Tag: Beth Bennett

The (ever-changing) Scoop on Vaccines

On this week’s How on Earth, Beth describes recent developments in defunding NIH research and CDC limits on vaccine availability; then digs into vaccine safety and development with global vaccine expert, Dr Dr Kawsar Talaat. Dr Talaat is a physician who is board certified in Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases and whose research focuses on vaccines. She has worked on clinical trials for a variety of vaccines, including influenza, malaria, Ebola, and several gut bacteria. Currently, Dr. Talaat oversees COVID-19 vaccine trials in adults and children, and is Johns Hopkins Principal Investigator for the CDC Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment project.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:23 — 24.7MB)

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Wildfires in a Changing Climate

On this week’s show we replay an interview from two years ago with author John Valliant on his then-newly released book, Fire Weather, the story – and much more- of the groundbreaking wildfire that devastated the oil sands capital city of Fort McMurray in Alberta. Given the current outbreaks of Colorado wildfires, getting bigger and harder to contain each year, Valiant’s message of the changing nature of these horrifying disasters is ever more pertinent. Also, headlines on the evolving nature of science in another changing climate of federal oversight.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer:Beth Bennett
Additional Contribution: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:40 — 22.4MB)

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The Tumor Microbiome Can Affect Cancer Survival

On this week’s show Beth speaks with computational biologist Justine Debelius about the role of the microbiome. We first discussed a study she was involved in recently that identified how changes in colon cancer tumors can affect survival. Then, she described a large collaborative project she is currently working on to identify factors influencing the development of the microbiome in children and how that affects them later in life.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran & Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:38 — 21.9MB)

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Viruses are Us!

In this week’s science show Beth talks with genome biologist Ed Chuong of CU Boulder’s innovation incubator, the Biofrontiers Institute. Ed takes us for a whirlwind tour of the evolutionary history of these viral invaders of our genome, and some examples of how they can simultaneously be friend and foe. Teaser, did you realize that the genes that allow the formation of the placenta, the organ that nourishes human (and other mammal) fetuses, came from viruses!

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

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:17 — 26.3MB)

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Animal Pandemics?

On this week’s How on Earth, Beth talks with author and science journalist Liz Kalaugher, about her new book, The Elephant in the room:How to Stop Making Ourselves and Other Animals Sick. Think about it this way: When new diseases spread, news reports often focus on wildlife culprits–rodents, monkeys and mpox; bats and COVID-19; waterfowl and avian flu; or mosquitoes and Zika. But, as Liz points out, we see it often works the other way around–humans have caused diseases in other animals countless times, through travel and transport, the changes we impose on our environment, and global warming. In her deeply researched and often entertaining book, Liz introduces the wildlife we have harmed and the experts now studying the crosscurrents between humans, other animals, and health.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker and Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Jackie Sedley

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:11 — 27.8MB)

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

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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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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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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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What’s Up with the Polio Vaccine?

Today on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Professor Vincent Racaniello of the Columbia University Medical Center. He has been studying viruses, particularly the polio virus, for over 40 years. Professor Racaniello is passionate about teaching virology to the World. His virology lectures can be found on YouTube. He blogs and produces the podcast ‘This Week in Virology’. We cover the history of the different polio vaccines and why the oral vaccine has contributed to the resurgence of the disease in underdeveloped populations in for example, Africa, and recently, Gaza. But it’s popping up here, in the developed nations also. You’ll also hear from How On Earther Tom Yulsman speaking with author and photographer Jon Waterman about his recent book on the effects of climate change in the Arctic.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Tom Yulsman
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:13 — 22.9MB)

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