Category: Episodes

April Foolish Science

Today is April Fools’ day, when jokes and pranks are played, sometimes among friends and family, sometimes on a more public scale.  But why is there such a day for culturally-accepted foolishness? To delve into the origins and history of April Fools’ Day, we talk with Dr. Angus Kress Gillespie, folklorist and professor of American studies at Rutgers University.

(Image credit: Zurijeta | Shutterstock.com)

You might find it shocking that scientists have a sense of humor, so we also talk with, Dr. Mike Lund from the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at the Infrared Processing & Analysis Center / CalTech about the tradition among Astronomers to write and even review  humorous research papers for April Fools’ day. These papers are often posted on the arXiv preprint server, and Dr. Lund, the author of several such papers, also is the editor of the Acta Prima Aprilia that shares some of those papers.

Producer and Host: Joel Parker
Additional contributions: Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Joel Parker

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NEPA, Wildlife, Lands Under Threat

oil and gas rig Image courtesy of USGS

NEPA rollbacks, environmental impacts (start time: 6:25) Amidst a flurry of moves by the Trump administration to roll back environmental regulations, last month a White House agency proposed a rule to rescind a landmark law meant to protect wildlife, their habitat, and human  communities from unchecked development, and to ensure that the public has a say in projects ranging from oil and gas drilling to wind and solar farms.  The rule, if it goes into effect, would mean that the White House Council on Environmental Quality would no longer enforce how the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is carried out. As a result, many infrastructure projects would not be subject to environmental review. A public comment period regarding this proposed rule ends on Friday, March 27. (Click here to submit any comments.) How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews Jim McElfish, a senior advisor at the Environmental Law Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit center working to strengthening environmental protection by improving law and governance.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Headline contributors: Beth Bennett, Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:38 — 35.2MB)

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Measles: To Vaccinate or Not?

On this week’s show, Beth talks with Brianne Barker, Associate Professor of Biology and Director of Undergraduate Research at Drew University. Dr Barker studies innate immune responses – these are the initial, non-specific actions taken by the immune system – to fight off retroviruses such as HIV (the AIDS virus). We discuss the measles virus, how it gets into cells, travels through the body to cause its many symptoms, which can be long-lasting and even lethal, and its frightening ability to wipe out, or erase, much of the accumulated memory of the immune system to previous infections. For an even deeper dive into this dangerous virus, you can hear Dr Barker and other virologists go into greater detail here.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:25 — 21.8MB)

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This Ordinary Stardust: A Scientist’s Path from Grief to Wonder

We speak with Environmental Scientist Alan Townsend about his new book, This Ordinary Stardust: A Scientist’s Path from Grief to Wonder.  It chronicles what happened when his family received two unthinkable, catastrophic diagnoses: his 4-year-old daughter and his brilliant scientist wife developed unrelated, life-threatening forms of brain cancer. As he witnessed his young daughter fight during the courageous final months of her mother’s life, Townsend – a lifelong scientist – was indelibly altered.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Hosts: Joel Parker and Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:46 — 29.5MB)

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Train Wolves AND Humans to Coexist

Source: patrice schoefolt / Pexels
On today’s show, Beth speaks with two experts on animal behavior and training about the wolf reintroduction project in Colorado – wins and losses. Mary Angilly is an advocate for force-free, evidence-based training in dogs and other animals. For decades Marc Bekoff has researched animal behavior, cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds), behavioral ecology, and compassionate conservation, and he has written extensively on human-animal interactions and animal protection.They have collaborated on essays involving problems faced by both wolves and humans in reintroduction projects. In this episode, they discuss some interesting and innovative solutions.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:17 — 22.5MB)

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Tom Cech: The Catalyst

Tom Cech’s New Book

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets     CU Boulder Nobel Prize-Winning Scientist Tom Cech says that RNA has long been the biochemical backup singer that slaves away in the shadows of the diva.  In his new book, The Catalyst, Cech puts RNA in the spotlight, along with dazzling and determined scientists who’ve been helping us learn more about RNA.

Show Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Jackie Sedley
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Tackling Landfill Methane Emissions

Landfill photo credit: iStock

Tackling CH4 emissions from landfills (start time: 5:59) Methane is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, and its emissions have been rising recently in the U.S.  The largest source of methane emissions is oil and gas production, followed by livestock farming. The third largest source of methane emissions is landfills.  Food scraps, yard debris, paper and cardboard products and other carbon-based detritus that pile up in landfills release methane and other chemicals as they decompose in the soil. As part of the state’s goal of slashing greenhouse gas emissions, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is developing new, and stricter, rules  that will require landfill operators to do more to monitor and capture methane emissions. KGNU host Susan Moran interviews Clay Clarke, director of the Climate Change Program at CDPHE; and Madison Hall, an associate with the Rocky Mountain Institute‘s US Program. For info on the Feb. 26 final public hearing on the  methane rule, click here.

Show Host/Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline Contributors: Beth Bennett, Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:09 — 37.3MB)

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How a Soil Bacterium Can Affect Mental and Physical Health

On today’s show, Beth speaks with CU scientist Christopher Lowry. Dr. Lowry’s research program at CU Boulder focuses on understanding stress-related physiology and behavior with an emphasis on the microbiome-gut-brain axis. He describes his recent finding that exposure to a harmless soil bacterium protects mice from the weight gain and inflammation stemming from a diet much like the average American one, that is, high in fat and sugar. You can also hear about another CU Boulder group’s recent finding on the protective role that being in ‘greenspaces’ can provide.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:39 — 21.6MB)

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Decarbonizing Cement Production

Concrete mixer truck

Tackling Cement’s Huge Carbon Footprint (start time: 0:58)  It’s hard to imagine modern society without a key material that so many structures depend on–cement. Think of our houses, apartment and office buildings, hospitals, parking lots, bridges, and, increasingly,  massive data centers of big-tech companies. But that societal glue of sorts comes with a big climate price tag.  Cement production accounts for more than 7 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s way less than the amount from coal and oil & gas production, but  roughly double the emissions  from aviation. So, finding ways to reduce the carbon footprint of cement could go a long way toward curbing the momentum of climate change and its impacts. But some players in the industry, as well as in state and federal governments, are making strides to clean up the cement industry’s act.  In this week’s How On Earth, host Susan Moran interviews  Anish Tilak, a civil and environmental engineer who is a  a manager of the Carbon-Free Buildings program at RMI (founded as Rocky Mountain Institute); and Cory Waltrip, a senior manager at the startup Sublime Systems, in Somerville, Mass.

Host / Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Jackie Sedley
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:23 — 39.0MB)

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Gang Science – David Pyrooz

Gang Violence in Aurora last summer

CU Boulder Criminologist David Pyrooz explains the science of understanding gang violence.  He shares why immigrant gangs such as Tren de Aragua catch so much media attention, even though they represent only a small part of national gang violence.  Pyrooz also shares what drives gangs, ways to reduce gang violence, and his personal work with the City of Aurora Project SAVE  (SAVE is short for “Stand Against Violence Every Day.)

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer/Engineer:  Shelley Schlender

 

 

 

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:05 — 33.1MB)

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