Category: Episodes

Water Reuse for the Arid West

Photo credit: WateReuse Colorado

Water Recycling for Climate Resilience (start time: 7:54) When you poured tap water into your coffee maker this morning, or flushed the toilet, you may not have been thinking about where that water came from, or where it flowed to next. Pegged to World Water Week, on this week’s How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews Austa Parker, PhD, an environmental engineer who is a consultant for the firm Brown and Caldwell on national water-reuse issues. She formerly worked for Denver Water and as an adjunct professor at CU Boulder. Our discussion focuses on direct potable reuse (DPR), the process of transforming treated wastewater, including human effluence, into drinking water. Climate change, intensifying droughts and population growth in the already parched U.S. West are pressuring states and cities to pursue DPR as a means of becoming more climate-resilient.
Resource links:
WateReuse Colorado
WateReuse Association (national)
Colorado’s regulations (passed in late 2022) on direct potable reuse

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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Mankind Owes Its Success on Earth to Decimated Forests

On today’s show, Benita speaks with author John Perlin about his book, A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization. The book follows the rise and fall of human civilizations as they fuel their success and reap their downfall by using trees as a key resource.

Photo Credit: UC Santa Barbara and Patagonia Media

Published by Patagonia, Perlin revised this third edition of his environmental classic to include new scientific findings that further link the importance of trees in combating climate change and in creating life on Earth as we know it.

 

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producers Benita Lee and Shannon Young
Engineer Shannon Young

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A Less Stressful Life- in Seven Days?

On today’s show Beth talks with Dr Elissa Epel, about her book, The Stress Prescription,Seven Days to More Joy and Ease. As the director of UCSF’s Aging, Metabolism, and Emotion Center and associate director of its Center for Health and Community, she studies stress, aging, and obesity. Her book is quick and easy to read yet leaves you with so many applicable practices that can change your outlook and reduce the stress in your life while simultaneously giving you the basic science on the how and why of stress and the role of the techniques she espouses. And, an upcoming lecture on the CU Boulder campus on bioarcheology, March 15.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producers Beth Bennett and Leilani Henry
Engineer Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:39 — 24.0MB)

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AI or not AI, that is the question — ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Human World

A DALL-E generated image of this interview
A DALL-E generated image of this interview.

We talk with Dr. Casey Fiesler, Associate Professor of Information Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder about “generative AI,” particularly regarding ChatGPT and DALL-E, which are topics of recent news stories expressing excitement and concern.

We asked ChatGPT to write a description of what such an interview might be:

Dr. Casey Fiesler joins Joel Parker on the KGNU radio science show How on Earth to discuss generative AI and its recent breakthroughs, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E. Fiesler explains that these AI models use deep learning algorithms to generate new content, such as text or images, based on patterns found in existing data. She acknowledges the impressive capabilities of these models, such as DALL-E’s ability to create highly realistic images from textual prompts. However, Fiesler also raises concerns about the potential negative impacts of generative AI, including the perpetuation of biases found in training data or the creation of harmful fake content. Fiesler emphasizes the importance of responsible development and use of these technologies, as well as ongoing research into addressing these issues.

After you listen to the show, you can determine how accurate is that description.  And can you identify the three interview questions we asked that were generated by ChatGPT?

Host & Producer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Featured Music: “Reflection” – generative music by Brian Eno

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Colorado Environmental Film Festival

Stewart Udall and the Politics of Beauty

Colorado Environmental Film Festival is an annual event that takes place in Golden, at the American Mountaineering Center.  This year’s festival starts Thursday Feb 23, 2023 and goes through Sun, Feb 26, 2023.  Today, we talk with festival co-chair Dave Steinke and Environmental Filmmaker John DeGraff.  We feature the films, Stewart Udall and the Politics of Beauty, Reviving Rivers, The Issue with Tissue, and A Good Neighbor.

Host, Producer,Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Music on the Brain

Your Brain on Music (start time: 6:18): Most people love music, whether it’s opera music, jazz, rock-n-roll, gospel, nursery rhymes or another genre. Whether you’re a trained professional or someone who just likes to sing in the shower or listen to your favorite playlists, you’ve likely felt the power of music in shaping your thoughts, feelings and behavior. But how?
Many scientists have been researching how music affects the human brain, and how music can help treat many neurological and other disorders. Today, host Susan Moran interviews Indre  Viskontas, a cognitive neuroscientist and associate professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco. She’s also a classically trained opera singer and a director. Her 2019 book is How Music Can Make You Better.  And Dr. Viskontas also directs communications for the Sound Health Network, an initiative that promotes research and public awareness of the impact of music on health and well-being. She also hosts a podcast called Inquiring Minds.

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

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Mountain Lions in Northern Colorado

Mountain lion, northern Colorado, http://www.wildnaturemedia.com

In this episode, Jill Sjong interviews Wild Nature Media‘s David Neils who has been studying mountain lions and other apex predators in Colorado’s wild lands for over 20 years using remote cameras.  They visit one of the front range’s best habitats for mountain lions, the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch, located near where the Big Thompson Canyon opens up west of Loveland. Sylvan Dale has put 70% of its land into a conservation easement.

We get answers to our mountain lion questions: what is predictable about them? What are our greatest misunderstandings about them?  What makes certain Colorado lands such an ideal habitat for them? In what ways are they remarkably different from other apex predators? How are their populations doing?  And what about the recent media coverage on mountain lions?

Listeners can learn more about mountain lions and other apex predators at Wild Nature Media, and sign up for presentations, workshops and nature hikes.

Host and Producer:  Jill Sjong
Executive Producer:  Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:37 — 18.6MB)

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James Webb Space Telescope (Part 2)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – JWST – was launched on December 25th, 2021.  We talked with scientists and engineers about JWST’s first year and some of the projects it is being used for.  In this second part of our JWST special, our guests and their projects are:

Check out Part 1 of this feature (2022 Dec 20)

Host & Producer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Featured Music: “Floating in Heaven” by Graham Gouldman and Brian May

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Animal Creativity

This week on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Professor Carol Gigliotti about her new book, The Creative Lives of Animals. She provides a new perspective on animals as agents in their own lives, as valuable contributors to their world and ours, and as guides in understanding how creativity may contribute to conserving the natural world. Presenting a powerful argument for the importance of recognizing animals as individuals and as creators of a healthy, biodiverse world, this book offers insights into the creativity of animals.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran, Tom McKinnon, Joel Parker
Engineer: Shannon Young

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New Alzheimer’s Drug . . . and Dale Bredesen Challenge

Cognitive Scores on New Drugs versus Bredesen Program (on right) source Apollo Health

Various experts share pros and cons about Lecanemab (starts 1:00) the newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s.

Dale Bredesen of Apollo HealthCo (starts 5:30) shares his criticisms of the new Alzheimer’s drug and gives recommendations for better ways to improve cognition.

Links to topics mentioned in this show:

American Alzheimer’s Association Statement urging Medicare and Medicaid pay the (estimated) $26,000 annual cost for Lecanemab, per person.

Olive Oil reduces Dementia Risk Harvard Study shows a 29% reduction in risk of dying from Dementia among people who consume a little olive oil every day, compared to people who don’t consume olive oil.

Aricept is  associated  with faster long-term memory decline  Aricept is often prescribed for improving cognition among people diagnosed with memory impairment.  A second study  reports that among people who take drugs like Aricept, “previous analysis of observational studies indicates such individuals experience greater rate of decline on cognitive testing than those not receiving such medications.”

Previous Science Show Interviews . . . about Dale Bredesen:  Alzheimer’s Reversal (The Health Hacker’s Group, APOE4.Info and Dale Bredesen’s book The End of Alzheimer’s ) New Treatments for Alzheimer’s (Dale Bredesen’s book, The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s)

Salmonella Biofilms (How non-human, Curli Amyloid Protein similar to the beta amylooid proteins created within our bodies, can enter the bloodstream from intestinal infections such as e-coli and salmonella)

Leprosy Tango  This skit is by a health expert on leprosy.  It includes the lyrics.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Stacie Johnson and Beth Bennett
Engineer: Shannon Young

 

 

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:55 — 37.0MB)

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