Category: Episodes

2022 Graduation Special (part 2)

With graduation season upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is Part 2 of our annual “Graduation Special” (you can listen to Part 1). Our guests in the studio today are scientists who have or will soon receive their Ph.D. in a STEM-related field.  They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next.

Loren Matilsky – University of Colorado, JILA & Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
Topic: Dynamics of Rotation and Magnetism in the Sun’s Convection Zone and Tachocline

Katie Gach – University of Colorado, ATLAS Institute
Topic: How to Delete the Dead: Honoring Affective Connections to Post-mortem Data

 

Jet Mante – University of Colorado, Biomedical Engineering
Topic: Promotion of Data Reuse in Synthetic Biology

 

Abhijit Suresh – University of Colorado, Computer Science
Topic: Automating Feedback to Improve Teachers’ Effective Use of Instructional Discourse in K-12 Mathematics Classrooms


Host / Producer : Joel Parker

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:00 — 37.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

2022 Graduation Special (part 1)

diploma-and-graduation-hatWith graduation season upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is Part 1 of our annual “Graduation Special” (you can listen to Part 2). Our guests in the studio today are scientists who have or will soon receive their Ph.D. in a STEM-related field.  They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next.

Varsha Koushik – University of Colorado, Computer Science
Topic: Designing Customizable Smart Interfaces to Support People with Cognitive Disabilities in Daily Activities

 

Sarah Aguasvivas – University of Colorado, Computer Science
Topic: Material-integrated Prediction, Control, and Distributed Learning in Soft Robots

Jessie Finocchiaro – University of Colorado, Computer Science
Topic: Designing Consistent Convex Surrogate Losses for General Prediction Tasks

Host / Producer : Joel Parker

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:02 — 37.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Gold Lab Symposium and DeepMind/Alphafold

DeepMind – AlphaFold

Gold Lab Symposium and DeepMind’s Alpha Fold  (starts 1:00) We continue our discussion with Boulder scientist and entrepreneur, Larry Gold, about the Gold Lab Symposium on the science of Health, taking place this Thursday and Friday.  You can sign up here.

Off-Target Drug Effect (starts 5:48 – ends at 10:00)  A local Boulder man recounts his experience with an off-target effect in an FDA approved medication that has left his kidneys permanently damaged.

Gold Lab Symposium Discussion Continues (Starts 10:00)

HostProducer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Joel Parker

Listen to the show:

Play

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

Subscribe: RSS

Brains in Space // Climate Grief // Gold Lab Symposium

We explore a wide range of science topics today.

Brain Damage – Pink Floyd

Brains in Space (starts 1:00) Joel Parker explains how space travel may affect human brains

 

 

 

 

Altar – photo cc Boundless in Motion

Climate Grief (starts 5:17) The United Nations warns that the changing climate will lead to increasing climate grief around the world.  Kritee, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, has become a Zen priest and national expert on Climate Grief.  She leads community grief circles throug, Boundless in Motion and other meditation gatherings , to help people deal with difficult feelings around climate change.  Melissa Bailey reports.

Larry Gold

GoldLab Symposium (starts 15:31) Founder Larry Gold shares a highlight coming up in this year’s symposium about science, human health and big data.  The symposium takes place May 19th and 20th.  You can check out topics at this year’s symposium here.   This is the link to register to attend.

Hosts: Shelley Schlender & Joel Parker
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Feature contributors:  Joel Parker, Melissa Bailey

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:00 — 30.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Queen of Fats: Omega-3

This week on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Susan Allport, an award-winning writer who has written extensively on science. They talk about her book on omega 3 fats, The Queen of Fats, namely the touted omega-3 fatty acid. These essential fats can’t be synthesized by the human body and must be obtained from our diets. The conversation ranges widely, including details as to why they are so critical to health and some of the unique evolutionary history of our species that makes them so necessary. You can find out more about these amazing molecules at Allport’s site, and read about her experiment to replace dietary omega-3 with omega-6, an experiment millions of Americans are unwittingly engaging in.
Executive Producer Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:27 — 23.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Climate- & Pollinator-Conscious Planting

Photo credit: Dave Sutherland

Climate-conscious, pollinator-friendly gardening (start time: 4:55; scroll down for audio file):
This week’s episode of How On Earth features a discussion on how cities, neighborhoods, individual residents can plan their landscapes and gardens for a hotter and drier future here on the Front Range. Host Susan Moran interviews Dave Sutherland, a field naturalist formerly with Open Space Mountain Parks; and Fred Berkelhammer, an arborist and president of Berkelhammer Tree Experts, Inc.
Additional relevant resources and how you can get involved:
* Dave Sutherland’s upcoming and other guides hikes and pollinator-friendly gardening programs.
* Boulder’s Pollinator Gardens and Pathways program.
* Boulder’s Cool Boulder campaign.

Host: Susan Moran
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Headline contributors: Benita Lee, Joel Parker

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:33 — 25.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Climate Change: A Laughing Matter?

Image credit: NASA

Comedy+Climate Change: (start time: 5:50)  In this week’s show we look ahead to Earth Day by discussing the latest science about climate change, as reported in the recently released assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And we explore the role that performing arts, especially comedy, can play in communicating, and processing emotions around, climate change. Our guests are Max Boykoff, a professor in, and the chair of, the Environmental Studies Department at the University of Colorado Boulder, and a contributing author of the recent IPCC report; Beth Osnes, a professor of Theatre and Environmental Studies at CU Boulder, and co-director of Inside the Greenhouse, a project at the university for creative climate communication; and Henrique Sannibale, an undergraduate student at CU Boulder studying environmental studies and business.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Additional contributions: Benita Lee

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:27 — 25.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Last Stargazers, Part 2

We feature an interview with astronomer and author Dr. Emily Levesque about her book, The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers.  In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Levesque about the history and future of astronomy.  We hear about how astronomical observing at some of the premier telescopes in the world has changed over the decades, and we get a preview of what the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory has in store for the next generation of astronomers.

Host, Producer, Engineer: Joel Parker

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:43 — 36.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

The Last Stargazers, Part 1

We feature an interview with astronomer and author Dr. Emily Levesque about her book, The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers.  In today’s episode, we talk with Dr. Levesque about how one becomes an astronomer and what a typical – and sometimes not so typical – night’s work is like at an observatory with highly sophisticated scientific instruments in very remote and difficult locations.

Host, Producer, Engineer: Joel Parker

Listen to the show:

Play

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

Subscribe: RSS

Sounds Wild and Broken

Nature’s Songs and Cries (start time: 0:59) In this week’s show David George Haskell, a biologist at the University of the South, in Sewanee, Tenn., talks with How On Earth’s Susan Moran about his newly published book, Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution’s Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction. The book is at once a meditation and an urgent call to action.

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

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:06 — 62.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS