Tag: Joel Parker

Your Brain On (and off) Chronic Pain: Part I

chronic pain on the brain

Chronic pain science and treatments (start time: 4:27) In this week’s show host Susan Moran interviews two experts on the emerging neuroscience of and mind-body treatments for chronic pain, which is a leading cause of disability in the U.S. As many as one in five Americans suffer from chronic pain. The problem has cost the country more than $600 billion in treatments and lost work-time. Our guests today are at the forefront of research and clinical treatment of chronic pain. Dr. Yoni Ashar is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in the Department of Internal Medicine. Several years ago he led the Boulder Back Pain Study on a mind-body program called Pain Reprocessing Therapy.  Brad Fanestil, MD, is an internist and the director of the Center for Mind Body Medicine at Boulder Community Health. Stay tuned for details on a Part II discussion on mind-body medical treatments for chronic pain, anxiety and other ailments.
Relevant resources:
* New randomized back-pain study (led by Dr. Ashar) seeks subjects.
* The Way Out, by Alan Gordon
* Lecture by Dr. Fanestil on treating chronic pain with mind-body medicine
* Curable app for managing chronic pain

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
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Water Reuse for the Arid West

Photo credit: WateReuse Colorado

Water Recycling for Climate Resilience (start time: 7:54) When you poured tap water into your coffee maker this morning, or flushed the toilet, you may not have been thinking about where that water came from, or where it flowed to next. Pegged to World Water Week, on this week’s How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews Austa Parker, PhD, an environmental engineer who is a consultant for the firm Brown and Caldwell on national water-reuse issues. She formerly worked for Denver Water and as an adjunct professor at CU Boulder. Our discussion focuses on direct potable reuse (DPR), the process of transforming treated wastewater, including human effluence, into drinking water. Climate change, intensifying droughts and population growth in the already parched U.S. West are pressuring states and cities to pursue DPR as a means of becoming more climate-resilient.
Resource links:
WateReuse Colorado
WateReuse Association (national)
Colorado’s regulations (passed in late 2022) on direct potable reuse

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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AI or not AI, that is the question — ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Human World

A DALL-E generated image of this interview
A DALL-E generated image of this interview.

We talk with Dr. Casey Fiesler, Associate Professor of Information Science at the University of Colorado, Boulder about “generative AI,” particularly regarding ChatGPT and DALL-E, which are topics of recent news stories expressing excitement and concern.

We asked ChatGPT to write a description of what such an interview might be:

Dr. Casey Fiesler joins Joel Parker on the KGNU radio science show How on Earth to discuss generative AI and its recent breakthroughs, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E. Fiesler explains that these AI models use deep learning algorithms to generate new content, such as text or images, based on patterns found in existing data. She acknowledges the impressive capabilities of these models, such as DALL-E’s ability to create highly realistic images from textual prompts. However, Fiesler also raises concerns about the potential negative impacts of generative AI, including the perpetuation of biases found in training data or the creation of harmful fake content. Fiesler emphasizes the importance of responsible development and use of these technologies, as well as ongoing research into addressing these issues.

After you listen to the show, you can determine how accurate is that description.  And can you identify the three interview questions we asked that were generated by ChatGPT?

Host & Producer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Featured Music: “Reflection” – generative music by Brian Eno

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James Webb Space Telescope (Part 2)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – JWST – was launched on December 25th, 2021.  We talked with scientists and engineers about JWST’s first year and some of the projects it is being used for.  In this second part of our JWST special, our guests and their projects are:

Check out Part 1 of this feature (2022 Dec 20)

Host & Producer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Featured Music: “Floating in Heaven” by Graham Gouldman and Brian May

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James Webb Space Telescope (Part 1)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope – JWST – was launched one year ago on December 25th, 2021.  We talked with scientists and engineers about JWST’s first year and some of the projects it is being used for.  In this first part of our JWST special, our guests are:

Check out Part 2 of this feature (2023 Jan 31)

Host & Producer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Featured Music: “Floating in Heaven” by Graham Gouldman and Brian May

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Finding Home in a Changing Climate

Unruly Planet (start time: 5:31) This week on How On Earth Susan Moran interviews science journalist Madeline Ostrander about her recently published book, At Home On An Unruly Planet: Finding Refuge On A Changed Earth. The author reflects on what it means to reimagine the concept of home, and to literally find a secure home, in this era of upheaval and change. The book, and our conversation today, explore the predicament of climate refugees as well as heroic individuals who are proactively working to preserve and recreate communities.

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

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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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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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Beavers: Engineers for Our Planet

Photo credit: Chris Canipe

Today’s show features:
Employing Beavers (start time: 11:12):  Some consider them pests. Others praise them as saviors of the environment. Whatever your impression of these furry swimming rodents, beavers are gaining more proponents for their ability to make landscapes, and thus humans, more resilient to climate change. Through their dams and lodges, beavers raise water levels, moisten fire-prone forest soil, slow water speed, and thus prevent flooding while storing more water. Host Susan Moran talks with Jessica Doran, a wildlife biologist with EcoMetrics Colorado; and Aaron Hall, senior aquatic biologist with Defenders of Wildlife, about the promises and complexities of employing beavers as ecosystem engineers.
Beaver resources:
iBeaver (crowdsourcing App from Defenders of Wildlife)
How On Earth 2018 interview with Eager author Ben Goldfarb
Rewilding the American West (Ripple et al, BioScience, 2022)

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Show Producer: Susan Moran
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline contributors: Beth Bennett, Shelley Schlender, Tom Yulsman

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:13 — 37.4MB)

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Colorado River Basin Crisis: Pt. II

Colorado River Basin Crisis Pt. II (start time: 6:19): This week’s How On Earth show focuses on the implications and future prospects after the federal government in June ordered the seven Western states that rely on the river to come up with a plan to save trillions of gallons of water from the shrinking river) — and after the August 15 deadline came and passed without a deal. (Here’s the Bureau of Reclamation’s news release.) How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews Aaron Citron, senior policy advisor with The Nature Conservancy’s Colorado chapter; and journalist Jerd Smith, editor of Fresh Water News. (For background, check out our July 26th show, Pt. I on the Basin’s Basin’s climate, drought, and overuse crisis. Also, see how you can make a difference by taking advantage of this recently signed legislation that helps Colorado residents convert their grass lawns into water-saving landscapes.)

Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Headline contributors: Beth Bennett, Shelley Schlender

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:05 — 38.6MB)

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