Earth Wise

By Randy SimonScience Education Self-Improvement Natural Sciences Nature

Earth Wise episodes

June 18, 2018 Alien Waters Invade The Arctic
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-18-18-Alien-Waters-Invade-the-Arctic.mp3
The Arctic is heating up faster than any other region of the planet. As a result, once-distinct boundaries between the frigid polar ocean and the warmer, neighboring Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are blurring, opening the way for the southern waters to enter the polar regions. The volume of Pacific Ocean water flowing into the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait has increased by 70% over the past decade. The Arctic Ocean’s cold layering system that blocks Atlantic inflows is breaking down.
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2 min
June 15, 2018 Drowning Atolls
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-15-18-Drowning-Atolls.mp3
The rising seas represent an existential threat to low-lying atoll islands and that threat now appears to the more imminent than previously thought.
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2 min
June 14, 2018 Fighting Methane With Bacteria
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-14-18-Fighting-Methane-with-Bacteria.mp3
Bacteria may have an important role to play in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A group of researchers at the University of Alberta are genetically engineering non-hazardous bacteria that consume methane and turn it into fuel.
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2 min
June 13, 2018 Oman’s Rocks
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/EW-06-13-18-Omans-Rocks.mp3
There is growing interest in the idea of capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Reducing the amount of it we are putting into the atmosphere is essential for limiting the effects of climate change, but even eliminating emissions entirely is not enough because the CO2 already there stays in the atmosphere for decades or more.
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2 min
June 12, 2018 Big Bucks For Meatless Meat
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-12-18-Big-Bucks-for-Meatless-Meat.mp3
In recent years, alternative protein startup companies have been all the rage among investors. Last year, these companies attracted a least a quarter of a billion dollars in funding and the interest is not slowing down.
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2 min
June 11, 2018 An App For Infection Testing
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-11-18-An-App-for-Infection-Testing.mp3
Researchers at Washington State University have developed a low-cost, portable device that works with a smartphone to detect common viral and bacterial infections nearly as well as clinical laboratories. Such a system could lead to faster and lower-cost lab results for fast-moving epidemics, especially in rural or lower-resource regions where laboratory equipment and medical personnel are not readily available.
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2 min
June 08, 2018 Infinitely Recyclable Plastic
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-08-18-Infinitely-Recyclable-Plastic.mp3
Less than 10% of discarded plastic is recycled. This is one of the major reasons that plastic waste is such a threat to the environment. There are many challenges to recycling plastics. For one thing, there are many different types of plastic and if they are melted together, they tend to phase-separate like oil and water and the resultant substance is structurally weak. Sorting plastics by type is not a simple task. More generally, it is very difficult to produce plastic with its original properties from recycled feedstock. So recycled plastics generally end up being useful in only more limited applications.
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2 min
June 07, 2018 Hunting Grizzly Bears
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-07-18-Hunting-Grizzly-Bears.mp3
One year ago, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that the grizzly bear population in the Yellowstone area would be delisted from the Endangered Species Act, and more recently, announced that those federal protections would not be restored.
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2 min
June 06, 2018 Rising Seas On The East Coast
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-06-18-Rising-Seas-on-the-East-Coast.mp3
Global sea levels are rising by about a tenth of an inch per year, but in some places, the rise is faster… much faster. From 2011 to 2015, sea levels rose up to 5 inches – an inch per year – in some locales along the Eastern Seaboard. Places like Norfolk, Virginia and Miami are experiencing so-called sunny day flooding, something that had not been expected for decades according to climate projections. So, what is going on?
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2 min
June 05, 2018 European Diesel Under Siege
https://earthwiseradio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/EW-06-05-18-European-Diesel-Under-Seige.mp3
Diesel cars have never been very popular in the US and in the aftermath of the so-called Dieselgate scandal at Volkswagen, they are even less so. Less than a dozen diesel car models are available for purchase in the US and only one of those is from a German automaker: BMW.
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2 min

About Earth Wise

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From green business and new environmental legislation to how nature impacts our environment in ways never before considered, Earth Wise offers a look at our changing environment.