KGNU - How On Earth

Skunk Canyon Songbirds  (Starts 1:00) Scott Severs and Steve Jones hike Boulder’s Skunk Canyon Trail explaining why spring is late this year, plus why Skunk Canyon is home to so many song birds.                     Longmont Beavers (Starts 12:00) Scott Severs, Wildlife Expert for the City of Longmont, […]

In this week’s show, Beth talks with epidemiologist Genevieve Wojcik. We spoke about her work standardizing what is called the Polygenic Risk Score. This is a composite risk factor, extracted from information on many individual genes that can contribute to a disorder or genetic character. To find out more about her research visit her website. […]

(Entire Show)  Larry Gold, Boulder entrepreneur and scientist, invites listeners to register on line for the 12th annual GoldLab symposium.  Due to COVID, it’s a virtual symposium this year, Thursday and Friday, May 13-14.   Extended version coming soon.   Executive Producer: Joel Parker Show Producer & Host: Shelley Schlender

With graduation season upon us, today’s edition of How on Earth is our annual “Graduation Special”. Our guests in the studio today are scientists who have or will soon receive their Ph.D. in a STEM-related field.  They talk about their thesis research, their grad school experiences, and what they have planned next. Kate Doubleday – CU Boulder, […]

On this week’s show, Beth talks with author Doug Bierend about his new book, In Search of Mycotopia. He introduces us to an incredible, essential, and often denigrated kingdom of life: the fungi. A growing community of mushroom-mad citizen scientists and devotees are expanding the uses and availability of myriad fungi. From decontaminating landscapes and […]

On today’s show, Beth talks to Herman Pontzer about his new book, Burn, a deep dive into how the human body evolved, and how our species’ deep past shapes our health and physiology. His writing includes fascinating glimpses into both field projects in small-scale societies, including hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers, in Africa and South America, […]

This week on How on Earth we speak with Ainissa Ramirez, materials scientist and author of The Alchemy of Us:  How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another.   In this book, she examines eight inventions and reveals how they shaped the human experience.      Listen to how our sleep and language were influenced by some of […]

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with Dr Paul Cohen, a physician-scientist whose research focuses on obesity and metabolic disease. They spoke about his recent study highlighting the link between brown fat and positive health outcomes in cancer, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Their converstiaon starts at about 5 minutes. You can […]

This week, Beth talks to Prof. Mike Breed, of the University of Colorado, about his longtime research on honeybees. The interview starts at about 6 min. They explore some fascinating aspects of bee biology, and some of the problems facing these amazing creatures, as well as what you can do to attract and support them. […]

Beth 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 […]

  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 […]

(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:

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 […]

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 […]