KGNU - How On Earth

This week on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Professor Carol Gigliotti about her new book, The Creative Lives of Animals. She provides a new perspective on animals as agents in their own lives, as valuable contributors to their world and ours, and as guides in understanding how creativity may contribute to conserving the natural … Continue reading "Animal Creativity"

Various experts share pros and cons about Lecanemab (starts 1:00) the newly approved drug for Alzheimer’s. Dale Bredesen of Apollo HealthCo (starts 5:30) shares his criticisms of the new Alzheimer’s drug and gives recommendations for better ways to improve cognition. Links to topics mentioned in this show: American Alzheimer’s Association Statement urging Medicare and Medicaid … Continue reading "...

Better Electric Car Batteries are a key to moving toward all-electric cars.  While the standard liquid lithium ion/graphite battery is making advancements, this week’s show focuses batteries that add new materials to the mix for batteries that could be safer, faster charging and longer range.  Featured are Colorado’s Solid Power solid state battery, the Sila … Continue reading "Colorado’s Solid Po...

On today’s show, Beth speaks with Michael Stein, primary care physician and researcher, who has been writing about medicine and public health for decades. In Me Vs Us, he instigates a conversation about how we might change the current situation in which public health loses out to individual medicine and how public health nevertheless holds … Continue reading "The Health of the US Public Health Sys...

We share the science team’s top science stories of 2022: DART Asteroid Deflection (Starts 1:00) mRNA Vaccine for RSV (starts 3:30) Bumblebees Like to Play (starts 6:00) Sexual Pleasure in Female Snakes (starts 8:30) Alphafold Protein Folding  (starts 11:00) CU Boulder Scientists Make Graphyne (starts 13:30) Chatty Chatbots Can Backfire (starts 18:00) Ancient DNA Indicates … Continue reading "Top S...

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: Dr. Naomi Rowe-Gurney (Planetary Scientist Postdoctoral Researcher, … Continue reading "James Webb Space Telescope (Part 1)"

In today’s show Beth talks with Aric Prather, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, where he co-directs the Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Center. A licensed clinical psychologist, he has helped hundreds of patients improve their sleep. In his new book, The Sleep Prescription, Dr. Prather describes the … Continue reading "Looking for a G...

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, … Continue reading "Finding Home in a Changing Climate"

This week on How on Earth Beth talks to Dr. Robynne Chutkan, about her newest book, The Anti-Viral Gut, in which she describes research elucidating the protective role of the microbiome. Many studies have confirmed the link between the health of our microbiome—the trillions of bacteria that live in our digestive tract—and our likelihood of … Continue reading "Can Your Microbiome Protect You Agains...

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 … C...

Recycling: Obstacles and Progress (start time: 4:35): This week’s How On Earth focuses on the state of recycling and composting in Colorado and well beyond. A newly published report by Eco-Cycle and CoPIRG shows that Colorado ranks well below the national average, and below its own goals, on recycling and composting. But the report also … Continue reading "Recycling: Obstacles and Progress"

Today on How on Earth, Beth talks with Dr Siddhartha Mukherjee. His first book, The Emperor of All Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. His new book, The Song of the Cell, explores our radical new ability to manipulate cells. Mukherjee tells the story of how scientists discovered cells, began to understand them, and … Continue reading "Song of the Cell: Siddhartha Mukherjee’s New Book"

Clean Water Act, Then and Now (start time: 3:38): Two weeks ago was the 50th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.  The landmark law set out to clean up the nation’s lakes, rivers and streams, and to safeguard the water supply for humans throughout the country. While there’s been some progress since the act was … Continue reading "Clean Water Act 50 years later"

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 … Continue reading "Hearing & Hearing Aids"

We talk with author Kristin Ohlson about her recent book: “Sweet in Tooth and Claw”.  In it, Ohlson examines cooperative relationships found in the natural world and in human civilization. She says this view is missing from many of our cultural and scientific narratives because of a tendency to apply Darwin’s idea of survival of … Continue reading "Sweet in Tooth and Claw // Fund Drive Show"

Pollution Impacts on Gut Microbiome (starts at 1:00) The Environmental Protection Agency has downgraded the air quality in the Denver Metro and Northern Front Range area to “severe” nonattainment for ground level ozone.  Shannon Young talks with Dr. Tanya Alderete (University of Colorado Integrative Physiology Department) about a recent study showing how air pollution may also affect the … Continu...

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, … Continue reading...

On today’s show Beth talks to Prof Michael Breed about honeybees. Sure, there is a little on their decline which is concerning to all of us, but we focus on many remarkable aspects of their biology. If you want to go deeper, you can visit Mike’s website or the book he mentions in the interview. … Continue reading "The Amazing…Honeybee!"

Nature Wants Us to be Fat:  The Surprising Science Behind Why we Gain Weight and How We Can Prevent and Reverse it.  University of Colorado Medical School Professor Rick Johnson shares why he thinks eating lots of fructose sugars can trigger a Survival Switch that helps bears put on weight before they hibernate . . … Continue reading "Nature Wants Us to Be Fat – Rick Johnson MD"

This is an extended version of the interview with Rick Johnson, author of Nature Wants Us to Be Fat.   LISTEN HERE TRANSCRIPT BELOW: RICK JOHNSON [00:00:00] My name is Richard Johnson. I’m a professor of medicine here at the University of Colorado. SHELLEY [00:00:04] In fact, you direct the Department of Hypertension, or have … Continue reading "Nature Wants Us To Be Fat – Extended Version"

ON this week’s show, Beth talks with Carole Hooven about her new book: “T – The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us”. She demonstrates that the hormone acts in concert with genes and culture to produce a vast variety of male and female behavior. And, crucially, the fact that many sex … Continue reading "Testosterone – Bane or Benefit?"

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) … Continue reading "Colorado River Basin Crisis: Pt. II"

In this week’s How on Earth, we look at 3 aspects of climate change: its role in disease incidence and transmission; some effects of the new climate change legislation; and how ‘micro-forests’ can mitigate temperature and water loss. The latter comes from an interview with author Hannah Lewis and her book Mini-Forest Revolution, in which … Continue reading "What’s New in Climate?"

DNA Superconductors (Starts 1:00) Scientists are harnessing DNA to make electronic components at the nano-scale. Western Rewilding Network (Starts 3:50) Researchers at Oregon State University are urging the U.S. to set aside 500,000 square kilometers for a Western Rewilding Network that would include wolves and beavers as part of ecosystem restoration.  Their research appears today … Continue read...

Colorado Cafe Sci (starts 1:00)  happens monthly, in Denver. Alcohol and Alcoholism Recent News (starts 2:49) We look at recent science about alcohol consumption, including a study that indicates as little as 3 glasses of wine a week is associated with buildups of iron in the brain — a risk factor for brain disease, increased … Continue reading "Alcohol, Brain Damage & Genetics"