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Natural Sciences
**KGNU – How On Earth**

The KGNU Science Show

Latest Episodes:

**50 Years of Open Space! // Heart Attack and Stroke Risk from Common Sugar Substitute** Jul 28, 2025
Show notes

Erythritol – A common sugar substitute

**A Common Sugar Substitute Increases Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke.** (starts 11:00) CU-Boulder Integrative Physiologist Chris DeSouza explains his recent study that shows why the commonly used artificial sweetener, Erythritol, may be increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

50 Years of Open Space! (Starts 1:00) Boulder County Parks and Open Space staff members share how local citizen activists helped protect natural lands in and around Boulder. This is an excerpt from the podcast series, Voices of Open Space.

**Hosts:** Shelley Schlender and Beth Bennett

**Show Producer**: Shelley Schlender
**Executive Producer**: Susan Moran

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**The Tumor Microbiome Can Affect Cancer Survival** Jul 22, 2025
Show notes

On this week’s show Beth speaks with computational biologist Justine Debelius about the role of the microbiome. We first discussed a study she was involved in recently that identified how changes in colon cancer tumors can affect survival. Then, she described a large collaborative project she is currently working on to identify factors influencing the development of the microbiome in children and how that affects them later in life.

**Executive Producer:** Susan Moran
**Show Producer:** Beth Bennett
**Additional Contributions:** Susan Moran & Joel Parker

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**Climate Science, Cutbacks, Litigation** Jul 15, 2025
Show notes

At a protest outside NOAA in Boulder. Credit: Susan Moran

**Tackling Climate Change and Science Cutbacks** (start time: 7:03) In this week’s show we discuss the ongoing barrage of executive orders by the Trump administration; and the impacts of defunding of federal agencies, scientific research and scientists focusing on climate change and the environment. We also explore how the legal and political landscape, including pushback against the administration’s actions, are shifting. How On Earth host Susan Moran interviews Marc Alessi, a climate scientist at the nonprofit organization Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS); and Delta Merner, a geographer and associate director of the Climate Accountability Campaign at UCS. Dr. Alessi was an organizer of a 5-day event in May with climate scientists and meteorologists in May, called *100 Hours to Save America’s Forecasts*. And Dr. Merner is an organizer of a public virtual event on Wednesday, July 16, called “Meeting the Moment Through Climate Litigation” (2:00-3:00 p.m. MDT).
Also on this week’s science calendar, check out this FDA expert panel on menopause and hormone treatment, available livestreamed on the FDA’s YouTube channel. It’ll be held on Thursday, July 17, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 pm. MDT.

**Host/Show Producer**: Susan Moran
**Engineer:** Evan Perkins
**Executive Producer**: Susan Moran
**Headline Contributor**: Shelley Schlender

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**How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence by Matt Richtel** Jul 09, 2025
Show notes

Teens are in Crisis – Some people warn that Cell Phones are to blame. But Colorado Native and Pulitzer prize winner Matt Richtel says our tech can be a useful tool, IF we better understand the purpose of adolescence, That’s the focus of Richtel’s brand new book – How We Grow Up: Understanding Adolescence

**Hosts**: Susan Moran, Joel Parker
**Show Producer/Engineer**: Shelley Schlender
**Executive Producer:** Susan Moran

**Bird Conservancy of the Rockies – Eric DeFonso** Jul 01, 2025
Show notes

C Cornell Lab of Ornithology

**Merlin Bird ID App** (starts 1:00) Boulder Naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman explore the benefits of the Merlin smartphone app, along with its sometimes hilarious mistakes.

Eric Defonso – c Highplainssnowgoose.com

**Bird Conservancy of the Rockies** (Start 5:48) Crew Leader Eric DeFonso explains how the Conservancy’s Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions Program provides detailed data about birds and their habitat, to better understand the steep decline in bird populations and what birds need to thrive.

**Executive Producer:** Joel Parker
**Show Producer:** Shelley Schlender
**Additional Contributions:** Elena Klaver, Eric DeFonso, Steve Jones, Ruth Carol Cushman

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**Viruses are Us!** Jun 24, 2025
Show notes

In this week’s science show Beth talks with genome biologist Ed Chuong of CU Boulder’s innovation incubator, the Biofrontiers Institute. Ed takes us for a whirlwind tour of the evolutionary history of these viral invaders of our genome, and some examples of how they can simultaneously be friend and foe. Teaser, did you realize that the genes that allow the formation of the placenta, the organ that nourishes human (and other mammal) fetuses, came from viruses!

**Executive Producer:** Joel Parker
**Show Producer:** Beth Bennett
**Engineer:** Jackie Sedley

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diploma-and-graduation-hat — **2025 Graduation Special (part 2)** Jun 17, 2025
Show notes

With graduation season upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is Part 2 of our annual “Graduation Special”. Our guests in the studio today are scientists and engineers who recently received their Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in a STEM-related field. They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next.

Chloe Long – Aerospace Engineering
Topic: *Data-Driven Asteroid Tour Design*

Amin Taziny – Aerospace Engineering
Topic: *Multiscale Continuum-kinetic Modeling of Ionic Emission in Electrospray Thrusters*

Margaret Perkoff – Computer Science and Cognitive Science
Topic: *Bringing Everyone In: The Future of Collaboration with Conversational AI*

You can listen to all past year Graduation Special episodes.

**Host / Producer**: Joel Parker

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**2025 Graduation Special (part 2)** Jun 17, 2025
Show notes

With graduation season upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is Part 2 of our annual “Graduation Special”. Our guests in the studio today are scientists and engineers who recently received their Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in a STEM-related field. They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next.

Chloe Long – Aerospace Engineering
Topic: *Data-Driven Asteroid Tour Design*

Amin Taziny – Aerospace Engineering
Topic: *Multiscale Continuum-kinetic Modeling of Ionic Emission in Electrospray Thrusters*

Margaret Perkoff – Computer Science and Cognitive Science
Topic: *Bringing Everyone In: The Future of Collaboration with Conversational AI*

You can listen to all past year Graduation Special episodes.

**Host / Producer**: Joel Parker

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Animal Pandemics? Jun 03, 2025

Show notes

On this week’s How on Earth, Beth talks with author and science journalist Liz Kalaugher, about her new book, The Elephant in the room:How to Stop Making Ourselves and Other Animals Sick. Think about it this way: When new diseases spread, news reports often focus on wildlife culprits–rodents, monkeys and mpox; bats and COVID-19; waterfowl and avian flu; or mosquitoes and Zika. But, as Liz points out, we see it often works the other way around–humans have caused diseases in other animals countless times, through travel and transport, the changes we impose on our environment, and global warming. In her deeply researched and often entertaining book, Liz introduces the wildlife we have harmed and the experts now studying the crosscurrents between humans, other animals, and health.

Executive Producer: Beth Bennett
Show Producer: Beth Bennett
Additional Contributions: Joel Parker and Shelley Schlender
Engineer:Jackie Sedley

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