Category: Episodes

The Case for the Ketogenic Diet – A Talk with Gary Taubes

The Case for Keto
The Case for Keto

In today’s show, Beth talks with science writer and journalist Gary Taubes about his new, and more personal book (The Case for Keto) on his experience with the low-carb, high fat or ketogenic diet. He interviewed hundreds of people, physicians, scientists, and ordinary folks, about their experiences on this diet. The keto diet produces consistency weight loss because it circumvents the insulin system, activated by carbs, which promotes fat storage. And yet, this diet also produces good health metrics in terms of cholesterol and other outcome measures. The interview starts at about 9 minutes in.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Producer:Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker

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Recycling Lithium-ion Batteries

figure from Xu et al. 2020, Joule, vol. 4, p. 2609
Figure from Xu et al. 2020, Joule, vol. 4, p. 2609

Our lives have been changed by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries which are everywhere: in our cell phones, cars, toys, power tools and grid energy storage. Indeed, the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the three scientists who invented and developed them.  As the world manufactures more and more Li-ion batteries, what are the challenges and opportunities for recycling them?  How can we prevent the batteries from ending up in landfills where the toxic metals inside can leak out?   In this episode, we talk with Dr. Zheng Chen, a professor of nanoengineering at the University of California, San Diego, and co-author on the paper “Efficient Direct Recycling of Lithium-Ion Battery Cathodes by Targeted Healing” published a few weeks ago in the journal Joule. 

Hosts: Jill Sjong, Joel Parker
Feature: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Joel Parker
Engineer: Sam Fuqua

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:14 — 37.4MB)

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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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Octopus Wild

Craig Foster with his octopus teacher
Craig Foster with his octopus teacher

This week we review the hit movie “My Octopus Teacher,” the story about a man who goes diving in a kelp forest off the Western Cape of South Africa, and becomes acquainted with an octopus.   We review the movie with Roger Hanlon, a diving biologist, cephalopod expert and senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA.   We discuss the octopus’ elaborate camouflage and complex behavior.  We’ll get some answers to our octopus questions:   Do they dream?   Do they play?   Use tools?   Are octopuses a second form of intelligent life on earth?

You can learn more about the South African sea forest at the Sea Change Project.  You can learn more about octopuses at Roger Hanlon’s research.

Host & Producer:   Jill Sjong
Executive Producer:  Beth Bennett
Engineer:   Sam Fuqua

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:30 — 37.8MB)

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The Reindeer Chronicles: Stories of Environmental Regeneration

Reindeer Chronicles
Reindeer Chronicles

This week on How on Earth, Beth interviews author Judith Schwartz. In her new book, the Reindeer Chronicles, she takes the reader on a tour of some of the most wounded places on earth, and stories of how a passionate group of eco-restorers is leading the way to their revitalization. This optimistic book describes solutions to seemingly intractable problems that can restore local water, carbon, nutrient, and energy cycles.

Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Sam Fuqua
Additional contribution: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:27 — 26.0MB)

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Andrea Tilstra – Deaths of Despair – or not

Andrea TilstraCU-Boulder Sociologist Andrea Tilstra discusses how this decade’s reduction of lifespan in the US  ties closely with two factors 1) easier access to painkillers and opioids, and 2) the obesity epidemic and the related health problems that come with it.  Tilstra also explains the quesitons a social scientist/demographer asks when examining the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 Boulder County local tracking of the pandemic, and the human factors to consider as people face the stresses of social distancing and trying to stay connected.

Producer and Host:   Shelley Schlender
Engineer:   Maeve Conran
Executive Producer:   Jill Sjong
Additional Contributions:  Music from Lynn Patrick

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:11 — 24.9MB)

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Clean – The New Science of Skin

31hxj3045QLHow clean is “clean”?  How do you get clean, and how important is it…could it actually be advantageous to your skin and general health to not try to get too clean?  We talk with medical doctor and author Dr. James Hamblin about his new book “Clean:  The New Science Of Skin“.

Hosts: Chip Grandits, Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Jill Sjong
Show Producer and Engineer: Joel Parker
Additional Contributions: Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:21 — 25.0MB)

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The Shale Revolution: Weld County’s Golden Goose- Part Two

Left: Image courtesy of EcoNation, NZ. Right: Map of active oil and natural gas wells in Colorado.
Left: Image courtesy of EcoNation, NZ. Right: Map of active oil and natural gas wells in Colorado.

In Part Two of the Shale Revolution, we look at the environmental concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing, particularly the air quality along the Front Range.    We interview Detlev Helmig, an atmospheric scientist, who monitors the air quality along the front range.    We also discuss why well setbacks are such a contentious issue in Colorado.

Producer and Host:   Jill Sjong
Engineer:   Maeve Conran
Executive Producer:   Jill Sjong

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:19 — 28.3MB)

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The Shale Revolution: Weld County’s Golden Goose- Part One

Left: Image courtesy of EcoNation, NZ. Right: Map of active oil and natural gas wells in Colorado.
Left: Image courtesy of EcoNation, NZ. Right: Map of active oil and natural gas wells in Colorado.

This week on How on Earth, we look at the shale industry, which has transformed this country in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago.    How did this happen?   Where do experts think the fracking industry might be going?     In this two-part series, we consider why Wall Street and environmentalists are becoming strange new allies.

We interview Paula Noonan from Colorado Watch, the platform for tracking Colorado Legislature.   We also listen to excerpts from Bethany McLean, author of Saudi America:   the Truth about Fracking and how it’s Changing the World.

Host/Producer:     Jill Sjong
Engineer:   Maeve Conran
Executive Producer:   Susan Moran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:02 — 32.0MB)

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