In The NoCo

Creede is a small, former silver mining town in the heart of a canyon in the San Juan mountains. It has about 300 full-time residents. Just about everywhere you look, you see reminders of the area's mining heritage – including the abandoned mines that surround the town. 

One thing sets Creede apart from other mining towns in Colorado: It has a thriving local theater scene.  

In the 1960s, as the silver mining industry began to die out, The Creede Repertory Theatre opened with a handful of theater students. Sixty years later – there's still some tension between the free-spirited thespians who visit each summer, and the locals who work as ranchers or outfitters.    

 Yet, somehow, they coexist. That dynamic – and how everyone gets along with one another – drew filmmakers Kahane Corn Cooperman and Innbo Shim to make the new documentary Creede, USA. 

The film will be screened this Saturday as part of Colorado State University's ACT Human Rights Film Festival in Fort Collins.  Ahead of the film festival’s opening, Kahane and Innbo joined Erin O’Toole to talk about the film, and what they think other communities could learn from Creede about civility and kindness. 

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

For people in much of the world, snakebite is a life-threatening condition. 
 

We don't think about it much in Colorado — though it may be more top of mind this spring, since the warm winter is prompting rattlesnakes to emerge from their dens a little earlier than usual. Here, a nasty rattlesnake bite might send the occasional hiker to the emergency room. 
 

But the World Health Organization estimates that, around the globe, as many as 138,000 people die from venomous snakebites each year.  And while antivenom can be used to treat snakebite, it’s often costly and difficult to produce. 

An expert at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley hopes to change that.  

Biology professor Stephen Mackessy is part of an international team that recently announced a breakthrough in the production of antivenom. The new technology could save lives by making antivenom cheaper to manufacture — and available in larger quantities.  

Mackessy and his team recently published their findings in the journal Nature. He spoke with Erin O’Toole in November about the important research happening at his lab in Greeley that led to the breakthrough. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

If you enjoyed this interview, check out this In The NoCo conversation with the retiring director of the Rocky Mountain Poison Center, whose work helped develop a better antivenom to treat rattlesnake bites. 

 
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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Just a note - today's episode touches on themes of depression and suicide. 

Ten years ago, Colorado writer Becky Jensen’s life seemed great. She was raising two sons and engaged to be married. Yet, she was struggling quietly with depression and thoughts of suicide – although she didn't know why.  

Hoping to find clarity, Becky decided to take a bold step: She shouldered a backpack and set out to hike all 500 miles of the Colorado Trail on her own. Along the way, she confronted dangers in the wilderness – and her own feelings of low self-worth and repressed trauma.  

What began for her as an escape turned into a journey toward healing and, ultimately, a newly published memoir called No Man’s Land: Unpacking One Woman’s Worth on the Colorado Trail.  

Becky joined Erin O'Toole to talk about her experience, and what led to her taking this unusual step toward self-discovery. 

Becky will present a book talk and slide show at Wolverine Farm Publick House in Fort Collins on Thursday, April 9. And she’ll join Colorado Trail legend David Fanning at Old Firehouse Books (Fort Collins) for conversation on May 14. Find more upcoming author events at her website. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Steam powers much of the modern world. It drove the Industrial Revolution, and is still widely used to generate electricity, to sterilize equipment used in food production and medicine, and to heat and cool large buildings.    

However, the traditional method of making steam hasn’t changed in more than 150 years. It involves burning fossil fuels like coal or natural gas to heat water in a boiler – a process which creates harmful emissions.   

Which is why Todd Bandhauer felt that the old way was long overdue for an upgrade. He's a professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, and co-founder and chief technical officer of a CSU spinoff company called AtmosZero.  

He recently helped develop a method that uses heat from the air, rather than from burning gas or fossil fuels, to make steam generation cleaner. And Bandhauer thinks it could be transformative for manufacturing cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, heating college campuses, and brewing beer.   

Bandhauer was recently named to the Time 100 Climate list, which recognizes innovations in clean energy. 

He joined Erin O’Toole last November to talk about why making cleaner steam could be transformative for manufacturing around the world – and how it’s already being used at New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Climate change in Colorado isn’t just an abstract idea. We can see the effects now.   

Cities have already imposed summer watering limits. Snowpack is at record lows, and some ski resorts are closing early this season. Governor Jared Polis recently activated the state's drought task force with a warning that Colorado is in the middle of its warmest year on record.  

Colorado Sun environment reporter Michael Booth recently wrote a piece exploring ten visible signs that climate change is happening now in Colorado – including the challenges farmers are facing, and how drought is affecting Colorado’s iconic Ponderosa pine forests. 

Michael spoke with Erin O'Toole about why he set out to write the story, and why some experts are hopeful about possible solutions.   

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

The Colorado Rockies play their first home game of the season on Friday. It’s a fresh start for the team after last season, which was the worst in franchise history.  

Today, we’re talking about a rather bold  idea that might hold potential to change the team’s fortunes moving forward. 

A routine part of the Rockies’ misfortunes is the fact that Coors Field sits a mile above sea level. Baseballs fly further here, which means more home runs. It also means pitches like curveballs have less curve to them, which makes life harder for the pitchers. 

Colorado Sun reporter John Ingold looked into one possible solution: using baseballs with raised seams to increase the air resistance on fly balls – and make playing at Coors Field similar to what players experience at other ballparks.  

John joined In The NoCo’s Brad Turner last September to talk about how it might work – and the science of playing baseball at this altitude. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

It’s a positive development in a grim trend we rarely talk about.   

Across Colorado, fewer pregnant women and new moms are dying from accidental overdoses. The number of maternal overdose deaths dropped from 20 in the year 2020 to 8 deaths just three years later. That's a 60% reduction in the most recent years for which data is available.  

Why that's happening isn’t totally clear. But a doctor who specializes in addiction treatment during pregnancy has a theory that involves Naloxone. That’s an over-the-counter medication that can stop or reverse the symptoms of an overdose by people who use opioids, including heroin or some painkillers.  

Naloxone has become more widely distributed in recent years, but it's not without controversy. Proponents say it saves lives, while some feel it enables or perpetuates drug abuse.   

Dr. Kaylin Klie, an associate professor of family medicine at CU Anschutz Medical Campus, thinks Naloxone may be behind the decline in maternal overdoses. She wrote about that in a recent piece for The Conversation.  She spoke with Erin O’Toole about her hypothesis – and what it says about how we address addiction. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

A stolen idea for a novel, an angry social media post – and an online backlash that engulfs the main characters. These are the elements of an intriguing novel by Colorado author R.L. Maizes.   

The writer says it draws on some of her own experiences. And the novel raises thorny questions about who gets to own an idea, who has the right to tell a particular story, and the tension of writing a novel in an age of social media tirades.  

 A Complete Fiction was released in November.  Maizes, who lives near Boulder, joined Erin O’Toole to share the real-life challenges of being a writer in our chronically online society. We’re listening back to that conversation today. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

A poison control center is the place to call if your child accidentally swallows something dangerous, like paint or a detergent pod.   

But the Rocky Mountain Poison Center based in Denver also tracks the things that poison Coloradans. It monitors prescription drug misuse, tracks new substances Coloradans might ingest, and helps hospitals treat venomous snake bites. 

Dr. Richard Dart has led the center, which serves Colorado and three other western states, since 1992. In that time, he's seen a lot of changes, from how the center handles phone calls to how it trains the next generation of toxicologists. 

Dart recently announced he’s retiring. Ahead of that, he joined Erin O’Toole to share more about how the things that sicken or kill Coloradans have changed in recent decades – and what drew him to this unusual line of work. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, check out our recent interview with Stephen Mackessy, a researcher at the University of Northern Colorado who’s part of an international team developing more effective, less costly antivenom to treat venomous snake bites. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

A recent discovery by paleontologists working in Colorado is giving scientists a slightly revised history of primates. That’s the group of mammals that includes apes – and humans.  

Scientists working at Corral Bluffs near Colorado Springs recently discovered tiny teeth and bone fragments belonging to a species called Purgatorius.  

Purgatorius was an early and distant cousin of humans. It thrived 65 million years ago  – not long after an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. 

Purgatorius fossils had never been found as far south as Colorado before this recent dig. And scientists say the discovery suggests that, once dinosaurs were out of the picture, mammals may have thrived more quickly – and over a wider swath of the planet – than previously understood. 

Jordan Crowell is a postdoctoral fellow with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, who worked with dozens of volunteers and other scientists on the dig near Colorado Springs. He joined Erin O’Toole to talk about what they found, and why scientists are excited by the discovery. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.