Author: Susan Moran

Air Pollution+Maternal Health

This week’s How On Earth features the following:

AI image credit: Tanya Alderete

How Environmental Toxins Harm Maternal Health (start time: 1:30)
Being exposed to wildfires and other forms of air pollution can wreak havoc on anyone’s health. If you’re pregnant, or  socioeconomically disadvantaged, you are particularly susceptible to the negative effects of airborne contaminants. How On Earth’s Susan Moran, and contributing host Kara Fox discuss these issues with our guests: Dr. Tanya Alderete, an assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder; and Zach Morgan, who earned his masters degree last year in integrative physiology at CU Boulder. He was the lead author on a 2023 study (with senior author Dr. Alderete and others) on how air pollution impairs brain development in infants and toddlers.
(Dr. Alderete and colleagues are seeking participants living in Boulder or Denver in a new study of how plastic exposure might affect the physical health of mothers and their infants. Read this screening survey.)

Hosts/Producers: Kara Fox, Susan Moran
Executive Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker

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STEM Ed: Improving access for the blind, etc.

Photo credit: National Science Foundation

STEM ed accessibility (start time: 2:03): It’s challenging enough learning science, technology, engineering and math when you can clearly see the physical models or images of neurons on a screen.  So, imagine the hurdles faced by students who are blind or otherwise visually impaired? In this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews two chemists who are working on making STEM education  more accessible to people with visual and other impairments, and on making learning more interactive for everyone.  Dr. Hoby Wedler is an organic chemist, a sensory expert, and a product development consultant based in Petaluma, Calif. Blind since birth, he works with many companies in the food and beverage industries.  And he founded and directed a nonprofit organization that for several years led chemistry camps for blind or visually impaired students. Dr. Brett Fiedler is a physical chemist with the University of Colorado Boulder’s PhET Interactive Simulations project. The team has been researching and designing new multimodal features for interactive science simulations.

Host & Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Alexis Kenyon
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:39 — 50.6MB)

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COP28 Climate Summit: Pledges & Realities

Climate Change & COP28 (start time: 1:30) A major global climate conference is taking place now in Dubai, amidst a year of record-breaking heat, wildfires, floods and more around the world.  COP28 is short for the 28th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The aim of the conference is to have nations address climate change by pledging to cut greenhouse gas emissions (and actually following through), investing more in clean energy, and having richer nations help fund climate-adaptation measures in developing countries and especially vulnerable communities. Our guests today are Dr. Alice Alpert, a senior scientist at Environmental Defense Fund who previously served on the U.S. delegation to some COP conferences; and science journalist Tom Yulsman, who directs the Center for Environmental Journalism at CU Boulder.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer & Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:44 — 24.5MB)

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From Sewage to Planet Savior?

The Power of Poop (start time: 5:41)  This potent byproduct of our digestive system holds the promise of being a big part of the solution to several public health and environmental challenges of our time, such as drinking water scarcity and degraded cropland. In this week’s show, How On Earth’s Susan Moran interviews Dr. Bryn Nelson, a science writer and former microbiologist. His debut book, called Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure, recently appeared in paperback.

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Alexis Kenyon
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:55 — 38.3MB)

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Climate Change Maladaptations

Over the Seawall (start time: 7:33): One of the key things that makes us human is our ability to problem-solve.  But often our engineered fixes backfire and even make the problem we’re trying to solve much worse. How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews journalist Stephen Robert Miller about how this applies to massive seawalls, re-engineered rivers, grandiose canals (such as the Central Arizona Project) and other technological fixes that have unintended consequences.  Miller’s debut book, due out next week, is called Over the Seawall: Tsunamis, Cyclones, Drought, and the Delusion of Controlling Nature (Island Press). Check out Stephen’s upcoming book talks: Nov. 2 at CU Boulder’s ATLAS 102, 7:00-8:30 p.m.; and Nov. 28 at  Boulder Book Store,  6:30 p.m.

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Sam Fuqua
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributors: Beth Bennett, Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:15 — 37.4MB)

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Tackling Plastic Pollution

Plastics: From Pollution to Solutions (start time: 0:58)  We all want to think that the yogurt tubs, takeout containers and other plastic products that we toss into our kitchen recycling bin will actually get recycled. Chances are, they won’t.  Plastic product makers have for many years been deceptively applying the “chasing arrows” recycling symbol on their products, even when those products can not and will not be  recycled. But some progress is being made in tackling the enormous plastics-pollution problem, including by forcing producers to truthfully label their plastic products, and passing legislation that holds companies financially responsible for the afterlife of their products.  In this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews Susan Shain, a reporting fellow at the New York Times who  recently wrote an article about plastic recycling; and Jennifer Congdon,  deputy director of Beyond Plastics, an environmental advocacy project based at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont.

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Shannon Young
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:28 — 37.7MB)

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Road Ecology // Wildlife Crossings

Wildlife Crossings (start time: 0:58) In this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews journalist Ben Goldfarb about his new book, Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. It’s hard imagine modern human society without roads, be they  interstate highways or county dirt roads. Love them or hate them, roads make our lives convenient. But for wild animals trying to migrate or find a mate, vehicle traffic on roads spells death. (And of course it kills people and their pets as well.) Twenty-one species of wildlife face extinction due to roads. Vehicles kill one million animals every day in the U.S. alone.  Goldfarb’s book explores both the causes of and creative solutions to habitat fragmentation and direct killings of wildlife by roads and car traffic.

Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:04 — 24.8MB)

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Memory-boosting via Multivitamins?

Image credit: Hiroshi Watanabe/Getty

Multivitamins help prevent memory loss (start time: 8:02) In this week’s  show, How On Earth host/producer Susan Moran interviews Dr. Adam Brickman, a neuropsychologist at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, about a large new study that shows how taking multivitamins can prevent memory loss in older adults. Memory decline is an inevitable, if cruel, component of aging. And there’s been much debate about what interventions can arrest the pace of memory loss. The new study, which Dr. Brickman co-authored, replicated results of a previous study that he led; both found that people age 60 and older who take multivitamin supplements daily can stave off normal age-related memory loss. (The study does not apply to people with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.)

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:13 — 24.9MB)

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Bears: Beloved & Imperiled

Of Bears & Humans (start time: 1:34) If you live on the Front Range or in the mountains, you’ve probably seen a black bear while hiking or in your neighborhood.  Black bears are thriving, but most of the other eight remaining bear species are struggling to survive. How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews journalist Gloria Dickie about her just-published debut book Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future  (W.W. Norton). It explores conservation efforts to preserve the remaining species. Spoiler alert: the eight bears who inhabit Dickie’s book (and parts of the planet) are the black, brown, panda, moon, sun, sloth, and spectacled bears.  Dickie’s work has appeared in many publications, including  The New York Times, High Country News and National Geographic. She is currently based in London, as a global climate and environment correspondent for Reuters.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:39 — 24.4MB)

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Race Science: Then & Now

Phrenology sketch of skull, 1807 Image credit: Countway Library

Race Science’s Legacy (start time: 0.57): We like to think of science as neutral, beyond politics. But of course it isn’t. After all, science is a product of the political landscape in which it arises. Despite the fact that decades ago the United Nations declared that race has no biological basis, science has continued to be co-opted to justify racial inequality–namely, the intellectual superiority of whites. Recently scientists have been reckoning with the damaging legacy of race science. In this week’s show host Susan Moran interviews two journalists: Angela Saini, a science journalist and author of several books, including Superior: The Return of Race Science; and Ashley Smart, senior editor of Undark magazine, and associate director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT. See Undark’s Long Division Project, a series of articles exploring the persistence of race science.

Host & Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Shannon Young
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:31 — 25.2MB)

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