KGNU - How On Earth

Cell Phones & Cancer  (Starts 1:00) A $25 million study reports cell phone radiation boosted brain cancer in rats . . . and rats exposed to radiation lived longer.  Frank Barnes, CU-Boulder Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, explains these paradoxical findings and implications for people.  (Related stories — 2011 Cell Phone Radiation and 2014 An Electric Silent Spring) chronic pain – courtesy wiki Narcotics Prolong Chronic Pain (Starts 11:35)   CU-Boulder neuroscientist Peter Grace explains his team’s new findings about how and why morphine can prolong chronic pain.   Rats with induced nerve pain received morphine for 5 days; their pain lasted nearly three months — twice as long as the nerve pain for rats that got no morphine.  This is one of the first studies to test long-term effects of treating chronic pain with opioid painkillers.  (Related story: KGNU call-in show on the opioid addiction epidemic) Host/Producer/Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender Listen to the show:

Photo credit: Susan Moran Microbes and Stress Resilience (starts 5:13) If you’re worried that some dirt still clings to your skin under your fingernails after planting or weeding in the garden, fear not. In fact, the more you feel and even breathe its fumes, the better, research suggests. As part of our series called “Our Microbes, Ourselves,” we explore today a newly published study that adds to a growing body of research into the benefits of certain soil and gut microbes on our mental and physical health. Dr. Christopher Lowry, an associate professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, discusses with host Susan Moran the study, which he led. It shows that a common soil bacterium called M. vaccae can boost the immune system to help fight stress and inflammation. The research, published last week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was conducted on mice, but the health implications for humans are far-reaching. Hosts: Joel Parker, Susan Moran Producer: Susan Moran Engineer: Joel Parker Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender Listen to the show:

2016 Illustration for Gold Lab Symposium ((Starts 00:00)) Today we speak with Larry Gold, founder of the GoldLab Symposium that brings scientists and thinkers from around the world to share their perspectives about health and healthcare.  The theme of this year’s symposium is: Standing Together—Health Care for Our Common Good Host / Producer / Engineer: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

In this follow-up episode of our “Graduation Special” we talk with three more guests graduating with science Ph.D.’s from the University of Colorado in Boulder.  They join us to talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next: Carleigh Samson – Environmental Engineering Program Topic: Modeling Relationships between Climate, Source Water Quality and Disinfection Byproduct Formation and Speciation in Treated Drinking Water   Patrick Barbour – Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Topic: Property-Guided Synthesis of Tricyclic Indolines to Confront Antibiotic Resistance in Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Greg Thompson – Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Topic: Advances in a Microphysics Parameterization to Predict Supercooled Liquid Water and Application to Aircraft Icing Host / Engineer : Shelley Schlender Producer : Joel Parker Executive Producer : Shelley Schlender Listen to the show:

The graduation season is upon us and our guests in today’s show will be graduating with science Ph.D.’s from the University of Colorado in Boulder.  They join us to talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next: Greg Salvesen – Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Topic: Rethinking Accretion Disks Around Black Holes   Jesse Nusbaumer – Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Topic: An Examination of Atmospheric River Moisture Transport and Hydrology Using an Isotope-enabled Climate Model Odessa Gomez – Environmental Engineering Program Topic: Characterizing Responses of Primary Biological Aerosols to Oxidative Atmospheric Conditions   Host / Producer / Engineer : Joel Parker Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender Listen to the show:

(Starting at 6:30) FLOWS bridges social justice and environmental issues. FLOWS provides leadership training opportunities, green job skills, and free energy and water upgrades while building partnerships between CU students and staff and community members.  They partner with and work primarily for low-income communities for water and energy conservation (the communities most in need of lower energy and water bills).  They joined us to talk about their new training program coming up this May.  Find out more about their program here . (Starting at 20:14)Michael Skirpan is a PhD candidate at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Computer Science Department. He worked with a collaborative team to create a project called quantified self, an immersive data experience that debuted the last weekend in April.  Listen in to hear more about this half performance-half data experience and find out when it will be happening again here. Hosts:Kendra Krueger Producer: Kendra Krueger Engineer: Kendra KRueger Additional contributions: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender Listen to the show:

((Starts 00:00)) We speak via Skype with Renowned English Ornithologist Tim Birkhead, about “The Most Perfect Thing.”  That’s the title of his new book.  It’s all about taking a scientific look inside, and outside, a bird’s egg. Host:  Shelley Schlender Producer:Shelley Schlender Engineer:Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender

Host 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 Listen to the show:

This special edition of How on Earth is produced in conjunction with the Conference on World Affairs.  Our guests are two of the participants of the Conference: astrobiologist Dr. David Grinspoon and physicist Dr. Sidney Perkowitz.  In keeping with the traditional format of the conference panels, our guests will start by talking about their interpretation of the topic “Across the Universe – You Can’t Get There From Here”, and we’ll go from there and see where in the universe we end up. Host / Producer / Engineer : Joel Parker Executive Producer: Shelley Schlender Click below to listen to the show:

credit Karen McKinnon – Pacific ocean and atmosphere can predict a heat wave in the Eastern US. Prairie Fire (start time: 0:57) Journalist and Megafire expert Michael Kodas discusses the raging Kansas prairie fire and how it compares to wildfires in Colorado. Pacific Temperatures Predict New York Heat Waves (start time: 6:58) Climatologist Karen McKinnon says it’s possible to use precise monitoring of Pacific Ocean surface temperatures to predict heat waves on the East Coast 50 days in advance. Mapping Nitrogen Pollution (start time: 15:45)  CU scientist Sam Simkin explains how human-caused nitrogen pollution  may be killing off plant diversity throughout the US . . . and his maps show where. Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Susan Moran Producer: Shelley Schlender Engineer: Shelley Schlender Additional Contributions: Tom Yulsman Executive Producer: Joel Parker Click below to listen to the show: