KGNU - How On Earth

MitochondriaBeth talks with Steven Engle, Chief Executive Officer and Director of CohBar, Inc, a biotechnology company developing mitochondria-based therapeutics to treat chronic diseases and extend healthy lifespan. The company’s lead compound, CB4211, is in early stage clinical trial for fatty liver disease and obesity. The company also has four preclinical programs, two in cancer, one in fibrotic diseases, one in type 2 diabetes, and one, which we discuss here, in COVID-19 associated acute respiratory syndrome. You can find more at the company website. The interview starts at about 6 minutes. Host:Beth Bennett Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Show Producer: Beth Bennett Listen to the show:

  We speak with CU-Boulder Geneticist Tom Johnson about his ground-breaking research into the genetics of aging and ways to improve lifespan and healthspan.  We feature excerpts from Ariel Lavery’s StoryCorps interview with her dad, Tom Johnson, and we speak with Johnson about his recent diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia. Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Producer: Shelley Schlender

Sometimes it seems that science and art are completely different worlds but that has not always been the case. There is a long history of artistic scientists and scientific artists.  In this edition of How on Earth, we talk about the alchemy of transmogrifying science into theatre. Our guests include two scientists and two playwrights who collaborated to create plays inspired by scientific research as part of a theatre project produced by the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company.  The production is called “Science Shorts“, which will be streaming the performances online Thursday through Sunday this week, January 21-24.  The production will feature readings of four short plays by Colorado playwrights, and four short talks by the local scientists who inspired their work. Our science guests are geophysicist Dr. Neesha Schnepf and biologist Ashley Whipple, and our playwrights are Nigel Knutzen and Ellen K. Graham.  Neesha and Nigel collaborated on creating the play Trinal, which takes three different perspectives on tsunamis and their impact.   Ashley’s and Ellen’s play, On The Rocks, follows American pikas and what they have to teach us about resilience in the face of environmental and other stress. Host & Producer: Joel Parker Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Listen to the show:

(Whole Show) Longer “healthspan”  might be why the most popular Non-COVID story in Science Magazine last year involved the body-building supplement alpha-ketoglutarate (AKG), fed to middle-aged mice.  Buck Institute of Research on Aging Scientist Gordon Lithgow explains.   Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Producer: Shelley Schlender Additional Music: Stop This Train – by John Mayer. Listen to the show:

The Case for Keto In today’s show, Beth talks with science writer and journalist Gary Taubes about his new, and more personal book (The Case for Keto) on his experience with the low-carb, high fat or ketogenic diet. He interviewed hundreds of people, physicians, scientists, and ordinary folks, about their experiences on this diet. The keto diet produces consistency weight loss because it circumvents the insulin system, activated by carbs, which promotes fat storage. And yet, this diet also produces good health metrics in terms of cholesterol and other outcome measures. The interview starts at about 9 minutes in. Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Producer:Beth Bennett Additional Contributions: Joel Parker Listen to the show:

Figure from Xu et al. 2020, Joule, vol. 4, p. 2609 Our lives have been changed by lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries which are everywhere: in our cell phones, cars, toys, power tools and grid energy storage. Indeed, the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the three scientists who invented and developed them.  As the world manufactures more and more Li-ion batteries, what are the challenges and opportunities for recycling them?  How can we prevent the batteries from ending up in landfills where the toxic metals inside can leak out?   In this episode, we talk with Dr. Zheng Chen, a professor of nanoengineering at the University of California, San Diego, and co-author on the paper “Efficient Direct Recycling of Lithium-Ion Battery Cathodes by Targeted Healing” published a few weeks ago in the journal Joule.  Hosts: Jill Sjong, Joel Parker Feature: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Show Producer: Joel Parker Engineer: Sam Fuqua Listen to the show:

TheNoseKnows2Much, from WikiCommons Scratch & Sniff COVID Test (starts 1:00) CU Scientist Dan Larremore explains how a smell test app might offer an affordable COVID screening that’s way more accurate than a temperature check.       Ice Age BONE Fire  (starts 6:00)  Archeologist John Hoffecker and local volunteers recreate a Paleolithic “campfire” that used bones as the primary fuel. Volunteers who helped with this project — Josh Steinsiek, Dustin Goodew of Arapahoe Meat Company, Outdoorspeople Lin and Henry Ballard, Amber O’Hearn and Siobhan Huggins. Engineer Sam Fuqua Host/Producer: Shelley Schlender Additional Contributions:  Edie Hill, Composer Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Listen to the show:

Covid19 Vaccine This week on How on Earth, Beth gives an update on the efficacy, safety, and availability of the mRNA vaccines for the corona virus. You hear from Drs Tony Fauci, Michael Diamond, and Roger Seheult. Host: Beth Bennett Producer: Beth Bennett Engineer: Sam Fuqua Executive Producer: Beth Bennett Listen to the show:

Craig Foster with his octopus teacher This week we review the hit movie “My Octopus Teacher,” the story about a man who goes diving in a kelp forest off the Western Cape of South Africa, and becomes acquainted with an octopus.   We review the movie with Roger Hanlon, a diving biologist, cephalopod expert and senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA.   We discuss the octopus’ elaborate camouflage and complex behavior.  We’ll get some answers to our octopus questions:   Do they dream?   Do they play?   Use tools?   Are octopuses a second form of intelligent life on earth? You can learn more about the South African sea forest at the Sea Change Project.  You can learn more about octopuses at Roger Hanlon’s research. Host & Producer:   Jill Sjong Executive Producer:  Beth Bennett Engineer:   Sam Fuqua Listen to the show:

Inside a Manhole – photo credit BIOBOT CU COVID TESTING UPDATE  (starts 1:00) We join CU Engineering Professor Cresten Mansfeldt as he and his students open a sewer manhole and do maintenance on their wastewater COVID early warning system.  We also get an update on COVID status at CU Boulder.     Brown Dog Ticks ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER & CLIMATE CHANGE (starts 11:15) Brown dog ticks that carry Rocky Mountain Spotted fever usually bite dogs.  But they prefer to bite people over dogs when temperature rise to 100 degrees.  UC-Davis scientist Laura Backus explains her new study and its implications in a time of climate change.   Host: Shelley Schlender Producer:Shelley Schlender Engineer:Sam Fuqua Additional contribution: Music from Lynn Patrick Executive Producer:Beth Bennett Listen to the show: