Tag: Beth Bennett

Fire in a Hotter World

In this week’s How on Earth, Beth speaks with author John Vaillant about his new book, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. He explores the phenomena of fire, the wildland urban interface, and climate change in the context of a precedent-shattering combustion in a modern city.This colossal wildfire in Alberta in 2016 almost consumed a city of nearly 100,000. In the process the fire blew up expectations and responses to wild fires. Vaillant gives an in depth exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind along with personal stories of loss and bravery on the front lines of this horrifying event.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:11 — 37.3MB)

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Chasing Heirloom Seeds with the Seed Detective

In this week’s show Beth speaks with Adam Alexander, author of The Seed Detective, a treasure trove of stories about heirloom seeds and the plants they grow into. Not only does he entertain with his adventures in exotic places, but he also takes the reader on a journey through the history of many common cultivated plants such as peas, lettuce, brussels sprouts, and beans.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett and Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett and Colette Czarnecky
Engineer: Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:21 — 25.1MB)

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How to Make STEM Better

Today on How on Earth, Beth speaks with William Penuel, faculty in the School of Education at CU Boulder, and part of the Renee Crown Wellness Institute. He designs and studies curriculum materials, assessments, and professional learning experiences for teachers in STEM education, especially in science. His work is beginning to focus more on cultivating compassion and dignity in schools and on promoting equitable collaboration in small group learning in STEM classrooms.
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Engineer: Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:10 — 25.8MB)

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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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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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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:26 — 17.8MB)

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The Health of the US Public Health System

On today’s show, Beth speaks with Michael Stein, primary care physician and researcher, who has been writing about medicine and public health for decades. In Me Vs Us, he instigates a conversation about how we might change the current situation in which public health loses out to individual medicine and how public health nevertheless holds the solutions to our most concerning health crises, such as Covid-19 and obesity. In the end, Stein argues, we need to recover and sharpen our sense of health based on a reverent appreciation of both the health care and public health perspectives.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Benita Lee and Shelley Schlender
Engineer Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:31 — 25.2MB)

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Looking for a Good Night’s Sleep?

In today’s show Beth talks with Aric Prather, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, where he co-directs the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center. A licensed clinical psychologist, he has helped hundreds of patients improve their sleep. In his new book, The Sleep Prescription, Dr. Prather describes the solutions that he uses in the clinic to regain normal sleep. In our conversation, Dr. Prather shares the science behind the simple yet effective techniques that can restore one’s sleep.
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contribution: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shannon Young

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:08 — 23.0MB)

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Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World

How on Earth’s Beth Bennett talks with authors Ridge Shinn and Lynne Pledger about how regenerative grazing can replace corn-based feedlots, which are responsible for significant climate emissions, nitrogen pollution, and animal suffering. Their book, Grass-Fed Beef for a Post-Pandemic World, outlines a hopeful path out of our broken food system via regional networks of regeneratively produced meat. They talk about how this ancient method of animal husbandry can restore degraded farmland, increase biodiversity, combat climate change by reducing emissions and sequestering carbon and produce nutrient-dense, healthy meat for consumers.  More information at Big Picture Beef.

Also, Shelley Schlender talks with Sarah Johnson, a professor of food, science and human nutrition at Colorado State University, about a recent study indicating that in mice prone to artery disease, those that ate belgian endive reduced the instability of artery plaques. That may be important, because in people, unstable plaques can trigger heart attacks.

Hosts: Joel Parker, Beth Bennett
Producer: Joel Parker
Additional contributions: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:01 — 37.1MB)

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Song of the Cell: Siddhartha Mukherjee’s New Book

Today on How on Earth, Beth talks with Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee. His first book, The Emperor of All Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. His new book, The Song of the Cell, explores our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Mukherjee tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and are now using that knowledge to create new humans. He combines accessible and exciting science writing with his own experience as a researcher, a doctor, and a prolific reader, to pull us into the expanding story of cell biology.
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Show Producer:Beth Bennett
Headline Contribution: Joel Parker

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:25 — 22.9MB)

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Hearing & Hearing Aids

Starting this week, the FDA has approved the sale of over-the-counter hearing aids.  In light of that, in today’s edition of How on Earth, we play an Encore Feature from February 2020 of an interview we did with David Owen about his book, Volume Control, in which he explores the surprising science of hearing and the remarkable technologies that can help us hear better.

Hosts: Joel Parker, Beth Bennett
Producer: Joel Parker
Additional contributions: Benita Lee, Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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

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