Science Straight Up

Methane is a greenhouse gas that's 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And unvortunately, methane concentrations in our atmosphere are rapidly increasing. Yet, methane may also offer a potential climate solution. With a much shorter half-life than CO2, reductions in methane pack a punch. Dr. Jessica Swanson has a plan to use methane-eating bacteria called methanotrophs to do just that.  A side benefit, she says, is that once the bacteria have gobbled up all the methane they can hold, they can be turned into useful products, like feed for animals or plastics.  Dr. Swanson spoke at one of the "Town Talks" sponsored by Telluride Science.  Moderator: Adam Chambers, Telluride Science Board Member; podcast hosts: Judy Muller and George Lewis

Life on Earth is fundamentally impacted by thunderstorms, from the life-sustaining fresh water they supply, to the life-threatening severe weather they produce. T In spite of the critical role of thunderstorms in our weather and climate system, we've fallen short in predicting how they'll behave.  But Dr. Susan van den Heever's team and NASA plan to observe these storms from space, helping to construct better models for predicting severe weather, something that could save many lives.  Dr van den Heever was joined by her teammate, Dr. Derek Posselt and by Mark Kozak, executive director of Telluride Science.  Podcast hosts: Judy Muller and George Lewis.  Images available at incus.colostate.edu

Before there was life on Earth, there was something called "the period of maximum bombardment" when comets, meteors and other space objects crashed into the planet.  Some of those carried materials necessary for life to emerge.  Dr. Nir Goldman of Lawrence Livermore has been using computer simulations to investigate the hypothesis that some of these collisions synthesized the building blocks of life. He spoke at a "town talk" sponsored by Telluride Science.  Moderators: award-winning broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis. 

Our planet has always been powered by sunlight.  Plants use light and water and air to grow through the process of photosynthesis.  Dr. Jenny Yang, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine proposes that we imitate plants to produce fuel through artificial photosynthesis.  That fuel would be carbon neutral because we would be pulling CO2 out ot the air to manufacture it.  She says this would be part of a portfolio of green solutions to man-made climate change that threatens the future of our planet.  Dr Yang spoke at a "town talk" sponsored by Telluride Science.  Moderators: Judy Muller and George Lewis. Additional comments by Telluride Science Executive Director Mark Kozak.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are relatively new, powerful, and disruptive technologies that are rapidly entering practice in our daily lives and shaping our future in areas ranging from employment, health, politics, and what it means to be human. This talk, by Dr. Teresa Head-Gordon of the University of California, Berkeley considers the current status of AI and ML and the ethical considerations that can guide us to finding the best in this emerging technology while mitigating its potential abuse.  Veteran broadcast journalists George Lewis and Judy Muller moderate this episode.

Our fifth season of "Science Straight Up" kicks off with Dr. Michael Wasielewski of Northwestern University talking about the basics of quantum theory and how it will change our lives.  We can't beam people aboard the starship just yet, but teleportation of information using quantum techniques is happening right now. Many of us have heard about quantum computers and some of the amazing things that they will do, literally a “quantum leap” in performance. However, this is not the whole story. The quantum world and innovative technologies being developed from it will significantly enhance secure communications and be capable of sensing single atoms and molecules, even when they are within living cells. How does this work? Dr Wasielewski has some answers.  Our session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Cancer biopsies are scary. The patient gets tissue removed from his or her body, the sample gets sent off to the lab and then there's the agonizing wait for the results.  Dr. Stephen Boppart of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, both a physician and an engineer, is working on instant biopsies that will produce results in minutes. Using laser light and artificial intelligence, Dr. Boppart and his colleagues have been able to identify cancers early and accurately. Moreover, this technique promises to identify conditions in the body that might lead to future cancers by looking at tiny vesicles, liquid-filled sacs that act as messengers.  His "Town Talk" sponsored by Telluride Science, was recorded at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center in Colorado.  The program was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Dr. Amy Mueller and her team are measuring the vital signs of cities, gathering data that will inform future additions and improvements to our urban areas. How do we build cities in a sensible, sustainable way? Key to this work is getting communities involved and arming them with the information they need to make strategic decisions about the future.  Dr Mueller is an associate professor of marine and environmental science and civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University in Boston.  She spoke at a "Town Talk" sponsored by Telluride Science and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Quantum Dots are marvelous little crystalline structures that work as electrical semiconductors and emit light.  But that's not all they do.  Dr. Jennifer Hollingsworth of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, talked about the many potential applications of these tiny wonders.  Veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis moderated the talk with Dr. Hollingsworth.