Shows
Radio Book Club – KGNU Community RadioAfterhours at the Radio Bookclub: R.L. Maizes
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Afterhours_RobertMcBrearty_v211-2025
Maeve Conran
Listen to more of our conversation with author R.L. Maizes, where she talks about her writing process and being part of a local writing community.
Listen to the broadcast interview with R.L. Maizes, where she talks about her new novel “A Complete Fiction.”
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Afterhours_RobertMcBrearty_v211-2025
Maeve Conran
Subscribe to our Radio Book Club Series on iTunes to get new editions and web-only content. Also on Spotify and
2025-12-2500 minRadio Book Club – KGNU Community RadioRadio Bookclub: Memory WardThe April 2025 selection for the Radio Bookclub is Memory Ward, the latest book by Longmont author Jon Bassoff. The psychological thriller is set in Bethlam, Nevada, a seemingly perfect suburban idyll. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that not everything is as it seems.
Postal worker Hank Davies begins to suspect something is off and sets out to uncover what’s real and what isn’t.
This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Boulder Bookstore on March 7, 2025.
The episode aired on KGNU Thursday, April 24, at 9 a.m.
2025-04-2500 min
KGNU Radio Book ClubPeter Heller - BurnThe September selection for the Radio Bookclub is Burn, the latest novel by Peter Heller. The novel is set in rural Maine and tells the story of two men, Jess and Storey — friends since boyhood — who emerge from the woods after a hunting trip to find a dystopian country wracked by bewildering violence. This is Peter’s sixth time as a guest at the Radio Bookclub. This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Boulder Bookstore on August 27th, 2024. This episode was broadcast on KGNU on Thursday September 26th at 9.00am.
2024-09-2629 min
KGNU - How On EarthWildfires & Smokey Skiescredit: Maeve Conran. The Flatirons in Boulder shrouded in wildfire smoke on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment issued an air quality alert due to particle pollution and ozone levels.
Wildfire smoke has marred the Front Range in recent weeks, due to Megafires that are likely to become more frequent. And more smoke is likely.
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World (Starts 00:00) Beth Bennett speaks with author John Vaillant about the Canadian firestorm that forced 100,000 people to run for their lives . . . and why firestorms like this are becoming m...
2024-07-3026 min
Local MotionLocal Motion: Regional Roundup with Maeve ConranOn this week’s Local Motion, we join Maeve Conran, the Rocky Mountain Community Radio coalition’s managing editor, for our regional news roundup. We’ll hear a feature on a weekly community dinner for seasonal workers in Snowmass, Colorado, an audio postcard on a creek that never freezes in winter and the ducks that enjoy it and an interview with the director of the new documentary In the Dirt about mountain biking on the Navajo Nation.
2024-02-1530 minLocal MotionLocal Motion: Regional RoundupOn this Local Motion, we’ll hear about why some people are choosing a living Christmas tree this holiday season. We also visit the Ute Mountain Ute Park in southwest Colorado. Maeve Conran shares a story on the pushback against efforts to ban children's books in Garfield County. Finally, we learn more about pedestrian dignity.
2023-12-2129 min
A Public Affair Archives - KGNU Community Radio10 years later, Boulder County has scars from the 2013 floodsOn this week’s A Public Affair, KGNU and Report for America’s Jackie Sedley hosts a roundtable discussion in commemoration of the 10-year anniversary of the 2013 Boulder County Flood.
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APublicAffair_2023-09-13
Jackie Sedley
From September 11 through September 15 of 2013, never-before-seen flooding in the region caused countless people to lose their homes, and some to lose their lives. It has been a decade, and the Front Range is still recovering on a geographical, economical, and emotional level.
Guests on today’s episode are Katie Arrington, the Recovery and Resiliency Program Manager for Boulder County...
2023-09-1300 minLocal MotionLocal Motion: A Regional Roundup for the StarsOn this Local Motion, Rocky Mountain Radio's Managing Editor, Maeve Conran looks to the skies. This regional roundup report looks at a recent AstroFest in southeast Utah, as well as discussions around trauma from school shootings, COVID and climate change. Later, hear from DACA recipients as they read excerpts of their monologues from the Motus Theater troupe.
2023-07-0630 min
Working PeopleLisa DoerrWe conclude our series of interviews from rural Wisconsin with farmers and community members fighting to defend life as they know it from the onslaught of Big Agriculture and the factory farming industry. As part of a special collaboration between The Real News Network and In These Times magazine for "The Wisconsin Idea," Max, Cameron Granadino (TRNN), and Hannah Faris (In These Times) travelled to Polk County in Western Wisconsin over the summer to speak with residents about their fight to halt or, at least, adequately regulate a proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) that would house 26,000 hogs and...
2021-10-1142 min
Working PeopleKristy Lynn AllenA proposed concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Burnett County, Wisconsin, is slated to house 26,000 hogs and produce millions of gallons of liquid manure every year. Residents fear the irreparable damage a facility of that size could do to their air, land, and waterways, as well as to their property values and the local economy, and many fear there's nothing they can do to stop it. But a diverse coalition of farmers, community members, and environmental advocates are fighting back to protect their homes, their ways of life, and what remains of the independent farming economy. As part of...
2021-09-3050 min
Working PeopleHog Wild (w/ Lisa Doerr, Forest Jahnke, Hannah Faris, & Maeve Conran)Over the summer, Max traveled to Wisconsin to report on a crucial struggle that has been largely ignored by corporate media. Residents of rural Polk, Burnett, and Crawford counties in Western Wisconsin have been embroiled in battles over the proposed construction of industrial "hog factories" in their communities, which would collectively house roughly 34,000 hogs. These concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) would also produce millions and millions of gallons of liquid manure a year, and residents fear they could cause irreversible damage to their land, air, water, property values, and ways of life. What's happening in Wisconsin is...
2021-09-211h 07KGNU - How On EarthIt’s All in Your Mouth: Exploring Holistic DentistryHolistic DentistryIn this week’s show Beth talks to Dr. Dominik Nischwitz about his new book, It’s All in Your Mouth, to learn more about the relationship between our mouths and the rest of the body. Many European dentists have practiced holistic dentistry for decades. The practice is now becoming more common in the US. This idea is that many common chronic conditions—obesity, inflammation, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, and cancer, among others—often have their origins in the mouth. And by treating the mouth, the body too can benefit. To learn more, you can follow the links...
2020-10-2830 minKGNU - How On EarthAndrea Tilstra – Deaths of Despair – or notCU-Boulder Sociologist Andrea Tilstra discusses how this decade’s reduction of lifespan in the US ties closely with two factors 1) easier access to painkillers and opioids, and 2) the obesity epidemic and the related health problems that come with it. Tilstra also explains the quesitons a social scientist/demographer asks when examining the COVID-19 pandemic, the COVID-19 Boulder County local tracking of the pandemic, and the human factors to consider as people face the stresses of social distancing and trying to stay connected.
Producer and Host: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Jill Sjong
Additional Contr...
2020-10-2027 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Shale Revolution: Weld County’s Golden Goose- Part TwoLeft: Image courtesy of EcoNation, NZ. Right: Map of active oil and natural gas wells in Colorado.
In Part Two of the Shale Revolution, we look at the environmental concerns associated with hydraulic fracturing, particularly the air quality along the Front Range. We interview Detlev Helmig, an atmospheric scientist, who monitors the air quality along the front range. We also discuss why well setbacks are such a contentious issue in Colorado.
Producer and Host: Jill Sjong
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Jill Sjong
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2020-10-0726 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Shale Revolution: Weld County’s Golden Goose- Part OneLeft: Image courtesy of EcoNation, NZ. Right: Map of active oil and natural gas wells in Colorado.
This week on How on Earth, we look at the shale industry, which has transformed this country in ways we could not have imagined a decade ago. How did this happen? Where do experts think the fracking industry might be going? In this two-part series, we consider why Wall Street and environmentalists are becoming strange new allies.
We interview Paula Noonan from Colorado Watch, the platform for tracking Colorado Legislature. We also listen to excerpts from Bethany McLean, author o...
2020-09-2927 minKGNU - How On EarthCOVID-19 CU-BOULDER – OFF CAMPUS PARTIES – SUPERSPREADERSIn this final show in our four-part series on CU Boulder & COVID, we look at how CU Boulder Contact Tracing and CU data collection has revealed that the biggest spreader of COVID-19 on CU Boulder’s campus is students “socializing” in risky ways, particularly in off-campus parties at sororities, fraternities and large student apartment buildings on “The Hill” near CU Boulder. In contrast, attending in-person classes on CU is not a spreader of COVID-19, and neither are the residential halls. This show features news from the CU Chancellor’s office about a stronger call to reduce the spread, the leader of CU Contac...
2020-09-1528 minKGNU - How On EarthTesting wastewater for COVID-19Cresten Mansfeldt
PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN COVID-19 TESTS (starts 1:00) Beth Bennett reviews the years progress and challenges in COVID-19 Tests, including the latest tests at CU Boulder.
CU UPDATE ON COVID-19 (starts 4:15) CU Media Relations spokesperson Candace Smith gives an update on the CU COVID-READY DASHBOARD including progress on getting the Sawyer Lab ultrafast test back in action at CU-Boulder.
WASTEWATER TESTING AT CU DORMS (Starts 9:50) CU Environmental Engineer Cresten Mansfeldt explains how and why CU Boulder is testing for evidence of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 with daily checks of...
2020-09-0826 minKGNU - How On EarthKeeping Indoors COVID-Safe – CU Aerosol Experts Shelly Miller & Jose Luis JimenezGraduate student Teyha Stockman, right, shows off her homemade bell cover made from medical mask material that helps decrease aerosol spread on her clarinet to mechanical engineering professor Shelly Miller Photo courtesy CU.
Ultrafast COVID Test Update (starts 1:00) Sara Sawyer’s ultrafast COVID saliva test might be an option sometime soon for allowing visits inside senior care facilities.
CU COVID-READY DASHBOARD (starts3:35) CU Media Relations spokesperson Candace Smith gives an update, and How on Earth’s Beth Bennett shares comparisons with other university successes and failures at opening up.
KEEPING INDOORS COVID-SAFE (Starts 9:25) CU Aeros...
2020-09-0127 minKGNU - How On EarthCU Boulder – COVID Test InnovationsCU Boulder has just opened up dorms and in-person classes. The CU Boulder Covid Research Strategies Webinar presents innovative testing plans that include ultra-fast COVID tests from the Sara Sawyer Lab and an automated sewage sampling system from Creston Mansfeldt. Both tests may speed early warning of Covid. Both testing strategies are innovative and ambitious. But funding and testing capacity mean only dormitory students receive these tests. Dorm students represent around 20% of CU Boulder students. Roughly 80% of CU students live off-campus (not in the dorms). They are not slated to receive these special tests, or basically, any regular tests.
Currentl...
2020-08-2528 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Neuroscience of PainChronic pain is a debilitating condition for millions of people worldwide. But what role does our brain play in processing pain? Cognitive neuroscientists are gaining a better understanding of how our brain processes pain. Using advanced imaging techniques, they can now measure and model brain systems linked to our pain and emotions. This is shedding new light on interventions for people who suffer from chronic pain.
In this How on Earth episode, Jill Sjong speaks with Tor Wager, Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience at Dartmouth College, and formerly Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU Boulder. Jill also speaks with Charlie Merrill, a...
2020-08-1131 minKGNU - How On EarthCOVID-19: The Evidence for Aerosol Transmission & Implications for ContainmentThis week How on Earth producer Beth Bennett spoke with Professor Jose Jimenez, a professor in the Chemistry Dept here at CU in Boulder. His research background for over two decades has focused on detecting and measuring aerosols. Recently he became involved in applying this expertise to the question of how the corona virus is transmitted. He and his team have developed a model that predicts the likelihood of transmission of the virus from an infected person to other people in an indoor space. Here are find links to the model, a webinar describing its development and use and...
2020-08-0528 minKGNU - How On EarthSalmonella Biofilms — Inside of UsCurli Protein artists rendition cc Wikimedia
Salmonella Biofilms — Inside of Us. (starts 4:06) Foodborne Salmonella infections MIGHT pave the way for arthritis, Parkinson’s disease and even Alzheimer’s. We talk with Aaron White, co-author of a new study documenting how a salmonella infection can “leak” out of the intestines and form velcro-like biofilms in body tissues. These biofilms are made of curly-shaped, curli (scientific name) proteins on the surface of a Salmonella bacteria. These curli proteins help the cells stick together. They’re hard for the body to scrub away, and they might contribute to a number of health problems. ...
2020-07-2827 minKGNU - How On EarthFormation of Pluto and Its OceanFive years ago today on July 14, 2015, the New Horizons spacecraft made the first reconnaissance of Pluto, collecting data that continue to be analyzed and provide surprises of this distant world. On this 5th anniversary of the Pluto flyby, our guest is Dr. Carver Bierson, who is a planetary scientist at Arizona State University. Carver has been involved with the New Horizons mission, and recently published a paper about Pluto based on data from the mission. We talk with him about results in the paper titled: “Evidence for a Hot Start and Early Ocean Formation on Pluto”
Host / Produce...
2020-07-1428 minKGNU - How On EarthNew Method for Measuring CO2 from Fossil FuelsThis week on How on Earth, Beth interviewed Scott Lehman of the University of Colorado here in Boulder. Dr Lehman collaborated with a team at NOAA, to develop a novel technique to identify the CO2 released by burning of fossil fuels, allowing its exact calibration in the global carbon budget. Due to technical difficulties, you can’t hear Beth’s questions in the audio, but Scott’s responses are very clear. You can find more information at his website and read his recent paper published two weeks ago in PNAS.
Host:Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
...
2020-07-0825 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Corral Bluffs’ Fossil Discovery: Earth’s Comeback StoryTyler Lyson. P/C: Westword
In this episode Angele Sjong interviews Tyler Lyson, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, about his team’s extraordinary fossil discovery at the Corral Bluffs.
When the asteroid destroyed most of life on earth 66 million years ago, including the dinosaurs, this cataclysmic event ended the Age of Reptiles and began the Age of Mammals.Paleontologists have long struggled to understand the first million years of the Age of Mammals, however. What kinds of mammals survived this event? When and how did mammals become big again? When...
2020-06-3025 minKGNU - How On EarthVaccine Update // General Anesthetic Poses Alcohol Abuse Risk for KidsThis week on How on Earth, Beth delves into the science of vaccination for the new corona virus and speaks with Dr David Werner of SUNY Binghamton about his research on the likelihood that general anesthetics can set children and adolescents up for the risk of later alcohol abuse. Find out more at his website.
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
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2020-06-1728 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Nature of Science // Biology is Everywhere!Today on How on Earth, Beth plays part of a 1964 lecture by Nobel laureate Richard Feynman in which he discusses how the scientific method actually works and the progressive, and therefore uncertain, nature of science. Then she speaks with Dr Melanie Peffer about her book, Biology is Everywhere, and her goals of making biology accessible and interesting to everyone. Her website was cited incorrectly on the show, here is the true link.
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
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2020-06-0225 minKGNU - How On EarthCarl Safina – Becoming Wild (Animal Culture)Carl Safina – Becoming Wild: How Animal Cultures Raise Families, Create Beauty, and Achieve Peace We talk with bestselling author Carl Safina about his new book, Becoming Wild, which features sperm whales, scarlet macaws and chimpanzees Safina also he reflects on what the Covid-19 pandemic means for the entire kingdom of Life on Earth. (Entire Show)
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Maeve Conran
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2020-05-2627 minKGNU - How On EarthDo Masks Protect from Corona Virus // AgriSolar in BoulderBeth and Angele discuss the pros and cons of mask wearing as protection against the novel corona virus. You can see the video on sneezing, as well as the various types of masks. Then, Angele talks to Byron Kamenick from Jack’s Solar Garden, located outside of Niwot. Jack’s Solar garden is putting in place an Agrivoltaics system this summer. Agrivoltaics combines agriculture and solar panels (photo-voltaics). There are mutual benefits to locating these together. You can find out more about Jack’s at their website.
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
Producer: Angele Sjong & Beth Bennett
E...
2020-05-2230 minKGNU - How On Earth2020 Graduation SpecialWith graduation season is upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is our annual “Graduation Special”. Our guests in the studio today are scientists who have or will soon receive their Ph.D. in a STEM-related field. They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next.
Hayley Sohn – CU Boulder, Materials Science and Engineering Program
Topic: Large-Scale Patterning and Dynamics of Topological Solitons in Chiral Nematic Liquid Crystals
Clement Zheng – CU Boulder, ATLAS Institute
Topic: Everyday Materials for Physical Interactive Systems
2020-05-1027 minKGNU - How On EarthAntibody Testing // Why is the FDA Cracking Down on Raw Milk Cheese?This week on How on Earth, we speak with Professor Catherine Donnelly, of the University of Vermont, about her book, Ending the War on Artisan Cheese. She exposes the efforts of the corporate dairy industry, in conjunction with the FDA, to limit the use of raw milk in making artisanal cheese, despite a long track record of safety in artisans cheese. in this fascinating book, she discusses the art of cheese making, and the self-imposed guidelines that make using raw milk in the artisanal process safe.
Hosts:Beth Bennett & Angele Sjong
Producer:Beth Bennett
Engineer...
2020-04-3030 minKGNU - How On EarthCorona Virus: Therapies and TransmissionThis week on How on Earth, we are still producing off site. Beth and Angele give an update on treatment and transmission of the corona virus and Shelley interviews CU Boulder scientists Anushree Chatterjee and Prashant Nagpal who explain the pros and cons of using old medicines to fight Covid-19, and they describe some new “medicines” in the future, and how to speed up their development.
Hosts: Beth Bennett, Angele Sjong, Joel Parker, Shelley Schlender
Producer: Beth Bennett & Joel Parker
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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2020-04-0927 minKGNU - How On EarthCoVid19 Update // Beer Chemistry ReduxThis week How on Earth adjusts to the restrictions imposed by the corona virus by replaying a previous feature on the chemistry of beer brewing. First Beth gives an overview of some proposed treatments for corona virus. Then, the featured interview with author Pete Brown. When the New York Times reviewed Miracle Brew, the reviewer said: A magisterial tour of fearsome science and vast brewery history leavened with cheery anecdotes, humor, vivid you-are-there prose and a clever eye for personality . . . His rhapsodies about the meaning of life and the meaning of beer are stirring. . . .His expertise and insight will...
2020-04-0827 minKGNU - How On EarthCOVID-19: ACE, Targeted Therapies, Old & New MedicinesThis episode talks about research about COVID-19, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), and targeted therapies, and our feature is an interview with CU-Boulder scientists Anushree Chatterjee and Prashant Nagpal. This husband and wife science team explains why there may be a downside to adapting old medications to fight Covid-19. They’ll also explain their anguish about why creating new “drugs” to fight Covid-19 cannot happen as fast as they or anyone would like. They have founded the Antimicrobial REgeneration Consortium, with the goal of speeding up the creation and availability of antimicrobial medicines. They are also developing a way to give people a ti...
2020-04-0727 minKGNU - How On EarthMiracle Brew (encore feature) // COVID-19 // Drying TowelsThis week on How On Earth, we present an Encore Feature from January 2018 about the science and art of brewing beer with guest Pete Brown, author of Miracle Brew. This episode also includes new headlines about current research about COVID-19 and about the science of drying towels outside.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Joel Parker, Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Angele Sjong
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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2020-03-3127 minKGNU - How On EarthCoVid19 Update // Sleep and Your Immune SystemThis week on How On Earth, we produced the entire show out of the studio, explaining one brief glitch. Beth gives a short update on the way the corona virus infects cells and how this entry point can affect people taking blood pressure medications. In our feature interview, Beth talks with Professor Mark Opp, who studies sleep in his lab at the University of Colorado here in Boulder (interview starts at about 10 minutes). He’s especially interested in the interaction between sleep and our immune systems. Not that long ago, people didn’t think there was any relationship between the...
2020-03-2526 minKGNU - How On EarthIce Age Bone Fire // Backcountry Skiing & WildlifeBackcountry Skiing & Wildlife (Starts 1:00) Margaret Hedderman reports on how off-trail use of wilderness areas is causing increasing harm to wildlife . . . and what to do instead.
Ice Age Bone Fire (starts 6:15) We join Archeologist John Hoffecker and a team of volunteers to recreate a Paleolithic campfire. This “campfire” was used over 20,000 years ago in bitter cold areas of the North, where trees were scarce, and the fuel for making campfires depended on the ability to burn bones. Special thanks to the volunteers who helped with this project — Josh Steinsiek, Dustin Goodew of Arapahoe Meat Company, Outdoorspeople Lin and Henry Balla...
2020-03-0327 min
radio bookclub oldAfterhours at the Radio Bookclub: JP GrittonListen to more of the conversation with JP Gritton in which he talks about writing a western novel and the soundtrack that he created for Wyoming. Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub is a podcast produced by KGNU in collaboration with the Boulder Book Store, co-hosted by Maeve Conran and Arsen Kashkashian.[…]
2020-01-2425 minKGNU - How On EarthKetogenic Diet and Muscle and MemoryThis week on How on Earth, we speak with Dr John Newman, geriatrician and geoscientist at the Buck Institute. He describes his recent research in mice, showing that both memory and muscle improve in animals eating a high fat diet. To see more details on these experiments, you can visit the lab website.
To register for the Air Quality and Climate Conference, send an email to sstrife@bouldercounty.org
Hosts: Angele Sjong & Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer : Beth Bennett
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2020-01-1530 minradio bookclub oldBest Books of the Year 2019Arsen Kashkashian, Liesl Freudenstein, and Stephanie Schindhelm of the Boulder Bookstore join Maeve Conran to share their favorite books of 2019 in our annual end of year Best Books of the year show.
2019-12-1130 minradio bookclub oldAfterhours at the Radio Bookclub: Tiffany Quay TysonListen to more of the conversation with Tiffany Quay Tyson in which she talks about being a writer from the south. Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub is a podcast produced by KGNU in collaboration with the Boulder Book Store, co-hosted by Maeve Conran and Arsen Kashkashian. Listen to more of Tiffany Quay Tyson in our […]
2019-12-0429 minradio bookclub oldAfterhours at the Radio Bookclub: Joe HillListen to more of the conversation with Joe Hill with special guest host Julia Atwood of the Boulder Book Store. Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub is a podcast produced by KGNU in collaboration with the Boulder Book Store, co-hosted by Maeve Conran and Arsen Kashkashian. Listen to more of Joe Hill in our broadcast […]
2019-10-2429 min
Sergio Troncoso's PodcastsColorado Public Radio's KGNU (2019)Maeve Conran interviews Sergio Troncoso about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son on Colorado Public Radio. He discusses how reading expands your empathy when you read stories outside your community. Troncoso also emphasizes why this matters after so much anti-immigrant rhetoric is dividing our country and its many communities.
2019-10-1535 min
Storytelling and the Writing Craft with Sergio TroncosoKGNU Colorado Public Radio Interview (2019)Maeve Conran interviews Sergio Troncoso about A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant's Son on Colorado Public Radio's KGNU.
2019-10-1035 minKGNU - How On EarthPaternity SciencePaternityThis week on How on Earth, Beth interviews Nara Milanich, author of Paternity: The Elusive Quest for the Father, and professor of history at Barnard College. For most of human history, paternity was uncertain while motherhood most definitely was not. But in the 1920s new scientific advances promised to solve the mystery of paternity. The stakes were high: fatherhood confers not only patrimony and legitimacy but also a name, nationality, and identity. We explore the new science of paternity, and some of the complexity of this issue. You can find out more about the book here.
Host: Beth...
2019-06-0528 minKGNU - How On EarthA Walking Life // MOSAIC Arctic ExpeditionPhoto from Alfred Wegener Institute
In the first feature (start time 1:00) KGNU’s Maeve Conran speaks with Antonia Malchik, author of A Walking Life. This book explores the relationship between walking and our humanity, how we have lost it through a century of car-centric design, how we can regain it and more. This part of the interview, produced especially for How On Earth, focuses on the science behind what makes us able to walk. For a pedestrian, walking is a simple as putting one foot in front of another, right? Well from a scientific perspective, there’s quite a b...
2019-05-2825 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Nuclear Option for DecarbonizationIn this week’s show, Beth interviews Joshua Goldstein. He and co-author Steffan Qvist wrote eloquently about how nuclear energy can replace fossil fuels – a vital necessity in a rapidly warming world. A new generation of nuclear plants reduces waste and completely eliminates CO2. In Sweden, France and Ontario, these plants have allowed these countries to eliminate their reliance on fossil fuels and significantly reduce their carbon footprints.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer:Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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2019-05-0126 minKGNU - How On EarthPesticides and Health ImpactsA Consumer’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce (starts 7:55) You may be wondering if you washed the strawberries, blueberries or kale that you had for breakfast this morning enough to rid them of residue of potentially harmful pesticides. That is, if they were conventionally, not organically, grown. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 200 different pesticides remain in some form on popular fruits and vegetables that Americans eat every day. And before testing all the produce, the USDA thoroughly washes and peels them. Such tests show that simply washing produce does not remove all pesticides. In a recen...
2019-04-0227 minKGNU - How On EarthMRI Improvement by StandardizationMRI image of brainIn this week’s show, Beth speaks with William Hollander, and Kevin Miller, of QalibreMD, a Boulder startup focused on transforming MRI technology. Traditional MRI scans can result in a large differences between readings on different equipment. The results can be costly and misleading, as conditions like cancer can go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.The interview starts ~5’30”, for more information you can see their website.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran
Executive producer: Beth Bennett
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2019-02-2827 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Science of Exercise RecoveryAthlete’s Guide to Recovery (starts at 5:39): Colorado is riddled with athletes, many of them incessantly chasing the latest recovery products and services that will enhance their performance — from Gatorade and other ubiquitous sports-recovery drinks, to supplements, to compression boots, to cryochambers, to good old-fashioned massages. How solid is the solid the science behind the multi-million marketing campaigns? Christie Ashwanden, a former pro cyclist, runner and skier, is also the lead science writer at FiveThirtyEight, and her new book explores the scientific research, the snake oil, and common sense practices, in the world of exercise recovery. Good to Go: What the...
2019-02-0527 minradio bookclub oldBest Books of the Year 2018Arsen Kashkashian, head buyer, Liesl Freudenstein, head of children’s books at the Boulder Bookstore and Nicole Sullivan of the Book Bar in Denver join Maeve Conran of KGNU in the studio to share their favorite books of 2018 in our annual end of year Best Books of the year show. This show was broadcast on KGNU […]
2018-12-1230 minKGNU - How On EarthNever Home Alone by Rob DunnNever Home Alone (starts at 4:26) In this week’s How on Earth, Beth interviews Professor Rob Dunn. In his recent book, Never Home Alone, he gives a sneak peak into the natural history of the wilderness in our homes, from the microbes in our showers to the crickets in our basements. You can find out more about his book here, find out more about his lab and research at http://robdunnlab.com, and to contribute to their project visit the iNaturalist site.
Hosts: Beth Bennett, Gretchen Wettstein
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
2018-11-2825 minKGNU - How On EarthEager BeaversBeth talks with author Ben Goldfarb about his new book, amusingly titled Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. You’ll gain a better understanding of beavers’ myriad skills, and want to restore beaver populations in our local environments. Spoiler alert, we’ll have copies of his book available during the pledge drive show on Oct. 16.
Host: Maeve Conran
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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2018-10-0426 minKGNU - How On EarthSaving Summer: The National Wildlife Federation ReportThe National Wildlife Federation just released its report, Safeguarding Summer: From Climate Threats to Iconic Summer Experiences. This report chronicles the latest scientific findings on these trends and shows how we can engage on these issues to save our summers now and for future generations. This week Beth interviews the lead author, Frank Szillosi, about the findings and predictions. You can find the entire report at the NWF website, https://www.nwf.org/Home/Latest-News/Press-Releases/2018/08-15-18-Safeguarding-Summer.
Hosts: Beth Bennett and Maeve Conran
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran...
2018-09-0526 minKGNU - How On EarthWhat do Dogs Think?This week on How on Earth, Beth talks to author Dr Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus, CU Boulder. His new book has the wonderful title of Canine Confidential. If you enjoy dogs, dog parks, and watching them interact with each other and people, you’ll enjoy this book!
Hosts: Beth Bennett and Gretchen Geibel
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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2018-07-0427 minKGNU - How On EarthMitochondria and Your HealthThis week on How on Earth, Beth interviews Dr Lee Know, author of Mitochondria and theFuture of Medicine. These amazing organelles, which allow complex life on Earth to exist, do more than “just” make ATP. Ask that isn’t enough! They are intimately involved in many aspects of health and disease. The good news is that we can optimize their function to attain longer, healthier lives.You can see the book at https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/mitochondria-and-the-future-of-medicine/
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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2018-06-2025 minKGNU - How On EarthHow Food Affects Your BrainTwo epidemics sweeping the developed world are Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.This week on How on Earth, Beth interviews Dr Steven Masley about his book, The Better Brain Solution in which he explores the connection between diet (and other lifestyle factors) and these diseases. Based on the results of numerous clinical trials he has conducted in his medical practice, Masley presents a program to prevent and possibly reverse this metabolic syndrome. You can find his book and other information at https://drmasley.com/better-brain-solution/
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
2018-06-1426 minKGNU - How On EarthAstrobiology and the AnthropoceneAstrophysicist Adam Frank.
As part of the Conference of World Affairs, which is being held this week at the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder, we are speaking today with astrophysicist Adam Frank. Frank is a professor at the University of Rochester, where he studies the final stages of evolution for stars like the sun. He is also the author of an upcoming book, “Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth”, which will be published in June of this year. We spoke with Frank about ideas from this new book, including how...
2018-04-1026 minKGNU - How On EarthFragrance Free – Roger the Barber // Shelly MillerRoger the Barber (c Shelley Schlender)
Roger the Fragrance Free Barber (Starts 3:25) Artificial fragrances in shampoos, colognes, lotions. deodorant, laundry detergent and more nearly led Roger the Barber, to give up his profession, due to his chemical sensitivities. Then he opened his own, fragrance free, shop. He caters to clients who prefer a fragrance free environment . . . and educates people about what fragrance free means.
CU Professor Shelly Miller (c Shelley Schlender)
Shelly Miller – Clean Indoor Air – (Starts 10:35) CU Boulder Professor Shelly Miller warns that ingredients in common consumer products sometimes add hazardous chemica...
2018-01-1626 minKGNU - How On EarthMiracle Brew – The Amazing Science (and Art) of Brewing BeerPete Brown, author
This week on How on Earth, Beth interviews Pete Brown, author of Miracle Brew, the story of how beer is made of 4 seemingly simple components, but really from an amazing complexity of science and art. The New York Times recently reviewed Miracle Brew. Here’s what they said: A magisterial tour of fearsome science and vast brewery history leavened with cheery anecdotes, humor, vivid you-are-there prose and a clever eye for personality . . . His rhapsodies about the meaning of life and the meaning of beer are stirring. . . .His expertise and insight will leave you with a...
2018-01-1227 minKGNU - How On EarthKetogenic Diet for Treatment of Cancer//BBC Science in ActionThis week on How on Earth, we started speaking with Miriam Kalamian, author of the newly released Keto for Cancer. The interview starts at 11′ 30″, but unfortunately we lost the connection after only 5 minutes. You can link to her book at http://www.chelseagreen.com/keto-for-cancer and we will have her back to hear the full story! For the remainder of the show we linked to the BBC Science in Action segment on building proteins from novel DNA sequences.
Hosts: Beth Bennett and Chip Grandis
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
2017-12-0625 minKGNU - How On EarthTamed and Untamed: Essays on the Animal KingdomTamed and Untamed
This week on How on Earth, Beth interviews Sy Montgomery and Liz Thomas, co-authors of Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind: Some amazing stories of their experiences with animals throughout the animal kingdom, ranging from domestic animals (chickens are smarter than we thought!) to wild animals to invertebrates. the 2-3 page format of their book makes for easy reading! See their book at http://www.chelseagreen.com/tamed-and-untamed
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer:Beth Bennett
2017-11-0826 minKGNU - How On EarthAntibiotics & Your MicrobiomeThis week on How on Earth, Beth interviews Dr Martin Blaser of New York University who challenges the assumption that antibiotics are harmless drugs targeting only harmful pathogens. In his recent book, Missing Microbes, Blaser presents the evidence that antibiotics are causing the extinction of important bacteria in our microbiome. These microbes have co-evolved with us, so losing them puts us at risk of many of the rising diseases of our society: asthma, allergies, eczema and obesity. Check out his book: https://books.google.com/books/about/Missing_Microbes.html?id=RJucAwAAQBAJ
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer...
2017-10-0525 minKGNU - How On EarthAging Research Part 2This week on How on Earth we speak with Simon Melov, a biochemist at the Buck Institute for Aging. Dr Melov studies various aspects of aging in worms, mice and humans. The aging field is replete with new and exciting discoveries and Simon’s work epitomizes that.
Hosts:Beth Bennett and Chip Grandis
Producer:Beth Bennett
Engineer:Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions:Joel Parker
Executive Producer:Alejandro Soto
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2017-09-1326 minKGNU - How On EarthBoulder Firestone Monorail // Regeneration & Eclipse photo-bombingMagLev PRT car.Image courtesy of www.skytran.com
Sustainable Transportation is a major issue for the front range. In that field a hot topic is PRT, which stands for Personal Rapid Transit system, a radical vision for creating a sustainable infrastructure to get us from point A to point B. How on Earth interviews Dr. R. Paul Williamson about his proposal for an Elevated High-Speed MagLev PRT system from Boulder to Longmont to Firestone. How practical is it?
Headlines on Tissue Nanotransfection or TNT from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center seem more lik...
2017-08-2625 minKGNU - How On EarthTreating Cancer MetabolicallyIn their upcoming book, A Metabolic Approach to Cancer, authors Dr Nasha Winters and Jess Kelley, describe new developments in individualized therapies for cancer, based on nutrition and personalized genetic analysis. Almost 100 years ago it was found that cancer cells rely almost exclusively on burning glucose for their growth. In the last 10 years, it was found that limiting glucose (and other carbs) in the diet can curb the growth of cancer and mitigate some of the problems associated with conventional therapies like chemo. The authors expand on this theme and also apply an encyclopedic wealth of nutritional data and...
2017-05-2426 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Nature FixYour Brain on Nature (start time: 5:49): You may think it’s a no-brainer: that nature is good for your mental and physical health. After all, a walk in the woods or even an urban park brightens your outlook on life, at least for a little while. Turns out, the notion that being outside in nature boosts our mood, and even our creativity, has historical roots at least as deep as Aristotle. A new book by journalist Florence Williams explores the history of our biophilia, and particularly emerging neuroscience that reveals just how our bodies and minds are affected by gett...
2017-02-1428 minKGNU - How On EarthAmerican Gut ProjectThe American Gut project is the largest crowd-sourced project ever: to date, over 80.000 participants have contributed fecal, skin, or oral samples. The ambitious goal is to characterize the microbiota of as many individuals as possible to identify the diverse species living in and on us. Beth interviews Dr Embrietta Hyde, Project Manager of the Gut project about results and progess.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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2017-01-1825 minKGNU - How On EarthForensic Plant Science: CSI for Real!Beth interviews Drs Jane Bock (starts at 16:35) and David Norris (starts at 7:10), co-authors of Forensic Plant Science, the application of plant science to the resolution of legal questions. A plant’s anatomy and its ecological requirements are in some cases species specific and require taxonomic verification; correct interpretation of botanical evidence can give vital information about a crime scene or a suspect or victim. They describe their entry in to the field and some interesting cases.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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2017-01-0528 minKGNU - How On EarthWhere is climate science research heading?This week on How on Earth Beth interviews two NOAA scientists who study climate change. Joanie Kleypas is a marine ecologist who investigates how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide affects marine ecosystems. She is a self-described optimist who is committed to finding solutions to the “coral reef crisis.” Pieter Tans he has led the Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group at NOAA since 1985. This group has maintained NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, producing the most widely used data of atmospheric CO2, CH4, and several other greenhouse gases and supporting measurements.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engine...
2016-12-2127 minKGNU - How On EarthSuggestible You: How Our Brain Tricks UsThe Science of Suggestibility (start time: 5:00) Scientists are learning more and more about how our expectations and beliefs influence how our bodies, including our neurochemistry, respond to pain and disease. The researchers are discovering that we are very suggestible creatures. But we are not all equally suggestible. Some of us can cure serious ailments even when we’ve knowingly taken a placebo remedy, but others can not. Herein lies a major puzzle that vexes drug manufacturers and medical practitioners. It’s a puzzle that has intrigued Erik Vance, a science journalist, since he nearly died from a severe illness when...
2016-11-0827 minKGNU - How On EarthPersonalized Medicine from Genome SequencingDNA SequenceThis week, an interview with Howard Jacob, PhD, principal investigator and executive vice president for genomic medicine at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology (starts at 5’30”)describing the potential for personalized genomic sequencing and analysis in the identification of rare undiagnosed and misdiagnosed disease. A headline featuring research on how dogs process words mentioned a video of dogs in MRI machines; see the dogs at http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/video-your-dog-understands-more-you-think.
Host:Beth Bennett
Producer:Beth Bennett
Engineer:Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions:Joel Parker
Executive Producer:Susan Moran
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2016-09-1525 minKGNU - How On EarthMethane Emissions From Natural GasOil and gas wells in Four Corners region. Credit: NASA
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 pro...
2016-08-2327 minKGNU - How On EarthZika UpdateCDC targets ZikaIn headlines and 2 interviews with Zika researchers,Beth covers new material on this disturbing disease. CDC Chief of Virology, Dr Ann Power (start time 3’45”) and Dr Rushika Ferrara of CSU (start time 10’45”), describe aspects of the viral life cycle, including transmission, symptom variability, and promising avenues leading to potential treatments and preventions. For more information, cdc.gov and http://source.colostate.edu/dancing-through-the-lab-no-but-science-requires-fancy-footwork/; also http://www.ancestralhealth.org/
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional Contributions: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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2016-08-1026 minKGNU - How On EarthExploring your DNA // Cellular Innards RevealedGenomic exploration by Carl ZimmerThis week on How on Earth we speak with 2 notables. NY Times columnist Carl Zimmer describes his exploration of his genome sequence, yes all 3 billion bases! See the series he has produced detailing this journey at https://www.statnews.com/feature/game-of-genomes/season-one/. Then, local cell biologist Gia Voeltz studies how the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is formed. It is a large continuous structure in the cell, with many different functions and an elaborate shape. The ER was long thought to be the site of synthesis of proteins and other large biologically important molecules. Work in...
2016-07-2027 minKGNU - How On EarthSoccermatics // Pledge Drive ShowDavid Sumpter’s new book is Soccermatics–Mathematical Adventures in the Beautiful Game. It’s about how the mathematical patterns of how to win at soccer — and much much more — like how a math algorithm of how a slime mold seeks out food can help engineers design an efficient subway system. The math that helps a soccer team win can also help a business team succeed. . . . and in this special summer pledge drive show, it’s also a chance to hear about KGNU Community Radio and how you can make a difference by making it happen.
Hosts: Shelley Schlende...
2016-06-2128 minKGNU - How On EarthDiatoms: Ecology and AestheticsAn example of the ‘glass house’Beth interviews Dr Sarah Spaulding, of the Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research here in Boulder. Sarah studies microscopic single celled algae, creatures that photosynthesize but aren’t plants. She discusses their ecological roles in numerous ecosystems as well as challenges in identifying them and her long term goals in studying these elusive but ubiquitous creatures. See more at https://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
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2016-06-0828 minKGNU - How On EarthA History of Water in Colorado’s Front RangeHost Beth Bennett interviews Bob Crifasi, author of A Land Made of Water (starts at 4’55”). Bob works in water management and planning and is an environmental scientist with over 25yr experience. He was the Water Resources Administrator for the city of Boulder’s Open Space and Mountain Parks Dept. He has served on board of directors of 11 ditch companies and as the president of several, supervising all aspects of ditch operation.
Hosts: Beth Bennett, Alejandro Soto
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender
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2016-04-1325 minKGNU - How On EarthUsing the Microbiome to Determine Time of DeathUsing the Microbiome to Determine Time of Death (starts at 5:40): This week on How on Earth, we speak with Jessica Metcalf, an evolutionary biologist, who studies bacteria, specifically the microbiome. One of her research interests is using molecular biology to address basic hypotheses about the role of microbes in corpse decomposition. The time since death, or postmortem interval, also known as (PMI), is important for criminal investigations because it can lead to the identification of the deceased and validate alibis. PMI is critical to both forensic science and pop culture (e.g. TV shows Bones, CSI). Recently she co-authored...
2016-01-2025 minKGNU - How On EarthOur Microbes, Ourselves — Special Call-in Showhuman gut microbes
Our Microbes, Ourselves, Dec. 31, 2015: Roughly one hundred trillion bacteria are living, and gorging, in our gut–all the more so during the indulgent holidays. Microbes influence our health and well-being, by affecting our gut directly, as well as the crops we eat and the soils in which we grow crops. These microbial communities – called the gut microbiome — have been linked to many disorders, including obesity, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes, cancer, immune disorders, and even mental illness. We are just at the dawn of a new era of microbial treatments for many illnesses. After a recent How...
2015-12-3155 minKGNU - How On EarthWhat You Can Do About Global Warming What You Can Do About Global Warming (starts at 5:20): We interview Craig Hover, author of A World to Come Home To: Ending Global Warming in Our Lifetime. Craig is a licensed professional engineer with more than 30 years of engineering, project and facilities management, financial services and consulting. In his book he lays out a comprehensive vision of implementing sustainable strategies for reducing carbon emissions and reversing the current trends in climate change.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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2015-12-1724 minKGNU - How On EarthAre GMOs Environmentally-friendly?Genetically-modified crops
GMOs (start time 5:35) An interview with Dr Sharon Collenge, an ecologist at the University of Colorado. Dr Collenge is an advocate of using new genetic technologies to make slight modifications to plant genomes which can increase yield, protect against disease and reduce pesticide use.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Joel Parker, Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
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2015-10-0724 minKGNU - How On EarthNeurobiology of Alcohol AbuseRaising drinking glasses to celebrate – drinking?Image courtesy of Huffington Post
This week on How on Earth, we speak with Dr Paula Hoffman, a neuropharmacologist – she’s scientist who studies what drugs do in the brain- who works on the genetics of alcohol and other drugs of abuse. Paula reviews the action of alcohol on different neurotransmitter systems of the brain then describes some of the genetic issues which predispose people to risk for becoming alcoholics. Finally she talks about research done in her lab which has resulted in preliminary understanding of genetic networks involved.
Host...
2015-09-1624 minKGNU - How On EarthGlobal Climate Models & Climate ChangeEvents like heat waves are more likely with climate change.Image courtesy of Heartlander Magazine
Beth Bennett speaks with Claudia Tebaldi, a climate scientist at NCAR, about her work analyzing climate models to project climate change in the future. She addressed heat waves and local conditions and how these models can be used to make projections in these areas. Start time approx 5 min.
Host: Beth Bennett
Producer: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Additional contributions: Joel Parker
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
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2015-08-1329 minKGNU - How On EarthPluto Flyby // Case of the Rickety CossackPluto Flyby (start time 1:00): Joel Parker discusses the New Horizons mission from the command center live!
Case of the Rickety Cossack (start time 25:00): Beth Bennett talks to Ian Tattersall about his new book, a fascinating précis of the study of human evolution and some startling new findings showing that our species is one of many hominids in which natural selection mixed and matched various characteristics and abilities.
Host: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Board Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran
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2015-07-1524 minKGNU - How On EarthAging//and not agingWill we be able to reverse aging some day soon?
We talk with Dr Thomas Johnson about his long standing interest in aging and how he used a nearly microscopic worm to investigate this process. Recently, he has transitioned into using mice to identify genes influencing the aging process. Some of his findings have identified potential drugs to slow aging and keep us healthier as we live longer.
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Producer, Co-host: Beth Bennett
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Cohost: Susan Moran
Additional Contributions: Susan Moran, Beth Bennet...
2015-06-1028 minKGNU - How On EarthWar of the Whales: A True StoryWar of the Whales: A True Story (starts at 3:35): In the early hours of March 15th, of the year 2000, a Cuvier beaked whale washed ashore a mere 100 feet from Ken Balcomb’s house on the island of Abaco in the Bahamas. It was, for the whale, a fortuitous coincidence: Balcomb was a marine mammal researcher who was uniquely placed to rescue the creature. But that day 17 more whales of various species washed up on nearby islands and some of them weren’t quite so fortunate. The event was the largest mass stranding in recent history but what might have caus...
2015-02-1123 minKGNU - How On EarthWant to Save the Amazon? Think Like an Ant.Local guides take visitors deep into the Yasuni National Park where they share knowledge about wildlife and traditional uses of native plants.
The Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, but it is currently at risk from oil development. Some of the park’s inhabitants, however, are trying to forge a more sustainable, and less destructive path out of poverty. These indigenous Kichwa people, who have already been caretakers of the rainforest for hundreds of years, have developed ecotourism in the region, providing all the jobs, schools and healthcare that the...
2014-12-0824 minKGNU - How On EarthBuddhist Geeks and The Future Earth Initiative
Vincent Horn and Buddhist Geeks (starts at 4:42): On October 16th the Buddhist Geek Conference comes to boulder. Founder Vincent Horn speaks to us about how mindfulness, compassion and contemplative practice can be integrated into the technical world. http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/conference/
Future Earth (starts at 12:58): On our second feature, CSU Professor Dennis Ojima talks to Susan Moran about the Future Earth Initiative. A lofty project which aims to connect scientists, policy makers and the business sector to design activities to tackle global environmental change at local and regional levels.
Future Earth: http://www...
2014-10-0721 minKGNU - How On EarthFacts and Faith: A Conversation with Katharine HayhoeFacts and Faith (starts at 4:30): Two weeks ago Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a professor of atmospheric science at Texas tech came to town to speak at Chautauqua. As a scientist and a Christian, she advocates for illuminating the urgency and reality of climate change to conservative and religious audiences. We had the opportunity to sit down and talk about the interconnection of faith and science and why so much tension exists between these two communities.
Katharine Hayhoe Website: http://katharinehayhoe.com/
Talk at Chautauqua: http://ucarconnect.ucar.edu/multimedia/videos/climate-change-head-and-heart
Craig Venter, Life at the Speed...
2014-09-2321 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Ocean Is Us #3 : Marine SanctuariesMarine Sanctuaries (starts at 5:18) This is the third feature interview In the Ocean Is Us series, which explores how we in land-locked Colorado are connected to the oceans, why they matter so much to us all, and what’s at stake. Today we discuss marine sanctuaries: the conservation science behind establishing them, and their ecological and economic benefits. In June, President Obama announced his intention to make a vast area of the central Pacific Ocean off-limits to fishing, energy exploration and other activities. If the plans go through, they could create the marine sanctuary. It would double the swath of oc...
2014-08-1924 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Oso LandslideJim Pullen speaks with Dr. David Montgomery, Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington about the landslide that buried Oso, Washington, in March 2014.
Host: Kendra Krueger
Producer: Jim Pullen
Engineer: Maeve Conran
Executive Producer: Joel Parker
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2014-07-2223 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Ocean Is Us #2 : Endocrine Disruptors in Drinking WaterDr. Alan Vajda (CU Denver) and Dr. David Norris (CU Boulder) dissecting fish from Boulder Creek to evaluate effects of wastewater effluent exposure.Photo courtesy Alan Vajda
Endocrine Disruptors and Drinking Water (starts at 3:12) Today we continue our series called The Ocean is Us, which explores our vital connection to the oceans. Alan Vajda, an environmental endocrinologist at the University of Colorado Denver, talks with How On Earth’s Susan Moran about a rare success story: why fish in Boulder Creek are acting and looking more sexually normal. We also explore broader water-quality issues in Colorado and...
2014-07-0922 minKGNU - How On EarthMother Nature Is Trying to Kill YouWelcome to the Spring Pledge Drive edition of How On Earth. I’m this quarter’s Executive Producer, Jim Pullen.
We, the How On Earth team, encourage you to take a different take on the world, to examine assumptions, ideas and evidence critically. The great philosopher of science Karl Popper, a champion of the essential role of refutation in science, wrote in The Poverty of Historicism,
For if we are uncritical, we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find confirmations, and we shall look away from and not see, whatever migh...
2014-03-1814 minKGNU - How On EarthIPCC Assessment Report 5Tad Pfeffer was a lead author on the IPCC AR5 chapter about sea level rise. Photo: James Balog
On Friday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, better known as the IPCC, released the first bit of its Fifth Assessment Report, a volume with a plain name that may have a large influence on global policy. This first part of the report, part one of three, is the “sciency” part, documenting the current state of knowledge of climate change and its effects. The report sticks to the physical science of climate change—by how much the climate is changi...
2013-10-0224 minKGNU - How On EarthThe Dust Bowl / Population GrowthFeature #1: The Dust Bowl (start time 6:53)
Dust Bowl, courtesy Creative Commons
As bad as the drought has been recently in Colorado and other states, it pales in comparison to the nearly 10-year-long drought of the 1930s. Its unrelenting and gargantuan dust storms inspired the name “The Dust Bowl.” In southeast Colorado and other Great Plains states, children died of dust pneumonia. Thousands of cattle died or were slaughtered. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee their homes. It came to be called “the worst man-made ecological disaster in American history.” On November 18th and 19th...
2012-11-0723 minKGNU - How On EarthPublic health risks of BPADr. David Dausey, Director of the Mercyhurst Institute for Public Health(start time: 5:50). We Coloradoans pride ourselves on our healthy habits — eating right, exercising, and paying attention to what’s in the food we eat. Yet many of the things we use everyday, like water bottles, sunscreens, makeup, and – OK, soda cans — are full of toxic chemicals. Many of them are untested, and may be insidiously making us sick. One of the more controversial compounds is BPA, which is used to make some hard plastic bottles and other food packaging. Today we have with us public health expert Dr. David Da...
2012-08-2125 minKGNU - How On EarthBreasts: A Natural and Unnatural History
In this special summer pledge drive show, the How On Earth science team shares reasons why they volunteer to bring you science. And we share a conversation with Florence Williams, a local author and scientist who has an extensive history of breast and uterine cancer in her family. She decided to do research into the topics of breasts, and discovered all kinds of surprises – such as the poor track record of detection through mammograms, and the amount of research into whether breasts evolved as eye candy for men, or as ways to help babies survive. And why, if wo...
2012-06-2723 min
Documentary on One PodcastFather's DayBono, Imelda Kenny and Maeve Conran talk about their fathers: Bob, 'Gally' and Desmond; all since deceased. Bono slept beside his father as he died, Imelda learned to talk to her father and Maeve recorded one of her last visits to her father. (RTE Ireland)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2012-06-1410 minKGNU - How On EarthClimate engineering // Jamie WilliamsThe Wilderness Society
Jamie Williams (start time 5:40). Today on How On Earth we speak with Jamie Williams about land conservation. It’s safe to say that Williams should take credit for large swaths of land in the West that have been preserved as wilderness. He has served as The Nature Conservancy’s director of landscape conservation for North America as part of a 20-year career at the organization.
During that time he helped forge unlikely partnerships between ranchers, other landowners and environmentalists. And he led major efforts to garner funding in Congress for conservation, including the l...
2012-05-0225 min