KGNU - How On Earth

By KGNU - How On EarthScience Social Sciences Natural Sciences

KGNU - How On Earth episodes

March 02, 2011 Colorado Growth Model is Replacing CSAPs // Boulder Valley Science Fair
Boulder Math Scores - How they rank statewide (from schoolview.org)
In honor of KGNU’s Kid’s Week, we go to the Boulder County Science Fair with How on Earth’s Tom McKinnon. In turns out three of the five students Tom interviewed before the judging began ended up as winners at the science show! Then, we look at CSAPs-Colorado’s Student Assessment Program. That style of standardized test for Reading, Writing, Math and Science is being phased out, in favor of The Colorado Growth Model that’s so innovative, it’s being adopted in several other states. How on Earth’s Shelley Schlender interviews cognitive scientist Bill Bonk, who’s on the team developing the Colorado Growth Model, which you can see at schoolview.org.
Hosts: Joel Parker and Tom McKinnon
Producer: Shelley Schlender
24 min
February 22, 2011 Bioastronautics at CU Bioserve // Boulder County EnergySmart energy efficiency service
Ted Burnham inteviews CU PhD student Christine Fanchiang on her role in helping the BioServe program prepare experiments for a ride on the Space Shuttle.
Tom McKinnon talks to Beth Beckel, an Energy Efficiency and Sustainability Specialist with Boulder County EnergySmart Service. Beth tells us how this new county program can help homeowners and renters save money, increase indoor comfort, and help the environment. Click here for the EnergySmart portion of HOE.
Hosts: Ted Burnham and Tom McKinnon
Producer: Tom McKinnon
Listen to the show:
24 min
February 15, 2011 CU Medical Professor Shares Love of Science

CU Medical Professor John Cohen. Image courtesy of John Cohen.
This week we’ll feature CU Medical School Immunologist John Cohen, who has just received the American Association for the Advancement of Science top award for promoting public understanding of Science. In addition to teaching at the Medical School, Cohen is the founder of Mini Med and the lead “disorganizer” of the Denver Cafe Sci. We’ll also talk with Emory University researcher Zixu Mao about a new link between Parkinson’s disease and the health of the mitochondria within a cell, and we’ll hear from BBC Science in Action about some top choices in Europe for new Astronomy pursuits.
Hosts: Joel Parker, Susan Moran
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Listen to the show:
24 min
February 08, 2011 Front range water / Kepler planet-hunter

Rocks at Lake Mead show the drop in water levels from the high-water mark. (Image courtesy of Flickr user ChrisMRichards.)
Our two features for this week’s show: Susan Moran interviewed Joel Smith, principal at Stratus Consulting in Boulder, who has been helping the city adapt to climate change—in particular, by smartly managing its water supply; and Tom Yulsman interviewed John Troeltzsch, the Kepler mission program manager for Boulder-based Ball Aerospace, which built one of the key instruments for the mission, as well as the spacecraft itself.
Cohosts: Susan Moran, Tom Yulsman
Producer: Susan Moran
Listen to the show:
24 min
January 25, 2011 From Jars to the Stars / Plants moving uphill
Artist's rendering of the Deep Impact spacecraft encountering a comet. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL/UMD/Pat Rawlings.
Our guest this week is Todd Neff, who was a science reporter for Boulder’s Daily Camera newspaper and is author of a new book, From Jars to the Stars: How Ball Came to Build a Comet-Hunting Machine, about the history of Ball Aerospace. Neff joins us to speak about that history and the challenges Ball faced when designing and building the Deep Impact spacecraft that intentionally collided with a comet in 2005. We also hear from Jon Stewart of the BBC’s Science in Action about how climate change is actually driving plants downhill.
Hosts: Joel Parker, Ted Burnham
Producer: Joel Parker
Listen to the show:
26 min
January 18, 2011 Earthquakes & corruption / Astrology shake-up
Government corruption may have lead to poor building practices in Haiti prior to the Jan. 2010 earthquake. Image courtesy of AIDG.
This week on How On Earth, University of Colorado earth scientist Roger Bilham joins us in the studio to talk about his latest study, which shows a correlation between the prevalence of corruption in a country and the likelihood of civilian deaths during an earthquake. And Shelley Schlender talks to HOE contributor and astrophysicist Joel Parker about how the science of astronomy can have an impact on the pseudoscientific world of astrology.
Hosts: Tom Yulsman, Ted Burnham
Producer: Tom Yulsman
Listen to the show:
23 min
January 11, 2011 MAVEN: Mission to Mars // Communicating geophysics
Mars’ atmosphere may have been depleted following the loss of the planet’s magnetic field. Illustration courtesy of NASA.
On this week’s How On Earth, we’re joined by the University of Colorado’s Bruce Jakosky, principle investigator on the MAVEN satellite mission that will investigate Mars’ upper atmosphere. NASA granted final approval to MAVEN last fall, and the spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2013. Also, Ted Burnham speaks with Carol Finn, incoming president of the American Geophysical Union, about the need for scientists to communicate better with the public.
Hosts: Joel Parker, Ted Burnham
Producer: Shelley Schlender
Listen to the show:
26 min