KGNU - How On Earth

Field Report (starts 1:00) We join Boulder naturalists Steve Jones and Ruth Carol Cushman on a Christmas Bird Count as Boulder’s winter water saunas. Xmas Bird Count’s Bill Schmoker (starts 4:28) Boul...

Cocoa Flavonoids  (starts 1:00) Could a cozy cup of cocoa help with holiday stress?  Nutrition Scientist Catarina Rendeiro explains how chocolate can provide anti-inflammatory flavanoids, but MOST do ...

World Climate Talks (Starts 1:00)  CU Boulder Director of Environmental Journalism Tom Yulsman gives an update on COP29 United Nations 29th Conference on Climate Change, in this hottest year on record...

Today on How on Earth, Beth speaks with Dr Jon Samet, former dean of the Colorado School of Public Health and Professor of Epidemiology and Occupational and Environmental Health. Dr. Samet has served ...

Today’s show features NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, which launched on October 14th, 2024 on a Falcon Heavy rocket, setting the spacecraft on its 10-year journey to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa.  Eur...

COP16: Hope & Hurdles (start time: 1:20)  On this week’s show, host Susan Moran interviews two conservation biologists at Colorado State University — Chris Funk and Liba Pejchar. They both recently at...

Wild, local mushrooms can break down deadwood into healthy soil, and they can do this surprisingly fast.  Used correctly, fungi are an emerging way to reduce the forest tinder that makes mega-wildfire...

CU Boulder Nobel Prize Winner Tom Cech discusses his new book, The Catalyst, RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets Tom Cech is our featured interview for the KGNU Fall Membership Drive.  ...

Beliefs, Perceptions, Decision-making (start time: 4:37)  For many people if feels like our society, and our beliefs, have never been as polarized as they are now. Indeed, we are living in a political...

Local Science/Nature Calendar (starts 1:00)  We share news about the Marshall Mesa Trailhead Closure to eliminate burning underground coal, CSU Professor Mark Easter talks about the Blue Plate Book La...

The Blue Plate in a Red-hot World (start time: 7:46) While adding cream to your morning cup of coffee, or digesting the hamburger that you grilled last night, you might not have been asking yourself, ...

Wolf Family Recaptured  (Starts 1:40)    Colorado Parks & Wildlife did not reply to our request for an update on the fate of Colorado’s newly captured wild wolf family.  CU Boulder Professor Marc Beko...

This is an extended interview with CU Boulder Wildlife Expert Marc Bekoff about challenges and possibilities with Colorado Wolf Reintroduction.  For the broadcast interview, GO Here.  And here is an A...

In this week’s show Beth spoke with Marc Bekoff, well known and loved for his decades of research into animal behavior, emotion and cognition, about the new edition of his classic book, The Emotional ...

SOLO:  Building a Remarkable Life of Your Own.  CU Boulder Professor, Behavioral Economist and book author Peter McGraw uses statistical data and personal anecdotes to explain the growing worldwide tr...

When people talk about going to the Moon, it is often in terms of establishing a station there, or finding water, or doing science about the Moon such as studying moon rocks.  But we can do interestin...

On this week’s show Beth speaks with Joe Swanson and Laura Backus to discuss some of the invasive weeds that are plaguing Boulder County. Joe is the County Weed Coordinator for Boulder County Parks & ...

Animal Communication Science (start time: 2:57)  Whether you own a dog or horse, or have listened to dolphins, wolves, chimpanzees or other wild animals, you’ve probably wondered what they’re saying w...

In this fire prone season, we talk with experts about an ancient building technique that might reduce the chance that a building’s going to burn. Unfired, compressed earth blocks are a building materi...

Wildfire smoke has marred the Front Range in recent weeks, due to Megafires that are likely to become more frequent.  And more smoke is likely. Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World (Starts 0...

Clever Chickadees on the Front Range (start time: 4:20) Many of us wake up these days to a chorus of songbirds, including mountain and black-capped chickadees. Host Susan Moran interviews Scott Taylor...

On this week’s How on Earth we’re airing a show produced by Science Moab‘s Peggy Hodgkins. She speaks with Professor Kari Veblen, who is currently a professor of rangeland ecology at Utah State Univer...

In this episode, we talk with journalist and author Rebecca Boyle about her book Our Moon – How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are. We discuss...

Making “Compostable” Products Truly Compostable (start time: 0:56)  You’ve probably wracked your brain at some point trying to figure out whether the compostable-labelled clamshell or the green-tinted...

This week on How on Earth, Beth talks with author and cheesemaker extraordinaire and author, David Asher, about his book Milk Into Cheese: The Foundations of Natural Cheesemaking. The science and art ...

Matt Johnson of Namaste Solar and Stu Cummings of Go Electric Colorado  share climate friendly ways to keep your home power going, even if power from your utility suddenly goes out.  It’s a discussion...

Composting for Human, Soil and Climate Health  (start time: 4:39) It’s late spring, when many people are out gardening, planting vegetables, and spreading compost on the soil to give those veggies a l...

On this week’s show, Beth speaks with Jennifer Ackerman, about her new book, What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds. In a writing career spanning over three decades, Je...

This week on How on Earth, we revisit bees and pollination biology. Beth spoke with Professor Michael Breed about honeybees and other pollinators. These insects provide crucial service to our agricult...

Birds of Spring, Habitat Preservation (start time: 3:08)  It’s springtime, when many of us are woken up at the crack of dawn by a chorus of chickadees or other songbirds outside. To celebrate these em...

Gold Lab Symposium on Science and Health.  (starts 6:40) Boulder scientist and entrepreneur, Larry Gold, shares a sneak preview of this year’s Gold Lab Symposium at CU-Boulder Muenzinger Auditorium th...

  Rising Voices Changing Coasts – Indigenuity Science leader Daniel Wildcat, talks about the Rising Voices/Changing Coasts symposium taking place this week Boulder.  The symposium connects Indigenous ...

Seahorses (starts 4:10) Science Writer Till Hein explains his new book, The Curious World of Seahorses:  The Life and Lore of a Marine Marvel. Also in this episode, we share this week’s DomeFest West ...

In this week’s show, Beth speaks with rewilder Derek Gow about his new book, Hunt for the Shadow Wolf, in which he explores the mythology, mystery and history of wolves in Europe, and their speckled h...

The Science of Deathbed Visions  Many people have visions and dreams as they near the end of their life in which they reunite with loved ones who have gone before them. What can science tell us about ...

Colorado – The Quantum State:  We speak with Corban Tillemann-Dick about how Colorado has emerged as a world leader in Quantum Technologies.  Tillemann-Dick will speak at CU-Boulder’s Conference on Wo...

In this episode of How on Earth, we talk about the upcoming 2024 April 8th solar eclipse.  Our guests are science writer David Baron, author of American Eclipse, and Dr. Doug Duncan, served as Directo...

Colorado River: Promise and Peril  (start time: 6:28)  For more than two decades the Colorado River has been shrinking, afflicted by climate change-induced drought, population growth, and water politi...

This is the third and final episode of a series where we hear about recent research presented at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) January 2024 meeting. Habitable Worlds Observatory (starts at 5...

In this Spring Pledge Drive show, we talk with CU-Boulder professor and behavioral economist Peter McGraw about his new book, Solo:  Building a Remarkable Life of your own.  The book is also available...

This is the second episode of a series where we hear about recent research presented at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) January 2024 meeting. 3D Astronomy (starts at 3:08) Dr. Nicole Karnath, ...

This week’s How On Earth offers two features: Deep-sea coral reef discovery (start time: 0:58)  Scientists recently discovered and mapped the largest known deep-sea coral reef in the world. It’s locat...

In this week’s show Beth speaks with author Annabel Abbs-Streets about her new book, SLEEPLESS: Unleashing the Subversive Power of the Night Self, in which she dives into both the science of sleep and...

This week on How on Earth Beth speaks with Mattie Matsch, deputy director of Boulder’s Eco-Cycle. We spoke about the challenges of recycling plastics. As consumers, it’s vital to be aware of these cha...

Boulder native and wildlife photographer John Weller talks about his efforts to save The Ross Sea in Antarctica.  The Ross Sea is the world’s largest Marine Protected Area.   Weller’s photobooks and d...

This week’s How On Earth features the following: How Environmental Toxins Harm Maternal Health (start time: 1:30) Being exposed to wildfires and other forms of air pollution can wreak havoc on anyone’...

This is the first episode of a series where we hear about recent research presented at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) January 2024 meeting. Magnetic Braking in Old Stars (starts at 3:13)  Dr....

Ibogaine for Traumatic Brain Injury – The Science journal Nature has published a small case study about Special Forces veterans who suffer from traumatic brain injury . . . they report good results fr...

On this week’s show, we focus on the ongoing challenge of climate change. In addition to headlines about this issue, we replay an interview with author John Vaillant, who has written extensively about...

  We share the How on Earth team’s picks for of science stories of 2023: Superconductor Hopes And Failures (starts at 1:47) New Weight Loss Drugs (starts at 5:56) Hot Temperatures (starts at 9:27) Ast...