The KGNU Science Show
Host:Beth Bennett
Producer:Beth Bennett
Engineer:Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions:Joel Parker
Executive Producer:Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:01 — 28.6MB)
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What are the qualities that make a good scientist?
What are the qualities that make a good science fiction writer?
Those skills do not necessarily overlap, but when they do, they not only can produce wonderful works of speculative fiction based on hard science, but they also can generate exciting new ideas for science research.
Our guest on today’s show inhabits both worlds; he is a professional scientist and a well-known science fiction writer. Dr. Gregory Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvin, where he has been a faculty member since 1971. Benford conducts research in plasma turbulence theory and experiment, and in astrophysics. He has published papers in fields of physics including condensed matter, particle physics, plasmas, mathematical physics, and even in biological conservation and geoengineering.
Dr. Benford also is a Nebula Award winning author of over twenty novels, including “Timescape”, “Jupiter Project”, “Artifact”, and “Against Infinity”, and the 6-book “Galactic Center Saga” series. He also is an advisor on the Breakthrough Starshot project that has the goal to fly a spaceship to the nearest star.
Hosts: Joel Parker, Alejandro Soto
Producer and Engineer: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:08 — 25.8MB)
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Methane Madness (start time: 2:20) More than a decade ago, scientists noted that the area where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet, known as Four Corners, appeared to be emitting a curiously large amount of methane. In a new study, a team of scientists have traced the source: more than 250 gas wells, storage tanks, pipelines and processing plants associated with oil and gas development in the San Juan Basin. The basin is one of many places where new drilling technologies, including horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, have propelled a boom in natural gas extraction. The boom has transformed the U.S. energy mix. Our two guests discuss with hosts Daniel Glick and Susan Moran the science and public health aspects of this study as well as the human side of living near natural gas wells in Colorado. Dr. Colm Sweeney co-authored the recent Four Corners study. He is the lead scientist for NOAA’s Earth System Research Lab Aircraft Program, and he is a research scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES, at the University of Colorado Boulder. Our other guest, Dr. Christopher Clack, is a physicist and mathematician with CIRES whose research focuses on renewable electricity. He shares his personal experience with and documentation of natural gas extraction.
Hosts: Daniel Glick, Susan Moran
Producer: Susan Moran
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Contributor: Joel Parker
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:28 — 25.1MB)
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Tackling Lead Contamination: Flint and Beyond (start time: 6:27) When you pour yourself a glass of water from the tap, do wonder whether it’s truly clean and safe? How would you know for sure? Flint, Mich., is a haunting example of how a breakdown in water-supply infrastructure, and political integrity, can result in lead contamination of a city’s tap water. Last year, thanks to the dogged investigation of an environmental engineer from Virginia, all of us nationwide were rattled by the disclosure that Flint residents were drinking poisoned tap water and that their city and federal officials were doing little to disclose the problem, much less tackle it. Since then, lead-poisoning outbreaks have emerged in Portland, Ore., Cleveland, Ohio, and elsewhere. Dr. Marc Edwards is the Virginia Tech professor who led the investigation in Flint, and previous water-contamination probes, most notably in Washington, D.C. He talks with How On Earth host Susan Moran about the public health, political and racial-justice facets of the Flint water crisis, and how many more similar crises around the country can be prevented in the future.
For more info, check out NRDC’s recent report on Flint, Marc Edwards’ and his team’s research, and ACLU Michigan‘s investigations.
Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
Producer: Susan Moran
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Joel Parker
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:23 — 36.4MB)
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Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:47 — 24.5MB)
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The Keeling Curve (starts 5:00) Friday, August 12th the Boulder Shambala Center hosts: Living Beyond Hope And Fear: Social Confidence And Climate Change. One leader of the event is the daughter of scientist who created the Keeling Curve for tracking CO2. Emily Takahashi talks about how the memory of her father’s work inspired her to do the symposium.
Electric Airplanes (starts 8:12) The constant drone of airplanes has many nature lovers wishing planes could be quieter. It’s starting to happen, thanks to tinkerers and scientists who are building reliable electric powered airplanes, such as Randall Fishman of ElectraFlyer.
Moth Parties (starts 15:03) It’s that time of year when butterflies, dragonflies and other colorful insects fill the air. A more humble flying creature is the lowly moth. Boulder Audubon Society‘s, Pam Piombino .says moths are gaining enough of a following, some people now hold Moth Parties about . . . moths. (Moth music is “Moths Around the Candle Flame.”)
Hosts: Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Headlines: Alejandro Soto, Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender, Kendra Krueger
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:28 — 25.2MB)
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In Colorado, a boom in methane development over the past few years has raised questions about whether the environmental impacts are outpacing scientists’ ability to measure them. Shelley Schlender and Daniel Glick discuss the current state of the science looking into fracking’s impacts. Here is a compendium of scientific, medical, and media findings demonstrating risks and harms of fracking.
Hosts: Daniel Glick, Shelley Schlender
Producer: Joel Parker
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Headlines: Beth Bennett, Natalia Bayona, Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:18 — 25.1MB)
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Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:40 — 25.3MB)
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Sustainable Agriculture (starts 3:06): We couldn’t feed the planet without nitrogen, a vital nutrient for crops. But most soils don’t produce enough of it to feed anywhere near our 7 billion-plus humans on the planet. So, for nearly a century we’ve been applying synthetic fertilizer—mainly nitrogen and phosphorus — to grow crops for animals and people. But we have overindulged, creating vast amounts of waste, in the form of nitrogen pollution of waterways and the atmosphere. State and federal regulations have pressured growers to dramatically reduce fertilizer runoff from their fields. But it’s not been enough. Another approach – call it the carrot versus the stick – is also taking hold. Major food retailers, wholesalers, and producers, such as Walmart, United Suppliers and Unilever are transforming their whole supply chains, making food production less carbon- and nitrogen-intensive. Suzy Friedman, a sustainable agriculture expert with the Environmental Defense Fund, discusses with host Susan Moran how programs such as SUSTAIN help large food companies shrink their environmental footprint.
Hosts: Natalia Bayona, Susan Moran
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Tim Russo
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:26 — 24.2MB)
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Quantum Dot Antibiotics (starts 1:00) This programmable antibiotic might keep pace with quickly evolving superbugs. Unlike most drugs – it’s not derived from biological sources. It’s a tiny version of the semiconductors in everything from TVs to iphones to solar panels. This “antibiotic” is made of nanoparticles, known as quantum dots. CU Biofrontiers scientists Prashant Nagpal and Anushree Chatterjee explain their new invention.
Shrinking Ozone Hole – (starts 15:24) The ozone hole is finally growing smaller – we’ll find out why and how long it will take to completely “heal” the ozone hole from Birgit Hassler, a researcher with the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a partnership between the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Susan Moran
Producer:Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:17 — 30.1MB)
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