Fingerprint Hand Gun. (starts at 5:45) How on Earth’s Shelley Schlender talks with Boulder teen scientist Kai Kloepfer, who is creating a “Smart Gun” that won him first prize in engineering at the INTEL international science fair and a $50,000 grant from the Smart Tech Challenges Foundation. Kloepfer’s goal is to prevent accidental shootings of children. His gun fires only when the user’s fingerprint is authorized.
High Altitude Observatory. (starts at 11:35) Director Scott McIntosh talks with How on Earth’s Joel Parker about the observatory and its 75th year celebrations.
Hosts: Joel Parker, Kendra Krueger
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Headline Contributors: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:08 — 28.8MB)
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When it comes to reducing greenhouses gases, every little bit helps, and that includes managing the greenhouse gases produced by how we grow our food. Raising livestock and growing crops both generate greenhouse gases, and to gauge their impact, a new study takes the long range view. The results were published in a paper: “Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the U.S. Great Plains, 1870-2000” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It analyzes 100 years of agricultural production, and it takes this look at farming close to home – it focuses on the bread basket of the United States – the Great Plains, which includes eastern Colorado. Here to tell us more are scientists 
Pluto Flyby (start time 1:00): Joel Parker discusses the New Horizons mission from the command center live!
Real Food (start time 4:20): What we eat , and how we eat, is inextricably connected to our own health as well as the health of the planet. Every decision we make—whether to bake a chocolate cake or buy it from Safeway or at a Farmer’s Market—is full of nuances and even contradictions. 
