Tag: Joel Parker

Replaceable You: The Science of Growing Body Parts

The Quest to Replace Human Body Parts (start time: 3:06) In this week’s pledge-drive show, science writer Mary Roach discusses her latest book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, which was recently released in paperback (W.W. Norton & Co.). Roach is a New York Times bestselling author of Stiff,  Fuzz, Bonk, and several more books. In Replaceable You, she explores the centuries-old audacious quest to replace and improve human body parts
—sculpting noses from brass, to borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, to ongoing efforts to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show and Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Joel Parker

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The Scale of the Universe

How big is the universe – not just in the scale of  distance but also the scale of time?  What do those…astronomical…scales mean about us humans on Earth and how can we understand and measure such vast expanses? In this episode, our guest, astronomer and author Dr. Jeff Bennett, helps us wrap our minds around these ideas as we discuss his book The Scale of the Universe. We look back at the Big Bang, the possibility of the existence and meeting aliens, and when events such as the formation of our solar system, the appearance and demise of the dinosaurs, and the evolution of humans fit into the “Cosmic Calendar”.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Colorado’s Wildlife Action Plan, etc.: Pt. II

Black-footed ferret Photo credit: Richard Reading

Protecting Wolves, ferrets, prairie dogs, vultures, etc. (start time: 3:39) How effective are Colorado’s efforts to preserve vulnerable species – wolves, black-footed ferrets, bears, prairie dogs and others? And what ingredients make it possible, including throughout the U.S. and the world, for wild animals and humans to get along when their homes overlap? Today How On Earth host Susan Moran continues her conversation with our guest from last week, wildlife ecologist Dr. Richard Reading, Chair of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, about Colorado’s most recent Wildlife Action Plan, and about other efforts to protect vulnerable species, ranging from butterflies to vultures.  Dr. Reading is also  Vice President of Science and Conservation at the Butterfly Pavilion.
If you missed our Pt. I conversation with Rich Reading last week, click here.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Wind: It’s Past & Future

Credit: Harper

The Force of Wind (start time: 7:10)  For those living here on Colorado’s Front Range, you’ve likely had close encounters with wind — whether you’ve witnessed in fear branches snapping off trees in a windstorm, or simply looked up to marvel at the UFO-like lenticular cloud formations created by fast westerly winds. Love it or hate it, wind is one of the most powerful, yet overlooked, forces that shape our world. In this week’s show, host Susan Moran, along with cohost Joel Parker, interview Simon Winchester about his just-published, book,   The Breath of the Gods: The History and Future of the Wind. Mr. Winchester has written many books, including the New York Times best-seller The Professor and the Madman, as well as Knowing What We Know, and The Perfectionists. His new book explores how wind has influenced everything from the outcomes of war battles, to the advancement of renewable electricity, to the disappearance of several inches of precious top soil across the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Contributors: Beth Bennett, Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett

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Into The Unknown (Part 2)

Into The Unknown (starts at 9:05) What do we know about the universe, and how do we know we know it? Conversely, what do we know we don’t know, what don’t we know that we don’t know, and why not?

To help us unravel these age-old philosophical questions in the context of current science, our guest is Dr. Kelsey Johnson, who received her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Colorado.  Dr. Johnson is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia, and the former president of the American Astronomical Society. She is the founder of the Dark Skies, Bright Kids program, and wrote the children’s book Constellations for Kids. Her most recent book is Into The Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos. In this episode, Dr. Johnson takes us into that unknown, and talks about what we know, what we might know, and what we might never know.

Part 1 of this interview is available here.

We begin this show with some pre-Halloween spooky science news.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Additional contributions:Benita Lee, Jack Armstrong, Shelley Schlender

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Into The Unknown (Part 1)

Into The Unknown (starts at 7:57) What do we know about the universe, and how do we know we know it? Conversely, what do we know we don’t know, what don’t we know that we don’t know, and why not?

To help us unravel these age-old philosophical questions in the context of current science, our guest is Dr. Kelsey Johnson, who received her PhD in astrophysics from the University of Colorado.  Dr. Johnson is a Professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Virginia, and the former president of the American Astronomical Society. She is the founder of the Dark Skies, Bright Kids program, and wrote the children’s book Constellations for Kids. Her most recent book is Into The Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos. In this episode, Dr. Johnson takes us into that unknown, and talks about what we know, what we might know, and what we might never know.

Part 2 of this interview is available here.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Additional contributions: Shelley Schlender, Mac Hebebrand, Lorraine Healy

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:53 — 36.9MB)

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From Habitat Loss to Repairing Connectivity

Courtesy: Patagonia Works

Helping Wild Animals Roam (start time: 3:29) Wild animals, whether  buffalos or bats,  need space to move around–not just to survive, but to forage,  reproduce, migrate, and generally thrive as a species.  But it’s getting increasingly difficult for so many species to do this, thanks to humans breaking up their habitats to build roads, fences, housing developments, croplands, etc. Of course, climate change, pesticides, and other stressors compound the problem. In this week’s (fall fund drive) show, host Susan Moran interviews Hillary Rosner, a local environmental journalist and University of Colorado Boulder assistant teaching professor of journalism. Her debut book, called Roam: Wild Animals and the Race to Repair Our Fractured World (Patagonia Works), will be released next week. In her reporting, Hillary digs into some of the threats to wildlife here in the U.S. and elsewhere, as well as bold efforts by individual humans and communities to repair and connect landscapes enough to let many animal populations thrive. And in many cases, helping wildlife move also helps human communities become economically and socially stronger.

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

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Science Journalism with Miles O’Brien // Acetaminophen and Autism

This episode features Miles O’Brien, a science journalist who has been a correspondent for PBS News and CNN. He talks about his experience breaking in to science journalism, past and current science reporting, public and political views of science, the value of scientific research, and some particular stories including beavers, prostheses, and climate change research in Antarctica. This feature is an interview by KBUT‘s Toni Todd and shared with us via Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

And we also have a report on the recent government claims about autism and use of acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) during pregnancy, which is disputed by researchers and medical groups.   We provide the full transcript of the press conference held by SciLine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science with Brian Lee, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at Drexel University.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Additional contributions: Shelley Schlender

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Climate Change, Astronomy, Canine Astronauts

Climate change. Astronomy.  A canine astronaut. They intersect in our guest, astronomer and author Dr. Jeff Bennett. Among other things, we focus on climate change and policy – present and future.

Dr. Bennett got his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado, and he served two years as a Visiting Senior Scientist at NASA Headquarters, where he was the first scientist hired within a science division specifically to leverage science missions for education. As an author, Dr. Bennett has written college textbooks in astronomy, mathematics, statistics, and astrobiology, and a freely available, interactive digital textbook about Earth and Space Science for middle- and high-school students.  He also has written popular books that include a series for children about an intrepid astronaut dog named Max, who goes to the Moon, Mars and elsewhere.

A particular topic we plan to delve into today with Dr. Bennett is regarding his book titled: “A Global Warming Primer: Pathway to a Post-Global Warming Future”.  A current issue is the EPA’s proposal to rescind the 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding. The comment period for the proposed rule change has been extended to September 22. Other issues include the Department of Energy’s recent report critical of climate change research (see rebuttals of the report by Dr. Bennett and others), and whether NASA will continue doing climate and other Earth-based science.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran

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The Vera Rubin Observatory

The history of astronomy has many stories of trying to understand our universe, and those stories are connected by a common thread: looking at the sky, whether with our eyes or with increasingly powerful telescopes.  The newest entry in this telescopic journey is the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Located in Chile, this observatory has an audacious goal: to repeatedly observe the entire sky visible from its location every few nights, with a project called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time.

To talk about the Vera Rubin observatory and its science goals, our guest today is Dr. Tony Tyson, Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Tyson’s research focuses on experimental physics and cosmology, and he is the Observatory’s Chief Scientist.

Host: Joel Parker
Show Producer/Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Additional Contributions: Beth Bennett

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:24 — 37.6MB)

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