Science Straight Up

There are millions of tiny machines at work in our bodies, keeping our genes repaired when they break.  These machines--protein molecules--can be watched and monitored by science, thanks to imaging technology developed by Dr. T.J. Ha, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in the 1990's. His research aims at understanding how exactly these proteins do their work and what happens when they break down, leading to diseases like cancer.  This could have enormous implications for treating childhood leukemia.  Telluride Science featured Dr. Ha in a talk at the Mountain Village Conference Center and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

"It takes a monster to kill a monster." So says Dr. Clodagh O'Shea of California's Salk Institute.  In her talk, sponsored by Telluride Science, she details the work her lab does to reprogram viruses to attack cancer cells while leaving normal cells untouched. Now in early human trials, this sort of treatment could revolutionize the way medicine deals with cancer.  O’Shea is a professor of molecular and cell biology at the Salk Institute, where she holds the Wicklow Chair. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of California San Diego. The session was held at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Centar and moderated by award-winning veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Dr. Philip Bevilacqua from Penn State University traces RNA’s origins in outer space to the primordial soup of early Earth to its starring role in today’s medical breakthroughs, offering a plain-language look at how this once-overlooked molecule is now powering CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene editing, an improved flu vaccine and the fight against diseases like Ebola.  He spoke at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center and veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis served as moderators.

Tau, a protein, normally supports brain cells’ internal structure; Dr. Lukasz Joachimiak, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is focused on what happens when it does not. His lab uses computational and experimental methods to determine how and why tau gets tangled and forms the toxic aggregates found with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The hope is to come up with ways of detecting Alzheimer's and treating it early, before the destruction of brain cells is underway. His cutting-edge research uses A.I.-powered computer simulations to come up with synthetic molecules that might prove effective in fighting brain diseases.

How did the atoms in the universe come together to form life? Dr. Daivd Lacy, of the University of Buffalo says that at the heart of this mystery is the conversion of small molecules into the building blocks of life, Metals, such as iorn, cobalt and manganese, play an important part in this process. Dr. Lacy also explores the possibility of life on other planets and we answer a question from a young man in our audience who asks, "Are there flies on the Moon?"  Your hosts for Science Straight up are Emmy and Peabody-award-winning broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Water is far more than a refreshing drink — its unique molecular properties make life possible. By forming a dynamic network of weak chemical bonds, water acts as both a selective solvent and a kind of molecular lubricant, driving the assembly of cells and keeping the tiny protein machines inside them flexible and in constant motion. Understanding the role water plays in the generation of these vibrations is one of the great frontiers of modern science, with real-world implications for greener industrial chemistry and smarter, safer drug design.

Dr. Derek Posselt is a research scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and one of the participants in this year's science workshops sponsored by Telluride Science. He and his colleagues have been studying ways to modify the weather, using computer modeling and other advanced techniques to pursue an old idea, since humans have been trying to change the weather for over a century. He spoke about the ways people have tried to modify the weather, what has worked (and what hasn’t), and whether it is, in fact, a good idea to try in the first place.

Dr. Posselt addressed a live audience at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center in Colorado and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.  If you have questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected]

Dr. Lucy Hutyra admits she's "a total tree-hugger." She's the Chair of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, and a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. She and her BU colleagues study the impact of trees on urban environments, particularly their effects on carbon dioxide levels and heat. While trees can reduce heat and CO2 levels, complications arise because urban trees tend to live fast and die young.  She shared her research at one of the "Town Talks" put on by Telluride Science and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis

Proteins are the building blocks of life. Our bodies make about 25-thousand of them.  Dr Ann McDermott, a biophysicist from Columbia University, studies the shapes of perteins as they clump into structures called amyloids.  Sometimes these amyloids stick to one another, forming amyloid plaques that can lead to diseases like Alzheimer's.  But Dr. McDermott and her colleagues are also looking at good amyloids that could lead science to develop new treatments for disease. She spoke at one of the "Town Talks" presented by Telluride Science. Veteran broadcast journalists George Lewis and Judy Muller moderated.

The revolution in artificial intelligence is sucking up a lot of electrical power, something that's growing at an alarming rate.  Science may have a solution in a new generation of highly efficient computer chips that use materials other than silicon and depend on light, rather than electricity to process data, bringing down power demands.  Dr. Milan Delor, a chemist from Columbia University, spoke about the groundbreaking work his lab is doing in a "Town Talk" sponsored by Telluride Science. His presentation was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.