The Maine Question

Along with lobsters and lighthouses, wild blueberries are an iconic product from the state of Maine. While the industry has struggled of late, promising developments exist for wild blueberries and the people who grow and make products out of them. UMaine's wild blueberry expert Lily Calderwood shares her thoughts on the work being done at the university to grow the industry and what the past, pres...

Last spring, when the coronavirus was causing major shifts in how schools educated children, Catherine Biddle, Maria Frankland and students from the College of Education and Human Development did some research. They explored how schools were managing and communicating decisions to families. One of the researchers’ goals was to identify best practices for educators to use during the pandemic, or an...

The Maine Question Podcast from the University of Maine is back for season 3- kicking off in Fall 2020. We'll continue exploring the research and creative activity taking place at UMaine, the new ground it breaks and the positive difference that it makes. We'll also get to know the people behind those stories.

How does the University of Maine System stay up to date with breaking COVID-19 developments involving testing, treatments, transmission mitigation, contact tracing and vaccine development? It turns to its experts on the UMS Scientific Advisory Board.

Almost a billion people in the world are food insecure, and each year we throw away about one-third of the food we produce. Susanne Lee, executive-in-residence at the Maine Business School, and Peter O'Brien, a senior majoring in economics, examined the issue of food waste and have some possible solutions.

The world needs help. David Hart and Linda Silka join host Ron Lisnet to talk about how interdisciplinary, results-driven researchers at the University of Maine work to address complex needs of society.

Maine, also called Vacationland, is a favorite destination for visitors. But what impact will the pandemic have on tourism, tax revenue and the overall economy? Those are topics on this week’s “The Maine Question” podcast. Andrew Crawley, a University of Maine assistant professor of regional economic development, is developing forecasts to evaluate possible financial fallout, as well as examine pr...

Research conducted at the University of Maine is vital to the state's economy and workforce. And mentoring undergraduate students to be effective researchers is a major focus. But how do students develop their research chops? Professor Ali Abedi explains in this episode of “The Maine Question.”

Tick-borne diseases, some of which are debilitating, are on the rise. Allison Gardner investigates environmental factors that could limit the geographic spread of blacklegged ticks. And Elissa Ballman coordinates a tick surveillance citizen scientist program to learn more about which tick species are where and what pathogens they carry.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the fast pace of the business world required companies to make good decisions quickly in order to survive and thrive. Two UMaine business professors have done research on the decision-making process and how the business world can follow the example of the military to make that process faster and better.

Beyond the devastating health threat caused by the coronavirus, the world's economy has been slowed to a crawl for months now. That pause in economic output has brought about some profound changes, including significant reductions in soot, particles in the air and many other sources of pollution. In this episode of The Maine Question, Sean Birkel, Maine State Climatologist and a research assistant...

It's one of the fastest growing and changing fields in the world of engineering. Bioengineering, or biomedical engineering, is changing the way we do everything from producing fuel and paper to unlocking new ways to improve animal and human health. It's a growing field — particularly for young women aspiring to be engineers. Karissa Tilbury, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at UMai...

The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has led to a pandemic that swept the globe, halted economies and upended life as we know it. How and why infections like this occur is something that Melissa Maginnis, an assistant professor of microbiology at UMaine, thinks about every day. How do viruses work? How and why do they go viral? What is the best way to stop their spread and how might scientis...

The word fat evokes a certain reaction in our culture. For associate professor of neurobiology Kristy Townsend and her students it's the subject of research on many levels. Fat communicates with the brain, it battles disease, it plays a role in the aging process. It also comes in a variety of colors with differing functions. Townsend talks about her work on this connection and how it relates to ob...

Maine marks its 200th birthday March 15, 2020. So for this episode of “The Maine Question,” host Ron Lisnet talks with University of Maine history professor Liam Riordan about some of the key people involved in the drive to statehood, what life was like 200 years ago, and what themes from those early days are still recognizable today.

We visit with paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill. She studies plants and animals that have been gone a long time- sometimes millions of years. She also studies our natural world today with the goal of trying to understand how and why some species have gone extinct while others have survived and what it means for how we and our planet adapt to the rapidly changing world we find ourselves in.

The latest episode of “The Maine Question” asks, what does the future hold for Maine’s forests? Forests play a central role in defining the state — from its geography to the economy to just about any aspect of Maine’s way of life that you can think of. But the way forestry is practiced and the products that come out of the woods have started to change drastically. That trend will ramp up even more...

Every day in the United States, about 10,000 people turn 65. Nowhere is that aging trend more profound than in the state of Maine. But reaching that milestone age is a lot different now than it was for previous generations. Many people 65 and older are active, healthier, continue working, and live longer than ever before. In the second episode of the second season, Len Kaye, the director of UMaine...

The latest episode of “The Maine Question” asks, what changes affect how news is delivered and consumed in the 21st century? Fake news, paywalls, Twitterbots, artificial intelligence, Russian trolls, TikTok, and confirmation bias are fundamentally changing the media landscape. It’s a far cry from when Walter Cronkite was America’s most trusted television newsman and people tuned in nightly to lear...

Season two of The Maine Question podcast from the University of Maine kicks off February 6, 2020. We continue our conversations with UMaine researchers who are exploring big issues, intriguing topics and complex questions.

In this episode we continue our conversation with Paul Mayewski- director of UMaine’s Climate ChangeInstitute. During the past 50 years or so he has led several dozen research trips to the world’s most remote places-Antarctica, the Himalayas, the arctic among them. In part two he shares more tales of his adventures. He discusses the unexpected parts of his work- namely dealing with media coverage...

What’s it like in the most remote, harsh and spectacular locations on Earth? Anyone with a thirst for adventure has likely dreamed of seeing the South Pole, Mount Everest, or the massive ice sheets of Greenland. Paul Mayewski has done all that and more. In the first of a two-part conversation, he talks with host Ron Lisnet about his adventures during his 55-plus expeditions in extreme locales. The...

In this episode we'll look at the challenges and opportunities of starting and running a food or beverage business in Maine. Is Maine a good place to create businesses such as these? What is the Maine brand? It’s one thing to have a great idea for a delicious food product or a unique beverage but that is just a starting point. Jason Bolton, a food safety specialist from UMaine Cooperative Extensio...

In this episode we’ll delve into what is perhaps the most personal and profound decision an individual, a couple, or a family can make… The choice on whether to have children or not. It is a decision that is life changing on a personal level, but it also ripples out into communities and into our politics, immigration, tax issues, workforce development among other areas.

In this episode, we explore the unique career path of lighting designer Don Holder, UMaine class of ’80 who has worked on Broadway, in film, television, opera and dance across the globe. His lighting designs have earned 13 Tony Award nominations and two Tonys — most notably for Disney’s “The Lion King,” which garnered him his first award in 1998. In this episode, Holder tells his story — beginning...