Locally Sourced Science

Welcome to the final LSS episode of 2020!

Many of our listeners may be glad to say good bye to this difficult and trying year. However, Locally Sourced Science wishes to end the year on an optimistic note, by featuring clips of some of our favorite stories from the past year, and looking forward to communicating more great science stories in 2021.

Starting off the show, we recall Esther Racoosin’s interview in April of Laurie Rubin, a local educator who teaches students and the general public about how to observe, record and appreciate nature. With this interview, we also urge our listeners to get outside and enjoy the natural world in the coming year.

Link to Full show: https://locallysourcedscience.org/2020/04/28/lss-85-earth-day-edition/

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, we discovered that it is incredibly important to use social media to communicate new science developments. Also, scientists strove to stay in touch with the general public in order to encourage them to learn more about important scientific topics.

One science communicator who remains very active on social media is Dr. Ana Maria Porras, a postdoctoral fellow in the Cornell University Department of Biomedical Engineering. She works in the fields of tissue engineering and the human gut microbiome. Porras posts information about microbiology in both English and Spanish on her two Instagram accounts, #MicrobeMonday and #MicroMartes. Here, we presented a segment of Smaranda Sandu’s interview of Dr. Porras, that aired initially on Sandu’s podcast, Tidbits of Research (https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/tidbits-of-research/episode-2-ana-maria-porras-qKtrs8Z_CRd/)

Link to Full Show: https://locallysourcedscience.org/2020/08/18/lss-93-research-amid-covid-19/

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The year 2020 was a watershed year of increased recognition of the #Black Lives Matter movement. People all around the world came out to protest the continuing mistreatment of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), calling for anti-racist reforms.

LSS began a series of interviews, highlighting the significant scientific contributions of BIPOC scientists. In July, LSS contributor Dr. Scarlett Lee interviewed Dr. Avery August, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Cornell University. He is also the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and Professor of Immunology in the College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. August talked about his current research, and his endeavor to increase the diversity of faculty at Cornell.

Link to Full Show: https://locallysourcedscience.org/2020/07/07/lss-90-highlighting-immunology-research-by-cornell-poc/

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.During this year, LSS also featured citizen science projects. In August, LSS contributor Liz Mahood interviewed Nathaniel Launer of the Community Science Institute (CSI) about how citizens are taking water samples in local streams. Launer spoke about how the contributions of citizen scientists are helping CSI track contaminants in local waterways. To learn more about this project, visit http://www.communityscience.org/volunteer/synoptic-sampling/.

Link to Full Show: https://locallysourcedscience.org/2020/08/04/lss-92-citizen-science-amidst-the-covid-19-pandemic/

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Even before the initial cases of COVID-19 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus began spreading around the world, scientists jumped into action, sequencing the genetic code of the virus, trying to understand the biology of its transmission and attempting to characterize the disease that it causes. Certainly those investigations will be proceeding for years to come.

LSS contributors interviewed a number of local scientists who are studying the virus and its disease. For our November show, LSS contributor Candice Limper interviewed Dr. Alison Stout, a veterinarian and Ph.D. student at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. They discussed her studies of feline coronaviruses.

Link to the full show: https://locallysourcedscience.org/2020/11/24/lss-100-how-humans-perceive-the-risk-of-contracting-covid-19-feline-coronaviruses/

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To close out the show, we would like to add that in 2020, we also highlighted the important research contributions of female scientists. In March, Women’s History Month, we featured an interview of Dr. Chelsea Specht, Cornell University, the Barbara McClintock Professor of Plant Biology at the School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section. She is also the curator at the L.H. Bailey Hortorium.

This interview was conducted by Rosemary Glos, who, upon her graduation in 2020 was named as a Merrill Presidential Scholar. LSS is pleased to have been able to feature her interview of Dr. Specht.

Link to Full Show: https://locallysourcedscience.org/2020/03/03/lss-81-women-in-science-i/

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We would like to thank WRFI Community Radio (88.1 FM in Ithaca, 91.9 FM in Watkins Glen and at http://www.wrfi.org) for broadcasting our shows.

We also acknowledge this year’s Locally Sourced Science contributors (in no particular order): Mark Sarvary, Kitty Gifford, Esther Racoosin, Candice Limper, Liz Mahood, Scarlett Lee, Janani Harihanan, Smaranda Sandu, Patricia Waldron, Jeff Pea, Rosemary Glos, Ben DeMoras, Alejandro Schmieder, Vivian Lee, Zach Bellido.

Don’t forget that you can also be a contributor! Please contact us at [email protected] for more information. Or tweet at us at #flxscienceradio.

Science Out!!

Co-Producers: Esther Racoosin and Mark Sarvary

Music: Joe Lewis, Blue Dot Sessions

In today’s episode, we continue our series of interviews with scientists who have decided to use their expertise in their respective fields to help further research into the biology of SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

First off, you’ll hear Esther Racoosin’s interview of Dr. Matthew DeLisa, a Professor of Engineering at Cornell University.  For 4 years, his laboratory has been using bacterial Outer Membrane Vesicle (OMV) technology to develop a universal influenza vaccine. Recently, DeLisa’s lab has been using that to design a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2.

To learn more about Dr. DeLisa’s research, visit https://www.delisaresearchgroup.com/

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In today’s second interview, Esther speaks with Dr. Cedric Feschotte, Professor in the Cornell Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics.  Researchers in Dr. Feschotte’s lab study how mobile DNA elements, such as transposons and endogenous viruses move around in genomes. 

Following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, he and post-doctoral fellow Dr. Manu Singh and Dr. Vikas Bansal of the Max Planck Institute in Tubingen, Germany, began study studying host cell expression of genes called SCARFs.  That acronym stands for SARS CoV-2 and Coronavirus-Associated Receptors and factors.   SCARFs include cellular factors both facilitating and restricting viral entry.

To learn more about SCARFs, visit https://cells.ucsc.edu/?ds=scarface

To find out more about research in Dr. Feschotte’s lab, visit http://blogs.cornell.edu/feschottelab/

Producer: Liz Mahood

Associate Producer: Esther Racoosin

Interviews of Dr. Matt DeLisa and Dr. Cedric Feschotte: Esther Racoosin

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

In today’s episode, we explore how people perceive the risk of contracting COVID-19. We also discuss how humans can avoid passing COVID-19 to their beloved cat companions.

First off, you’ll hear Candice Limper’s interview of Cornell Professor Dr. Katherine McComas. She is a Professor of Communications in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and studies how people communicate about health, science, and environmental risks.

In the second half of today’s show, you’ll hear Candice Limper’s interview of Dr Alison Stout, a veterinarian who is pursuing her Ph.D. in Virology. She is a student in Dr. Gary Whittaker’s lab in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. In the interview, Dr. Stout talks about her research on feline coronaviruses and how humans can avoid passing SARS CoV-2 to their pets.

Producer: Liz Mahood

Associate Producer: Esther Racoosin

Interviews of Dr. McComas and Dr. Stout: Candice Limper

Music: Blue Dot Sessions

• Post-Doc Alexa Schmitz (left) and MEng. student Don Flood (right) of the Barstow lab (photo courtesy of Dr. Barstow)

In today’s episode, we hear about a new technology that can lower the carbon footprint of an energy-intensive mining procedure. We also learn about the causes of climate change, and why the development of new technologies that keep carbon in the earth are so important.

To start off, Janani Hariharan interviews Dr. Buz Barstow from the Cornell Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering. Barstow talks about his research project that uses bacteria to extract rare earth elements in a clean, sustainable way. In this segment, you’ll hear about what rare earth elements are, why they’re important to us, what the current problems are in mining these minerals, and how Dr. Barstow’s team is working to solve some of these problems.

In our second interview, Esther Racoosin speaks with Dr. Ingrid Zabel, Climate Change Education Manager at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca. Dr. Zabel discusses the new exhibit at the Museum of the Earth (MOE) in Ithaca, “Changing Climate: Our Future, Our Choices”. A virtual version of the exhibit is currently on display at the MOE website, https://www.museumoftheearth.org/exhibit/changing-climate. The live version of the exhibit will open at the museum in late November. To make a reservation to visit the museum, go to this link: https://www.museumoftheearth.org/visit/plan-your-visit.

Producer: Liz Mahood

Interview of Dr. Buz Barstow: Janani Harihanan

Interview of Dr. Ingrid Zabel: Esther Racoosin

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

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In today’s show, we speak with Dr. Brad Cosentino, Associate Professor of Biology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

He is the lead researcher on a grant from the National Science Foundation to study how urbanization may affect the evolution of coat color in the Eastern Gray Squirrel.

Listeners can learn more about the grant by visiting this link: https://www2.hws.edu/hws-awarded-nsf-grant-on-evolution-in-cities/.

Citizen scientists (yes, that’s you) can take part in the study by visiting http://www.squirrelmapper.org

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In the second part of the show, Candice Limper covers a recent virtual science writing conference held specifically for graduate students and post doctoral fellows who would like to learn more about science communication. She spoke with Jason Chang, a graduate student in the Cornell Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, about the event, called ComSciCon-SciWri2020.

To learn more about the Com Sci Con, the Communicating Science workshop for Graduate Students, visit: https://comscicon.com/comscicon-sciwri-2020

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Show Producer: Esther Racoosin

Host: Jeff Pea

Interview of Dr. Brad Cosentino: Esther Racoosin

Interview of Jason Chang: Candice Limper

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

In this episode of Locally Sourced Science, we explore two phenomena related to climate change that may have significant effects on our local environment.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, (https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/) Tompkins County and much of the Finger Lakes have been experiencing moderate drought conditions. Our first segment focuses on the ways that plants respond to drought. Esther Racoosin speaks with Dr. Taryn Bauerle, Associate Professor in the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Science, about her studies on how plants respond to stresses from water deficits.

In our second segment, we hear about the environmental implications of climate-related increases of harmful algal blooms in different ecosystems. Janani Hariharan talks to Dr. Katie Fiorella from Cornell University. Dr. Fiorella was recently awarded a National Science Foundation grant to study the economic and health effects of algal blooms on human communities in Kenya. We also hear about local algal blooms in the Finger Lakes area, and what they mean for our ecosystem. 

In our last segment of the show, Candice Limper provides a short history of the Nobel Prize (https://www.nobelprize.org/) and a quick glimpse into this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, shared for the first time by two female scientists, Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Dr. Jennifer A. Doudna.

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Show Producer: Liz Mahood

Associate Producer and interview of Dr. Taryn Bauerle: Esther Racoosin

Interview of Dr. Katie Fiorella: Janani Harihanan

History of Nobel Prize: Candice Limper

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

In today’s episode, we feature an interview about research on Jupiter’s atmosphere. 

Candice Limper speaks with Yury Aglyamov, a graduate student in the Cornell Department of Astronomy. He discusses his analysis of data from the NASA Juno spacecraft that reveal lightning flashes in the atmosphere of the planet Jupiter. Aglyamov is an author on a paper recently published in Nature, “Small Lightning Flashes From Shallow Electrical Storms on Jupiter”. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2532-1

Later in the show, Esther Racoosin speaks with Spencer Hill. He is a 3rd grade teacher at Cayuga Heights Elementary in the Ithaca City School District.

After schools closed in mid-March of this year due to COVID-19, Hill and his colleagues, Kim Snow and Emily Graber, decided to continue to instruct their students to practice simple design and build projects.

Hill applied for a Red and Gold grant from the Ithaca Public Education Initiative to provide funding for the supplies for the projects. In this episode, he speaks about what it was like to instruct the kids to do these projects at home with their families instead of with their peers at school. To learn more about the Ithaca Public Education Initiatives, and their teacher grants, go to https://www.ipei.org/

Producer: Esther Racoosin

Interview of Yuri Aglyamov: Candice Limper

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

In this episode, you’ll hear an interview of three Ithaca College students, Antara Sen, Robert Melikyan and Salvatore Ferrone, who are studying the asteroid 101955 Bennu. Their advisor, Professor Beth Ellen Clark Joseph, is a scientist working on NASA mission OSIRIS-REx that will be touching down on the asteroid on October 20, in order to collect samples from the 500 meter diameter object.

To learn more about the mission, visit: https://www.asteroidmission.org/objectives/

Later in the show, you’ll hear Liz Mahood’s interview of Zoe Learner Ponterio, manager of the Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility at Cornell, also known as SPIF. The facility is closed to the public right now, due to COVID-19. But SPIF is offering an exciting remote learning program called “Shelter in Space” that students can explore at home. Visit https://cornellspif.com/ to learn more.

Today’s show starts off with an update about “2020 Migration Celebration”. The program usually is held on one day in September at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, but this year you can learn about bird migration during a two-week series of virtual presentations. To learn more, go to: https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/visit/migration-celebration-2020/

Producer: Esther Racoosin

Interview of Ithaca College Students: Esther Racoosin

Interview of Zoe Learner Ponterio: Liz Mahood

Overview of Cornell Lab of O Migration Celebration: Candice Limper

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

In today’s episode, we interview scientists about new areas of research and exploration that were initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

First off, Janani Hariharan interviews Dr. Jennifer Surtees, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University at Buffalo, and Co-Director of UB’s Genome, Environment and Microbiome Community of Excellence. Dr. Surtees recently sequenced dozens of SARS-CoV-2 isolates, obtained from the Erie County Department of Public Health.

During the interview, Surtees discusses how the SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences reveal the geographical origins of the different viral isolates. You can hear about what SARS-CoV-2 genomes look like, how genomics can inform public health guidelines, and how to access a public database that contains information on SARS-CoV-2 strains from around the world.

To learn more about Dr. Surtees’ research, go to http://medicine.buffalo.edu/faculty/profile.html?ubit=jsurtees

Later in the show, Esther Racoosin speaks with Dr. Jason Guss, a former graduate student of the Cornell Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering. Guss, together with fellow Cornell alum Dr. Apoorva Kiran, established Iterate Labs.

Iterate Labs initially developed wearable devices that could improve workplace ergonomic safety.  Now the devices are being modified to provide location awareness to prevent spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus in manufacturing workplaces. They also facilitate contact tracing when and if a worker contracts the virus. To learn more, visit https://iteratelabs.co/.

Today’s show concludes with an overview of the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability new rapid-response grants that are funding a variety of COVID-19-related Cornell research projects. To learn more, visit https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/08/cornell-atkinson-awards-250k-covid-research-grants.

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Producer: Liz Mahood

Co-Producer: Esther Racoosin

Interview of Dr. Jennifer Surtees: Janani Harihanan

Interview of Dr. Jason Guss: Esther Racoosin

Overview of Cornell Atkinson Center COVID-19 grants: Candice Limper

Music: Joe Lewis; Blue Dot Sessions

In today’s show, we speak with a scientist whose research was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also talk with a researcher who is using social media as outreach for scientists and the public who would like to learn more about microbial biology.

First, Jeff Pea interviews Dr. Kaylin Ratner, a recent PhD graduate in the Cornell College of Human Ecology. They discuss her study following a cohort of Cornell undergraduates that began their studies in 2016. She planned to survey the cohort at the end of their senior year, but these plans were altered after Cornell closed its campus due to the COVID-19 shutdown. One of her published studies can be found here https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167702619829748.

Later in the show, you’ll hear Smaranda Sandu’s interview of Dr. Ana Maria Porras. Dr. Porras is a Cornell Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, and a researcher in Dr. Ilana Brito’s laboratory in the Cornell Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering.

In the interview, Dr. Ana Maria Porras discusses her research on the gut microbiome. She also speaks about her use of social media as a way to promote science. Porras serves as a AAAS If/Then ambassador, which is a program that encourages young women to enter STEM fields (https://ifthen.aaas.org/).

This interview initially aired on Sandu’s podcast, “Tidbits of Research” (https://tidbitsofresearch.podbean.com/).

Producer: Liz Mahood

Interview of Dr. Kaylin Ratner: Jeff Pea

Interview of Dr. Ana Maria Porras: Smaranda Sandu

Music: Joe Lewis, Blue Dot Sessions