Category: Episodes

BirdCast Bird Migration Forecasting

BirdCast Migration Map

Fall bird migration is reaching its peak, with billions of birds traveling thousands of miles, mostly at night.  We talk with Kyle Horton, director of Colorado State University’s AEROECO Lab, and a key member of BirdCast, which is a collaboration with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Kyle Horton shares the history of “weather radar” use in bird forecasting, plus refinements and algorithms, that fine tune the forecasts.  We learn about BirdCast’s nationwide live migration maps, and bird migration forecasts for a city or a county, such as Boulder County Migration Forecasts.  Additionally, we talk with AeroEcolab scientists Annika Abbott and Mikko Jimenez.

In the last 50 years, North American bird populations have dropped 30%.  Light pollution draws many migrating birds to their death.  The BirdCast Lights Out program encourages people and cities to turn out nonessential lights during key periods of bird migration in their areas.

Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:56 — 37.2MB)

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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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Artificial Intelligence for Police Body Cameras

AI for Police Worn Body Cameras (Starts 3:45) Body Cam AI uses artificial intelligence analysis for body cam transcripts.  Can this new tech reduce excessive use of force and help restore public trust in policing?  To learn more, we talk with Anthony Tassone, CEO of Truleo.  Truleo is an AI system for analyzing body cam transcriptions.  We also talk with  City of Aurora Police Chief, Art Acedvdeo, who helped design this new tech, and is testing it out this year to evaluate its effectiveness in the field.  And we talk with Anaya Robinson, Senior Policy Analyst for the ACLU of Colorado.

Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.2MB)

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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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Hummingbirds and Master Bander Steve Bouricius

Rufous Hummingbird (c Shelley Schlender)

Master Hummingbird bander Steve Bouricius does workshops about hummingbirds.   Today, Boulder Naturalists Scott Severs and Ruth Carol Cushman join Steve Bouricius to see the thousands of hummingbirds that visit his mountain cabin, and to talk about their lives and migration.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer:  Shelley Schlender
Engineer:  Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)

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West Nile Virus // Mosquito Borne Diseases

A Culex pipiens mosquito isolated on white. This species of mosquito is important in the West Nile Virus transmission cycle. (A Culex pipiens mosquito isolated on white. This species of mosquito is important in the West Nile Virus transmission cycle

West Nile Virus and other Mosquito Borne Diseases  (Starts 4:45)  Colorado’s case count from West Nile Virus is starting to rise, with state health officials predicting a histoically high season ahead for West Nile Virus.  How on Earth’s Panisara Jaijongkit explains the origins of mosquito borne diseases, how, even in Colorado, people have stories of tropical mosquito borne diseases, such as painful Dengue fever.    She also explains how Colorado health experts track West Nile Virus and disease prevention.

Hosts: Beth Bennett, Joel Parker
Producers: Panisara Jaijongkit, Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shannon Young
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:56 — 37.0MB)

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Welcoming Biodiversity Back To Cities

Photo by Benita Lee

In this week’s How on Earth, we focus on how cities can foster biodiversity in an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change.

First, we speak with author and journalist Tony Hiss (4:29), who says that while the Earth is rapidly losing species, we can still do something about it. In his latest book, Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth (Vintage), Hiss recounts the numerous ways in which grassroots movements around the world are creating habitats that are allowing biodiversity to thrive, including in least obvious of places — cities.

Next, we discuss how this is being done in Colorado by the nonprofit organization, Denver Urban Gardens (DUG). Creighton Hofeditz (14:37), the Director of Permaculture and Perennials at DUG, tells us how he turns empty city lots into “food forests” — a type of agroforestry — for residents in the metro area. The creation of these gathering spaces for humans also gives nature a place to thrive.

Hosts: Beth Bennett, Benita Lee
Producers: Benita Lee, Alexis Kenyon
Engineer: Shannon Young
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:07 — 22.5MB)

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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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The Science of Sex in Sports – Women Athletes

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with Christine Yu – an award-winning journalist who has turned her reporting on women athletes and the relationship between science and athletic performance into a comprehensive book on the subject. In UP TO SPEED:The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, she covers topics ranging from a historical overview of women in sports to the role of hormones on performance to the physics of designing jog bras, and much more. If you’re an athlete, a woman, or simply interested in sports, you’ll enjoy the conversation with Christine.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineering and Headline Contribution: Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:29 — 20.9MB)

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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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