Category: corona virus

The (ever-changing) Scoop on Vaccines

On this week’s How on Earth, Beth describes recent developments in defunding NIH research and CDC limits on vaccine availability; then digs into vaccine safety and development with global vaccine expert, Dr Dr Kawsar Talaat. Dr Talaat is a physician who is board certified in Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and whose research focuses on vaccines. She has worked on clinical trials for a variety of vaccines, including influenza, malaria, Ebola, and several gut bacteria. Currently, Dr. Talaat oversees COVID-19 vaccine trials in adults and children, and is Johns Hopkins Principal Investigator for the CDC Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment project.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett

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The Ins and Outs of Cheese

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with author and cheesemaker extraordinaire and author, David Asher, about his book Milk Into Cheese: The Foundations of Natural Cheesemaking. The science and art of cheese.
David Asher has a long career as an educator, activist, and celebrated natural cheesemaker. In our conversation, you’ll hear about the cultures and processes underlying the making of some cheeses, the role of agricultural practices in making cheese, the biological evolution of cheese, and the transformation of milk into cheese through fermentation. Also an update on Long Covid – possible causes and treatments.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

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Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence

In this episode of How on Earth we hear the full interview Beth did with physician and author Gavin Frances.

CU Kite Fall Flying Expo (starts 1:00) CU Boulder collaborates with NASA and the kite/toy store Into the Wind to share a Kite Flying Expo about how kites can be used for atmospheric science study.

RECOVERY: The Lost Art of Convalescence. (starts 8:05) Author Gavin Frances emphasizes the importance of taking an active role in one’s recovery and outlines many paths one can take in doing so. It is an act that we engage in and that has the potential to transform our lives, if only we can find ways to learn its rhythms and invest our time, energy, and participation.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producers: Beth Bennett, Susan Moran, Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

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Dismal US Mortality Data – Ryan Masters

Ryan Masters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rare Ebony Winged Damselfly at Flagg Park (starts 1:00)  Naturalists Scott Severs and Ruth Carol Cushman take us to Lafayette’s Flagg Park to see a rare and beautiful cousin of the dragonfly

Early Warning for Celiac Disease (starts 4:35)

Dismal US Mortality Rates (starts 7:07) – CU Sociologist Ryan Masters discusses his new study on US Death Rates and how US Death Rates compare to the death rates in other high income countries.  Bottom line – middle-aged people are dying more often in the US, especially people of color.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:57 — 24.7MB)

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Can Covid-19 Affect Your Mitochondria?

Mitochondria
Mitochondria
Beth talks with Steven Engle, Chief Executive Officer and Director of CohBar, Inc, a biotechnology company developing mitochondria-based therapeutics to treat chronic diseases and extend healthy lifespan. The company’s lead compound, CB4211, is in early stage clinical trial for fatty liver disease and obesity. The company also has four preclinical programs, two in cancer, one in fibrotic diseases, one in type 2 diabetes, and one, which we discuss here, in COVID-19 associated acute respiratory syndrome. You can find more at the company website. The interview starts at about 6 minutes.
Host:Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
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AKG & “Healthspan” — Gordon Lithgow

MOUSE(Whole Show) Longer “healthspan”  might be why the most popular Non-COVID story in Science Magazine last year involved the body-building supplement alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG), fed to middle-aged mice.  Buck Institute of Research on Aging Scientist Gordon Lithgow explains.

 

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Music: Stop This Train – by John Mayer.

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:55 — 24.7MB)

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Scratch & Sniff COVID Test // Ice Age BONE Fire

TheNoseKnows2Much, from WikiCommons
TheNoseKnows2Much, from WikiCommons

Scratch & Sniff COVID Test (starts 1:00) CU Scientist Dan Larremore explains how a smell test app might offer an affordable COVID screening that’s way more accurate than a temperature check.

 

 

 

HOE Ice Age Bone FireIce Age BONE Fire  (starts 6:00)  Archeologist John Hoffecker and local volunteers recreate a Paleolithic “campfire” that used bones as the primary fuel. Volunteers who helped with this project — Josh Steinsiek, Dustin Goodew of Arapahoe Meat Company, Outdoorspeople Lin and Henry Ballard, Amber O’Hearn and Siobhan Huggins.

Engineer Sam Fuqua
Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions:  Edie Hill, Composer
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:09 — 24.9MB)

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Covid Vaccine Update

Covid19 Vaccine
Covid19 Vaccine

This week on How on Earth, Beth gives an update on the efficacy, safety, and availability of the mRNA vaccines for the corona virus. You hear from Drs Tony Fauci, Michael Diamond, and Roger Seheult.

Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Sam Fuqua
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:15 — 23.1MB)

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CU COVID Testing Update // Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever & Climate Change

Inside a Manhole - photo credit BIOBOT
Inside a Manhole – photo credit BIOBOT

CU COVID TESTING UPDATE  (starts 1:00) We join CU Engineering Professor Cresten Mansfeldt as he and his students open a sewer manhole and do maintenance on their wastewater COVID early warning system.  We also get an update on COVID status at CU Boulder.

 

 

Brown Dog Ticks
Brown Dog Ticks

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER & CLIMATE CHANGE (starts 11:15) Brown dog ticks that carry Rocky Mountain Spotted fever usually bite dogs.  But they prefer to bite people over dogs when temperature rise to 100 degrees.  UC-Davis scientist Laura Backus explains her new study and its implications in a time of climate change.

 

Host: Shelley Schlender
Producer:Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Sam Fuqua
Additional contribution: Music from Lynn Patrick
Executive Producer:Beth Bennett

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COVID-19: The Evidence for Aerosol Transmission & Implications for Containment

This week How on Earth producer Beth Bennett spoke with Professor Jose Jimenez, a professor in the Chemistry Dept here at CU in Boulder. His research background for over two decades has focused on detecting and measuring aerosols. Recently he became involved in applying this expertise to the question of how the corona virus is transmitted. He and his team have developed a model that predicts the likelihood of transmission of the virus from an infected person to other people in an indoor space. Here are find links to the model, a webinar describing its development and use and his website. The interview starts at ~8 min.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Engineer: Maeve Conran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:34 — 26.1MB)

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