research projects have noted how some peoples in the world have lived healthy lives past the 100-year mark in communities, such as the Inuit living above the Arctic circle, and the traditional villages of the island, Crete, in the Mediterranean, where cardiac events are completely unknown. ”
Producer: Shelley Schlender Co-Hosts: Tom McKinnon & Beth Bartel, with special reports from Roger Wendell and Chip Grandits. Engineer: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Tom McKinnon
We explore the world microbes, and how they’re everywhere, and how the University of Colorado at Boulder has scientists such as Noah Fierer who are trying to track all those microbes down and figure out which ones help us and which ones don’t, and how they interact. These scientists have studied the microbes on a human hand, the microbes in the air from dog feces, and they’re lastest project is known as Miasma. That stands for Mapping and Integrated Analysis of Microbes in the Atmosphere.
Hosts: Ted Burnham and Breanna Draxler
Producer: Shelley Schlender Engineer: Shelley Schlender Headlines: Tom Yulsman Executive Producer: Susan Moran
We look at the strange rise in autoimmune diseases, allergies and asthma, with experts from the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center and with National Jewish Health Immunlogist Andy Liu in Denver. And, we explore whether genetically modified crops might be increasing our chance of getting ill, with Agricultural Scientist, Charles Benbrook of The Organic Center.
In this report, Shelley Schlender takes a look at genetically modified crops and other modern farming techniques, and how they might, or might not be, connected to the dramatic rise in immune disorders. As part of this report, she’ll look into the strange case of a bacteria in GM corn that was NOT supposed to get into human bloodstream. Recent research indicates that it does. And she’ll discuss the hygiene hypothesis with health experts who suggest that our society has become so “clean” that, in some ways, it makes us sick.
![Leaky Natural Gas Wells [extended version]](https://howonearthradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Weld-County-Gas-Wells-niobrara-EOG-Resources.jpg)
![Nicotine Patches Don’t Work [extended version]](https://howonearthradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Quit-Smoking1.jpg)
