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KGNU – How On Earth — Natural Sciences
KGNU – How On Earth

The KGNU Science Show

Latest Episodes:

Using ATVs as "wolves" to move a herd of cattle — Grazing the Niobrara // Savory Institute Jul 28, 2015
Show notes

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:

savory institute mexico-1963-2003 — Grazing the Niobrara // Savory Institute Jul 28, 2015
Show notes

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 — Pluto Flyby // Case of the Rickety Cossack Jul 15, 2015
Show notes

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:

Unprocessed-book cover — Unprocessed Food // Bee Biodiversity Jun 30, 2015
Show notes

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:

Photo credit: Dan Groege — Unprocessed Food // Bee Biodiversity Jun 30, 2015
Show notes

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:

newhorizons nearing Pluto — Student Dust Counter reaches Pluto Jun 23, 2015
Show notes

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

Fourth Phase of Water – Extended Interview Jun 17, 2015

Show notes

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!

4th-phase-cover — The Fourth Phase of Water Jun 16, 2015
Show notes

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:

Will we be able to reverse aging some day soon? — Aging//and not aging Jun 09, 2015
Show notes

Will we be able to reverse aging some day soon?

We talk with Dr Thomas Johnson about his long standing interest in aging and how he used a nearly microscopic worm to investigate this process. Recently, he has transitioned into using mice to identify genes influencing the aging process. Some of his findings have identified potential drugs to slow aging and keep us healthier as we live longer.

Executive Producer: Susan Moran

Producer, Co-host: Beth Bennett

Engineer: Maeve Conran

Cohost: Susan Moran

Additional Contributions: Susan Moran, Beth Bennett

Listen to the show:

Einstein, Niels Bohr and Grandmothers…a Fairy Tale! May 26, 2015
Show notes

An educator and perfomer, Len Barron first developed a piece about Einsteina and Bohr as a one man show, but then decided to evolve the project by enlist the help of 8 grandmothers to tell the story with their own added pizazz. Not only was lively performance produced, but a process and experience was shared. This process was captured by documentary film maker Robin Truesdale in a film coming to the Dairy Center this weekend entitled A Beautiful Equation. Both Robin and Len have joined us today in the studio to tell us more about the film, the process, the scientists and the grandmothers.

4:30pm and 7:30pm Sunday May 31st at The Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, CO

More information at abeautifulequation.com

and tickets available at thedairy.org

Hosts: Beth Bennett, Kendra Krueger
Producer: Kendra Krueger
Engineer: Kendra Krueger
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributions: Susan Moran, Shelley Schlender, Beth Bennett

Listen here:

robin-male-and-fledgling — Birds v. Cats // Humor Science May 19, 2015
Show notes

Robin male and fledgling chick. Photo courtesy Jon Erickson, Creative Commons

Birds v. Cats (start time 4:35): Spring is in full bloom on Colorado’s Front Range. Robins and other birds wake us up before the crack of dawn with their choruses. This is also a time when many chicks will hatch and then fledge — a time when they are most vulnerable to predators. The biggest single threat to birds is a favorite household pet – yes, cats. Actually, feral and pet cats alike. Dr. Amanda Rodewald, an ecologist and director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University, discusses with host Susan Moran the various threats to birds and their habitat, and how humans can be part of the solution. Spoiler alert: Keep Felix inside, at least during nesting season. For more info on how you can get involved, go to the American Bird Conservancy‘s Cats Indoors program.

The Science of Humor (start time: 14:32): Have you ever laughed at something you know you shouldn’t have? Like when someone you know falls down the stairs? Dr. Peter McGraw discusses with How On Earth contributor Daniel Strain the roots of humor — why we find some things funny, and other things not. He’s a quantitative psychologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder where he heads up the Humor Research Laboratory, or HuRL. Yup, HuRL. He’s also coauthor of the book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny. And he will be speaking this Thursday, May 21, at The Science Lounge, a monthly event at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Daniel Strain
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributions: Daniel Strain

Listen to the show here:

Humor Code — Birds v. Cats // Humor Science May 19, 2015
Show notes

Robin male and fledgling chick. Photo courtesy Jon Erickson, Creative Commons

Birds v. Cats (start time 4:35): Spring is in full bloom on Colorado’s Front Range. Robins and other birds wake us up before the crack of dawn with their choruses. This is also a time when many chicks will hatch and then fledge — a time when they are most vulnerable to predators. The biggest single threat to birds is a favorite household pet – yes, cats. Actually, feral and pet cats alike. Dr. Amanda Rodewald, an ecologist and director of conservation science at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University, discusses with host Susan Moran the various threats to birds and their habitat, and how humans can be part of the solution. Spoiler alert: Keep Felix inside, at least during nesting season. For more info on how you can get involved, go to the American Bird Conservancy‘s Cats Indoors program.

The Science of Humor (start time: 14:32): Have you ever laughed at something you know you shouldn’t have? Like when someone you know falls down the stairs? Dr. Peter McGraw discusses with How On Earth contributor Daniel Strain the roots of humor — why we find some things funny, and other things not. He’s a quantitative psychologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder where he heads up the Humor Research Laboratory, or HuRL. Yup, HuRL. He’s also coauthor of the book The Humor Code: A Global Search for What Makes Things Funny. And he will be speaking this Thursday, May 21, at The Science Lounge, a monthly event at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Hosts: Susan Moran, Daniel Strain
Producer: Susan Moran
Engineer: Beth Bennett
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributions: Daniel Strain

Listen to the show here:

"The Tug of War for Better Healthcare" courtesy Gold Lab Foundation — Gold Lab Symposium//Mapping Pain in the Brain May 12, 2015
Show notes

“The Tug of War of Healthcare” courtesy Gold Lab Foundation

GOLD LAB SYMPOSIUM (start time: 4:26) We talk with Larry Gold, Founder of the Gold Lab Symposium, about this Friday/Saturday, free symposium at CU Boulder. (check the website for previous talks, or to register for this weekend’s seminar).

Boulder Chronic Pain Counsellor Charles Horowitz

MAPPING CHRONIC PAIN (start time: 15:56) We visit a Chronic Pain Support group led by Boulder therapist Charles Horowitz, and we talk about “mapping pain” with Harvard Scientist Clas Linnman and CU-Boulder Scientist Tor Wager, who are uncovering new techniques for mapping pain in the brain that are helping to validate chronic pain and might someday guide better treatment.

HEADLINES (start time: 1:00) Bats use “telephoto” sound, new pathway for blocking malaria, Fiske Planetarium Events, CU Boulder Tree Walk, Intel Science Finalist from Boulder’s Fairview High.

Hosts: Beth Bennett, Kendra Krueger
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributions: Daniel Strain, Beth Bennet

Boulder Chronic Pain Counsellor Charles Horowitz — Gold Lab Symposium//Mapping Pain in the Brain May 12, 2015
Show notes

“The Tug of War of Healthcare” courtesy Gold Lab Foundation

GOLD LAB SYMPOSIUM (start time: 4:26) We talk with Larry Gold, Founder of the Gold Lab Symposium, about this Friday/Saturday, free symposium at CU Boulder. (check the website for previous talks, or to register for this weekend’s seminar).

Boulder Chronic Pain Counsellor Charles Horowitz

MAPPING CHRONIC PAIN (start time: 15:56) We visit a Chronic Pain Support group led by Boulder therapist Charles Horowitz, and we talk about “mapping pain” with Harvard Scientist Clas Linnman and CU-Boulder Scientist Tor Wager, who are uncovering new techniques for mapping pain in the brain that are helping to validate chronic pain and might someday guide better treatment.

HEADLINES (start time: 1:00) Bats use “telephoto” sound, new pathway for blocking malaria, Fiske Planetarium Events, CU Boulder Tree Walk, Intel Science Finalist from Boulder’s Fairview High.

Hosts: Beth Bennett, Kendra Krueger
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Engineer: Shelley Schlender
Executive Producer: Susan Moran
Headline contributions: Daniel Strain, Beth Bennet

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