The KGNU Science Show
Hosts: Beth Bennett & Angele Sjong
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:38 — 25.3MB)
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Beth interviews neuroscientist and addiction researcher Scott Swartzwelder who talks about his research on reversing alcohol-induced brain damage in young rats. In past work, Professor Swartzwelder and colleagues have identified specific areas of the brain damaged by drinking, especially in adolescent rats. In this interview, he describes, how this damage occurs, and amazingly, how treatment later in life can actually reverse it.
Hosts: Beth Bennett & Angele Sjong
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer:Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Angele Sjong
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Listen to the show:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:57 — 25.6MB)
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In this episode, Beth speaks with Dr Marc Bubbs, author of Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance, his book exploring the fundamentals of high performance. He offers science-based strategies on nutrition, training, sleep, recovery, and stress management to optimize performance for all levels of athletes and trainers. You can read more about the book here and you can find his podcast here.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer” Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Listen to the show:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:44 — 23.6MB)
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Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:01 — 25.7MB)
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In this week’s show, Beth interviews Joshua Goldstein. He and co-author Steffan Qvist wrote eloquently about how nuclear energy can replace fossil fuels – a vital necessity in a rapidly warming world. A new generation of nuclear plants reduces waste and completely eliminates CO2. In Sweden, France and Ontario, these plants have allowed these countries to eliminate their reliance on fossil fuels and significantly reduce their carbon footprints.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer:Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Listen to the show;
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:20 — 24.1MB)
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In this week’s show, Beth interviews Dr. Ivan Liachko, CEO and Co-Founder of Phase Genomics, a startup biotech company recently funded, in part, by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The company is using a new technology that allows researchers to pair plasmids, which are small non-chromosomal pieces of DNA, with the bacterial species carrying them. This is key to identiying the species in the microbiome that carry antibiotic resistacne genes. In the following interview, which starts at about 6:00 Dr Liachko describes the method and its implications. You can see more about the technology at their website.
Hosts: Beth Bennett & Joel Parker
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Joel Parker
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Listen to the show:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:01 — 24.7MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran
Executive producer: Beth Bennett
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:41 — 25.3MB)
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Microbial communities are all around us: in our homes, gardens, oceans, even deep underground but their roles in the function of the biosphere are poorly understood. Today Beth spoke with Professor Noah Fierer, at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, who uses DNA to identify microbes in communities ranging from insect microbiomes to Antarctic soils. He has discovered lots of previously unknown bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic critters which are everywhere, eat everything, and perform surprising roles in ecosystems ranging from our guts to Antarctic soils. You can see more at the Fierer Lab website. And check out the New Yorker article on shower heads. With this episode we resume our series on Our Microbes, Ourselves.
Hosts: Beth Bennett & Chip Grandits
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Chip Grandits
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:21 — 24.1MB)
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Animal scientists have long considered domestic livestock to be too dumb to know how to eat right, but the lifetime research of animal behaviorist Fred Provenza and his colleagues has debunked this myth. Their work shows that when given a choice of natural foods, livestock have an astoundingly refined palate. Like these animals, humans too, have an innate ability to determine what nutrients they need, but we are losing the information from our foods that allow us to make this determination. To view the book, go to: https://chelseagreen.biz/product/nourishment/
Host:
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Beth Bennett
Additional contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:25 — 24.2MB)
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Never Home Alone (starts at 4:26) In this week’s How on Earth, Beth interviews Professor Rob Dunn. In his recent book, Never Home Alone, he gives a sneak peak into the natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements. You can find out more about his book here, find out more about his lab and research at http://robdunnlab.com, and to contribute to their project visit the iNaturalist site.
Hosts: Beth Bennett, Gretchen Wettstein
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Alejandro Soto, Gretchen Wettstein
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:15 — 23.1MB)
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