Move Your Body!

On today’s show Beth plays portions of a chat (full version here; actual talk starts at 1 minute in) she had with Katy Bowman who is a nationally-known biomechanist, author, and movement educator. They spoke at the Boulder Bookstore, where Katy discussed her new book, My Perfect Movement Plan. Bowman combines big-picture lessons on biomechanics, kinesiology, physiology, and natural human movement with simple and practical solutions and exercises to get all your body parts moving better. Her ‘Movement is Nutrition’ approach addresses the need of our bodies for a wide variety of daily movements in order to work well. Building off the idea that movement is more than exercise, Katy wants to us to create a movement diet that will provide both macro- and micronutrients that the body needs in order to stay well and work well.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

Listen to the show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:08 — 29.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Move Your Body – Extended Version

If you listened to Beth’s chat with author Katy Bowman about her book (Your Perfect Movement Plan) – complete with some audience questions – and want to hear more, here is the full hour plus session. (Actual conversation starts about 2 minutes into the file.)

Listen now:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:31 — 70.3MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Plastic Pollution: Sources, Impacts, Solutions

Credit: Monterey Bay Aquarium

Tackling Plastic Pollution (start time: 3:50) In this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews science journalists Fionna Samuels, an assistant editor at Chemical & Engineering News, a publication  of the American Chemical Society; and Priyanka Runwal, an associate editor at C&EN. Along with  other colleagues, they wrote cover articles in the November 28th issue of C&EN on the sources and impacts of plastic pollution. Indeed, plastics, mostly made from fossil fuels, are wreaking havoc on our environment and potentially our bodies. Although it’s still unclear precisely how much our bodies are accumulating tiny plastic particles, and to what effect, scientists are warning that nanoplastics could be altering our brains, our reproductive system, and our metabolism. Recently, representatives from many nations, including the United States, met to reach a first-of-its-kind United Nations global treaty to tackle plastic pollution. They failed. But outside the realm of treaties, a lot is being done, and far more can be done, to reduce the production, use, and waste of plastic.

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

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:42 — 36.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Xmas Bird Count

Spotted Towhee

Field Report (starts 1:00) We join Boulder naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman on a Christmas Bird Count as Boulder’s winter water saunas.

Xmas Bird Count’s Bill Schmoker (starts 4:28) Boulder’s Annual Xmas Bird Count is Sunday December 15th.  Bill Schmoker is the organizer of this Count, which is one of the longest-running and largest in the nation.  He explains how it’s done, and why it’s important to the science of bird ecology.

Host: Benita Lee
Show Producers: Elena Klaver/Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Ruth Carol Cushman, Steve Jones
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Cocoa Flavonoids // Science of Happiness

Dark Hot Cocoa  (Taylor Wolfram)

Cocoa Flavonoids  (starts 1:00) Could a cozy cup of cocoa help with holiday stress?  Nutrition Scientist Catarina Rendeiro explains how chocolate can provide anti-inflammatory flavanoids, but MOST do not.  And there’s a way to tell.

 

 

CU Boulder Scientist June Gruber

Science of Happiness (starts 10:33) CU Boulder Neuro-psychologist June Gruber explains the Science of Happiness, her Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Lab, how keeping a gratitude journal can benefit health . . . and plans for Thanksgiving.   Gruber’s class on the Science of Happiness gets rave reviews.

 

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producers: Joel Parker/Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

IF Federal Environmental Protections Go Away . . . EDF Speaks Out.

World Climate Talks (Starts 1:00)  CU Boulder Director of Environmental Journalism Tom Yulsman gives an update on COP29 United Nations 29th Conference on Climate Change, in this hottest year on record, and threats to shut down NOAA.

Methane Leaks, Trump and the EDF (starts 4:10) EDF — Environmental Defense Fund’s Rosalie Winn, explains why reducing methane leaks is crucial, and what to do if many federal environmental protections against methane leaks or air pollution go away.

Executive Producer/Show Producer: Shelley Schlender
Additional Contributions: Tom Yulsman, Joel Parker
Engineer: Jackie Sedley

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:58 — 37.1MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Where is Science Going in the Next 4 Years?

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 05: U.S. President Donald Trump and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, hold a press briefing with members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force on April 5, 2020 in Washington, DC. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a recommendation that all Americans should wear masks or cloth face coverings in public settings. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
Today on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Dr Jon Samet, former dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology and Occupational and Environmental Health. Dr. Samet has served on and chaired numerous committees of the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, also chairing the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee of the U.S. EPA and the FDA’s Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. He has an insider view on some of the implications of the newly elected administration for science.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Jackie Sedler

Listen to the Show:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:11 — 20.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Europa Clipper

image from NASA/JPL-Caltech

Today’s show features NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which launched on October 14th, 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket, setting the spacecraft on its 10-year journey to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa.  Europa Clipper carries nine instruments to study this ocean world covered by an ice shell to determine if there are places in the watery depths below the surface that could support life.  The mission’s goals are to study ice shell, the sub-surface ocean, and the moon’s composition and geology.  Our guest is Dr. Bonnie Buratti, a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Deputy Project Scientist for the Europa Clipper mission.

Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
Show Producer & Engineer: Joel Parker

Listen to the Show:

Play

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

Subscribe: RSS

COP16 Biodiversity Conference

COP16: Hope & Hurdles (start time: 1:20)  On this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews two conservation biologists at Colorado State University — Chris Funk and Liba Pejchar. They both recently attended the United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16, which is still underway in Cali, Colombia, and they share their experiences, perspectives, and optimism from the global gathering.  Nearly 200 nations are attending the summit to negotiate targets aimed at slowing the alarming decline in plant and animal species and critical habitats around the world. The outcomes of the talks could determine the roadmap for the future of the planet (despite the fact that the United States has not been a signatory to the global biodiversity treaty). The stakes are high: Biodiversity is shrinking globally faster than at any time in history,  with around 1 million plant and animal species currently threatened with extinction, according to an intergovernmental panel of scientists. Two years ago, the biodiversity conference, which convenes every two years, met in Montreal and hashed out a landmark agreement.  Among the 23 measures in the accord is a commitment to place 30 percent of the planet, and 30 percent of degraded ecosystems, under protection by 2030. Some progress has been made, yet so far no nations have met their targets, and COP has no enforcement mechanism.

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

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:25 — 37.7MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Wildfire Mushrooms for Wildfire Mitigation

WIldfire Mushroom c Coldfire Project

Wild, local mushrooms can break down deadwood into healthy soil, and they can do this surprisingly fast.  Used correctly, fungi are an emerging way to reduce the forest tinder that makes mega-wildfires more likely.   But there’s a wrong way and a right way to use mushrooms for mitigation  Our experts today will talk about the ways that are safe for the environment, and the results.

Our experts today are Jeff Ravage of the Coldfire Project and Zach Hedstrom of Boulder Mushroom .  They describe efforts underway to use mushrooms to break down deadwood into soil — to reduce forest tinder and also for sequestering carbon in soil.

Host/Show Producer: Shelley Schlender

Listen to the show here:

Play

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:11 — 30.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS