In The NoCo

Eye doctors today perform surgeries that would have seemed unthinkable a century or two ago. They can remove cataracts, correct someone’s vision with Lasik surgery, or do a cornea transplant to relieve pain or restore someone’s sight. 

But one procedure they can’t do at the moment is a full eye transplant for vision restoration. And that prevents doctors from treating some more serious eye conditions.  

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus want to change that. A team there was recently awarded up to $46 million to figure out how to make successful eye transplants a medical reality.  

Dr. Kia Washington is leading the team’s research. And she refers to the project as a “moonshot.”  

Host Erin O’Toole spoke with Washington about what makes eye transplantation so complex, and why this research could create huge advances in eye medicine.

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Producer: Ariel Lavery
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot SessionsIn The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

When it comes time to decorate for the holidays, for many people a beautiful Christmas tree is the most essential piece.   

And some people simply don’t want to let their Christmas tree go. So, they bring a live potted tree into their home, and then move it to their yard after the holidays to enjoy for years to come.   

If that sounds like your kind of Christmas, our guest today has some tips to make it a reality. John Murgel is a horticulture specialist with Colorado State University Extension. He says opting for a living Christmas tree isn’t a totally off-the-wall idea, but it’s certainly not for everyone.

He spoke with ITN’s Erin O’Toole about everything you need to know before you try to turn a potted holiday tree into a forever tree in your yard.

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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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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 ingredients you select when you cook dinner can make a huge difference in your household’s carbon emissions.
 
Mark Easter explores that idea in his book The Blue Plate: A Food Lover’s Guide to Climate Chaos, He’s a retired ecologist in Fort Collins who studies the carbon footprint of the food we eat. 

His book walks readers through the typical ingredients of a home cooked dinner. Then, Mark explains the carbon footprint of each ingredient and how to reduce that footprint by making smarter purchases at the grocery store. 

Today, in the second installment of In The NoCo’s Holiday Book Club, we’re listening back to a conversation between Mark Easter and In the NoCo’s Brad Turner.

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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.

Tim McKay is a Denver artist who fills colorful, sprawling canvases with geometric figures. His paintings can span 12 feet or larger. But a year ago, a diagnosis threatened to disrupt his career. Doctors told him he had Parkinson’ s disease – a condition that would slowly take away his ability to use his muscles.  

McKay responded by making art that reflects how the disease is changing his ability to paint. He started painting on smaller canvases, which require less energy and mobility than his larger pieces. And in some cases, when he had a clumsy moment as he was painting, he left evidence of those mistakes in the work. 

He spoke with ITN’s Erin O’Toole about how Parkinson’s has changed his work – and the process of documenting his journey through this project, called One to Somewhere. 

Tim McKay’s paintings are on display at Pirate Contemporary Art in Lakewood through Sunday, December 15.  

Picture this: It's a summer day. You’re on a ship on the Arctic Ocean. You scan the horizon... and you don’t see any sea ice on the surface of the water.  

For much of our history, this would be a surreal scenario. The Earth’s northernmost region is typically covered in sea ice and snow year-round. 

But a University of Colorado researcher says that vision is going to become a reality. And the first ice-free day on the Arctic Ocean may be closer than we think.  

Dr. Alexandra Jahn, associate professor in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at CU Boulder, is part of an international research team that used climate models to predict when the first ice-free day in the Arctic might occur.  

They found that day could happen within the next 20 years – and possibly in as few as three years.  

“It will be a stark contrast, seeing this transition from this very white Arctic to now a blue Arctic,” Jahn said. “I think that will have a really big and stunning impact on people.” 

The team’s findings were recently published in the journal Nature Communications.  

Jahn’s prediction is getting plenty of attention from climate scientists who have been thinking about this scenario. She spoke with ITN’s Erin O’Toole about the findings, and what the consequences for the planet would be.

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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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.

Forty years ago, a Denver radio talk show host named Alan Berg was assassinated. He was shot in his driveway by members of a militant, white supremacist group known as The Order. The group was active in the early 1980s, and one of their goals was to spark revolution against the American government. 

A new movie tells that story, and explores the FBI investigation into the group. The movie, called The Order, is based on a book by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, who were both investigative journalists at the Rocky Mountain News at the time Alan Berg was killed.  

Kevin Flynn, who now works as a Denver city councilman, joined Erin O’Toole to talk about the story, why the new film feels relevant today.

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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.

Columbus B. Hill was a pivotal figure in Colorado’s culinary history. He was a Black man originally from Missouri – and he was possibly the most popular barbecue chef in Denver in the late 1800s. His food was so good that it was served to thousands of people at official functions at the state Capitol.  

But even among hardcore barbecue fans, very few people know his name. And his legacy wasn’t always well cared for. In 1923, Hill was buried in Denver’s Riverside Cemetery without a headstone.  

Denver author and barbecue historian Adrian Miller has been on a mission to change that.

He devoted an entire chapter to Columbus B. Hill in his book Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue. He championed Hill’s induction into the American Royal Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2023. And last September, he honored Hill with a memorial dedication at his burial site. 

Adrian Miller joined ITN’s Erin O’Toole a few days before that ceremony to share the story of the “best barbecue man in the West.”  

We’re revisiting that conversation as part of In The NoCo’s new Holiday Book Club, which will continue each week this month.

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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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.

Your social media use may affect your career prospects more than you think. 

If you’ve been job hunting recently, you know what to do on LinkedIn:. You keep things professional and probably not too controversial.  

But a University of Colorado researcher says what you do on other platforms – like Facebook or X or BlueSky – might matter more than you think. Jason Thatcher has been studying how hiring managers use social media to make decisions about candidates. 

And he found 60 percent of hiring managers decide who to interview or who to hire, in part, by checking out applicants’ social media accounts.  

So how do your Facebook rants about the recent election affect your chances of landing your dream job? What can you do to make your social media accounts more appealing to hiring managers? . And what are the red flags that hiring managers look for?  

In the NoCo’s Brad Turner spoke with Thatcher about what he’s observed.  

You can also check out Jason’s previous In The NoCo interview, on how to limit “technostress” that can drive you crazy at work. 

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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.

Every December, Santa Claus literally does the impossible: He delivers presents all over the world with a team of flying reindeer. So when someone becomes a stand-in for Santa at your local mall, or work party, those are big boots to fill.  

But as it turns out, being Santa is a teachable skill. 

Susen Mesco founded Professional Santa Claus School in Denver in 1983. She says more than 5,000 Santas have attended over the years. And that means she has four decades of expertise in getting your local Santa acting and looking his best.  

Susan got her start back in 1982 when her event planning business got an offer to train and manage some Santas at local malls. And she saw a lot of room for improvement. "I went around spying on my competitor, and what I actually found was everything not to do,” she said. “Mommies were miserable. Children were being forced at Santa. Santa was cranky and slouchy, and his beard was falling off. So I went to work writing kind of a manual.”  

Host Erin O’Toole talked with Mesco about what makes a great Santa, the extensive training her school offers, and how she trains Santas to answer particularly tough questions from kids. 

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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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner. And many of us are dreading the moment when someone brings up politics at the dinner table.   

Family members might want to debate how Harris performed as a candidate or the merits of who Trump picked for his cabinet. Or a hundred other post-election topics that might make you feel a little bit less than thankful to be with your family on Thursday.  

Natalie Pennington, an assistant professor of communication studies at Colorado State University, studies the dynamics of friendship and relationships – and the challenges of maintaining connections across the political divide. She spoke with ITN’s Erin O’Toole to share some simple strategies to help you avoid Thanksgiving dinner drama.

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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
Producer: Ariel Lavery
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.