KGNU - How On Earth

Kai Kloepfer – Designer of Fingerprint Smart Firearm Technology Fingerprint Hand Gun.  (starts at 5:45) How on Earth’s Shelley Schlender talks with Boulder teen scientist Kai Kloepfer, who is creating a “Smart Gun” that won him first prize in engineering at the INTEL international science fair and a $50,000 grant from the Smart Tech Challenges Foundation.  Kloepfer’s goal is to prevent accidental shootings of children.  His gun fires only when the user’s fingerprint is authorized. High Altitude Observatory – Hawaii location High Altitude Observatory.  (starts at 11:35) Director Scott McIntosh talks with How on Earth’s Joel Parker about the observatory and its 75th year celebrations.       Hosts: Joel Parker, Kendra Krueger Producer: Shelley Schlender Engineer: Shelley Schlender Headline Contributors: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Susan Moran Listen to the show:

Contaminated Animus River following Gold King Mine spill.Photo credit: RiverHugger/Creative Commons Science and Politics of Mining (start time: 6:49)  On August 5 an inactive mine named Gold King, which had been leaking toxins for years, spewed more than 3 million gallons of toxic sludge into a creek that feeds into the Animus River in southwest Colorado. Its neon orange path of wastewater was shocking. But also shocking is the long history of acid mine drainage pollution and the lax regulations that allow mining companies to basically walk away from their disasters. Dr. Mark Williams, a professor of geography at CU Boulder, and an expert in mountain hydrology and hydrochemistry., has worked on remediation of several mines in the state. He speaks with How On Earth host Susan Moran about the anatomy of mines, how this disaster happened, what it suggests about the many other precarious mines in the state, and what should be done to prevent such disasters from happening. Hosts: Susan Moran, Joel Parker Producer: Susan Moran Engineer: Joel Parker Headline Contributors: Kendra Krueger, Joel Parker, Daniel Strain Executive Producer: Susan Moran Listen to the show:

Events 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 Listen to the show:

When it comes to reducing greenhouses gases, every little bit helps, and that includes managing the greenhouse gases produced by how we grow our food.  Raising livestock and growing crops both generate greenhouse gases, and to gauge their impact, a new study takes the long range view.  The results were published in a paper: “Measuring and mitigating agricultural greenhouse gas production in the U.S. Great Plains, 1870-2000” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  It analyzes 100 years of agricultural production, and it takes this look at farming close to home – it focuses on the bread basket of the United States – the Great Plains, which includes eastern Colorado.  Here to tell us more are scientists Myron Guttman (University of Colorado) and Bill Parton (Colorado State University) Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Kendra Krueger Producer and Engineer: Joel Parker Executive Producer: Susan Moran Headline contributions: Beth Bennett, Kendra Krueger, Joel Parker Listen to the show:

Using ATVs as “wolves” to move a herd of cattle Mooo-ving Cattle Near the Niobrara (starts 4:28) We talk with Steve Hicks, director of the USFW  Niobrara Wildlife Refuge complex near Valentine, Nebraska and join the Rocking Arrow Ranch on a cattle moo-oo-vve designed to help maintain the quality of wild grasslands   “Before” and “After” holistic grazing adopted on a Mexican pasture – courtesy the Savory Institute The Savory Institute (starts 10:05)  We talk with Boulder’s grazing think tank, The Savory Institute, founded by Allan Savory, about holistic grazing strategies that have the potential to restore grasslands that have been degraded through overgrazing . . . or undergrazing. Hosts: Shelley Schlender Producers: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Susan Moran Headline contributions: Daniel Strain, Beth Bennett Listen to the show:

Pluto 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 Listen to the show here:

Real Food (start time 4:20): What we eat , and how we eat, is inextricably connected to our own health as well as the health of the planet.  Every decision we make—whether to bake a chocolate cake or buy it from Safeway or at a Farmer’s Market—is full of nuances and even contradictions. Megan Kimble is a writer who became obsessed with wondering how she could make a difference in the world by examining her eating habits. Her just-published book, called Unprocessed: My City-Dwelling Year of Reclaiming Real Food, is her personal journey into the scientific, public health, environmental and political issues related to food. Kimble will  speak tonight at the Boulder Book Store, at 7:30, and tomorrow night, July 30, at Tattered Cover in Denver, at 7:00 p.m. Palaeorhiza (from Papau New Guinea). Photo credit: USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab The Buzz About Bees (start time 13:49): Across the United States, buzzing pollinators are key to the growth of countless flowering plants. But many bee species are also disappearing nationwide, due to pesticide use, habitat loss, and other threats.  Dr. Sam Droege is a wildlife biologist who studies this vanishing world. He heads up the U.S. Geological Survey’s Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab. For several years he’s also led an effort to photograph bees — very, very close up.  Droege’s bee photos are the basis for a new book called “Bees: An Up-Close Look at Pollinators Around the World.” Hosts: Susan Moran, Daniel Strain Producers: Susan Moran, Daniel Strain Executive Producer: Susan Moran Headline contributions: Daniel Strain Listen to the show here:

New Horizons Spacecraft Nearing Pluto (artist rendition) (Main Feature Start Time 6:00) We talk with CU students, former students and their advisor about how a student built science instrument called the Student Dust Counter managed to travel billions of miles on the New Horizons spacecraft, and what happens with its project to study space dust, now that it’s near Pluto. Hosts: Shelley Schlender, Kathy Frasier Producer: Shelley Schlender Engineer: Shelley Schlender Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Here is an extended excerpt with Dr. Gerald Pollack, University of Washington professor of Bioengineering. We talk about what barriers exist for scientists in today’s community and a new resource for research to be evaluated in a rigours and open minded format. Listen here!

How On Earth reporter Kendra Krueger caught up with Gerald Pollack, Bioengineering professor from the University of Washington to talk about the physical chemistry of water.  The science of water has a sordid past of controversy and dispute which continues today in our current scientific and layman communities.  Why is that? What is so strange about the properties of water?  Find out more in this weeks episode of How on Earth Pollack Laboratory Website Publications Hosts: Susan Moran, Kendra Krueger Producer: Kendra Krueger Engineer: Kendra Krueger Executive Producer: Susan Moran Headline contributions: Beth Bennett Listen here: