When Colorado writer X. Ho Yen was a kid, he loved to read science fiction.   

X. Ho Yen is autistic. He liked how some sci-fi stories, like the Star Trek series, depicted a more enlightened future society where neurodivergent people were treated equally.   

Eventually he began writing his own science fiction novels. His newest release is titled Space Autistic Author’s Puzzling Innerverse. It’s different from his other books: It’s a series of puzzles that reveal the plot of a story as you solve them.   

X. Ho Yen spoke with ITN’s Erin O’Toole earlier this year about the new book, and how science fiction resonated deeply with him as a child.

We’re listening back to that conversation as part of In The NoCo’s Holiday Book Club – our annual look back at some of the year’s most fascinating titles by Colorado authors.   

Find more information and links to the 2025 collection of author interviews here. 

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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.

Kindergarten teacher Ellen Javernick has published over twenty illustrated children’s books. The Loveland resident’s first book, What If Everybody Did That? has sold more than a million copies.  

She just published her newest book titled Awesome of the Day. It tells the story of a boy named Andrew who has one bad day after the next – until he learns to change his outlook. 

Ellen teaches at Garfield Elementary School in Loveland. She says she wants her books to inspire positive behavior in kids without getting overly sappy. 

She joined Erin O’Toole earlier this year to talk about what inspired her newest book and how – at age 87 – she continues to find energy that matches that of her young students.  

We’re listening back to that conversation today as part of In The NoCo’s Holiday Book Club – our annual look back at some of the year’s most fascinating titles by Colorado authors.  

Find more information and links to our 2025 list of books here. 

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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.

In February of 1942, not long after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military removed thousands of Americans of Japanese descent from their homes. Most of them were full citizens who had been born and raised in the United States.   

Families had only a few days to get their affairs in order before reporting to relocation centers, mostly in Western states. Roosevelt’s order affected about 120,000 Japanese Americans, including 17,000 children.  

Writer and poet Brandon Shimoda, who is fourth-generation Japanese American, says the impact of incarceration didn’t end with the war.   

Shimoda, who lives in Colorado Springs and teaches at Colorado College, is a descendant of several family members who were incarcerated in internment camps. He says his family’s stories helped inspire his newest book, The Afterlife Is Letting Go.  

He spoke with Erin O’Toole in February about the legacy of Japanese American incarceration, and why the impacts still resonate today. We’re listening back to that conversation as part of the In The NoCo holiday book club – our annual look back at some of the year’s most fascinating titles by Colorado authors.   

Find more information and links to the 2025 collection of author interviews here. 

* * * * *

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.

For people in much of the world, snakebite is a life-threatening condition.
 
We don't think about it much in Colorado, where 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 about the important research happening at his lab in Greeley that led to the breakthrough. 

If you like this interview, check out this In The NoCo conversation with a CU researcher who studies pythons to find a cure for heart disease in humans.  

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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 gathering of state lawmakers last month at a resort in Vail is drawing attention to ethics and the influence of dark money in Colorado politics.  

Colorado’s independent ethics commission plans to investigate whether 16 Democratic lawmakers violated a state ban on accepting gifts. The complaints – filed by progressive group Colorado Common Cause – stem from that Vail retreat, which was funded partly by a group which doesn’t publicly disclose its donors.  

The investigation has sparked a flurry of denials and infighting among state Democrats. And it raises questions about whether lawmakers intentionally sidestepped the rules, or if the rules themselves are unclear. 

Politics reporter Taylor Dolven recently wrote about this in the Colorado Sun. She joined Erin O’Toole to discuss what we know about the lawmakers in question and what they discussed with lobbyists in Vail.  

 
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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.

An artist in Lakewood who specializes in creating tiny books and illustrations received an unusual offer recently. An art gallery reached out to Evan Lorenzen and asked for his help in creating a book of original art – no bigger than your thumbnail – to be placed on the moon.   

The Moon Gallery, based in Amsterdam, works to send cultural artifacts into space. They’ve shipped artwork to the International Space Station. Now they wanted to focus on the moon. 

Evan worked with the Moon Gallery to compile a tiny, 80-page book filled with images and poetry by dozens of artists and writers. They called the book Moon Bound. It’s set to be launched into space sometime in 2026. 

Evan spoke earlier this year with In The NoCo’s Brad Turner about the challenge of making the tiny book, and some highlights from artists who contributed to the project. 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.

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.   

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

He joined Erin O’Toole 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.  

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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.

Colorado’s program to restore grey wolves hit some surprising roadblocks recently.  

You might recall that the state’s voters in 2020 passed a measure to reintroduce wolves, which forced wildlife officials to create a plan for bringing them back. That plan has encountered some challenges. So far, 10 of the reintroduced wolves have died.   

And now, wildlife officials are wrestling with where the next set of wolves to be released will come from. Several states – including Idaho, Wyoming, and Washington – have said ‘no’ to sending wolves from their states to Colorado. And federal officials recently put the brakes on a plan to bring in wolves from Canada.   

All of this raises questions about the viability of Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan – and what might get it back on track.  Scott Franz of KUNC News has been following the issue, and joined Erin O’Toole to unpack some of these questions.  

Read Scott’s recent story about how Washington state officials declined to send wolves to Colorado. 

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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.

Suicide among veterans is a tragic and persistent issue for the military community. That’s especially true in Colorado. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 178 veterans in Colorado died by suicide in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.  

Colorado leaders recently created a pilot program called Next Chapter, aimed at lowering these statistics. It’s based in El Paso County, which is home to many of the state’s nearly 370,000 veterans.   

The evidence so far is hopeful. Next Chapter has worked with about 1,200 veterans in its first few years, and appears to be changing the way many Colorado veterans in crisis find support and treatment. State lawmakers are working to add $5 million in funding to expand the program. 

Reporter Daliah Singer recently wrote about the program for the Colorado Sun and for Collective Colorado, a publication of The Colorado Trust. She joined Erin O'Toole to discuss what makes Next Chapter different from other programs aimed at helping veterans.  

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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.

Young women are more active in sports than ever – and more visible.  Think: Naomi Osaka on the tennis court, Caitlin Clark playing hoops or Mikaela Schifrin on the slopes. And overall, young women’s participation in sports continues to increase. 

But female athletes face different health challenges than their male counterparts. They may grapple with painful periods, and experience body image issues or eating disorders at a higher rate than male athletes.   

Now, a newly formed team of doctors at Children's Hospital Colorado hopes to change that. The hospital’s Female Athlete Program transforms the way middle and high school girls train, compete, and manage their physical and mental health. That often means talking honestly about hormones. 

Dr. Lauryn Roth, one of the program’s founding physicians, specializes in pediatric and adolescent gynecology. She works alongside sports medicine physician Dr. Aubrey Armento. They joined Erin O’Toole to discuss how the program works – and how their own experience as teenage athletes shaped how they treat young women 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.