Science Friday Folgen

How Redlining Shaped Baltimore’s Tree Canopy Redlining was pervasive in American cities from the 1930s through the late 1960s. Maps were drawn specifically to ensure that Black people were denied mortgages. These discriminatory practices created a lasting legacy of economic and racial inequality which persists today. Less obvious is how redlining has shaped nature and the urban ecosystem. A recent study found that previously redlined neighborhoods in Baltimore have fewer big old trees and lower tree diversity than other parts of the city. These findings are part of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a collaborative research project which has tracked the city’s changing urban environment for the past 25 years. But it’s not all bad news. The city has a comprehensive tree replanting initiative and is now working to restore its tree canopy. In 2007, Baltimore set a goal to increase the tree cover from 20% to 40% by 2037. Since then, officials have been working closely with non-profit community organizations to plant trees all over the city—especially in previously redlined and otherwise under-served neighborhoods. Ira talks with Karin Burghardt, assistant professor of entomology at the University of Maryland about her latest research into the effect of redlining on Baltimore’s tree ecosystem. And later, Ira speaks with Ryan Alston, communications and outreach manager for Baltimore Tree Trust, which has planted over 16,000 trees in the city to date.   What’s Going On Underground With Gophers? Pocket gophers, also known as gophers, are often viewed as a pest species. But their extensive tunnel networks are good for soil and help shape healthy ecosystems everywhere gophers are found. Producer Christie Taylor talks to two University of Florida researchers who investigated the mystery of the pocket gopher—why does a single gopher build such a large network of tunnels? What they found led to deeper questions about how gophers get enough food for their extensive energy needs, and whether they might even be cultivating roots in a deliberate act of farming. Plus, why pocket gophers deserve our appreciation as ecosystem engineers.   How This Chemist Is Turning Agricultural Waste Into Water Filters Activated carbon filters have become common household items as water filters in pitchers, or directly on your faucet. These activated carbon filters are also used in industrial processes like wastewater treatment and to filter out chemicals released in smokestacks. Dr. Kandis Leslie Abdul-Aziz, assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at University of California Riverside, has created activated carbon filters from agricultural waste like corn stover and orange peels. Abdul-Aziz talks with Ira about her research, and what it will take to shift manufacturing processes to be more sustainable and less harmful to the planet.     The Nose Knows When It’s Cold—And It May Get You Sick It’s something most of us know from experience: When it’s cold outside, you’re likely to see a lot of people sneezing and coughing. Upper respiratory infections, like the flu, colds or even COVID-19 are common in winter. But understanding the biological reasons why hasn’t been known—until now. Researchers at Mass Eye and Ear cracked the mystery in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology last month. The study points to the cold-sensitive nose—specifically extracellular vesicles inside nose cells—as the key immune response impacted by temperature. It turns out that a temperature drop of about 40 degrees Farenheit triggers a severe decrease in the quantity and effectiveness in EVs, decreasing the body’s ability to prevent infection. Ira speaks to the study’s lead author Benjamin Bleier, associate professor at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts, about this breakthrough and the impact it could have on future treatments for respiratory illness.   By Hiding Their Blood, These Frogs Pull Off The Ultimate Disappearing Act Glass frogs have a superpower: If you look at them from above, they look like regular green frogs. But if you flip one over, you can see right into their bodies: hearts, intestines, bones, and all. As these frogs doze off, however, something changes: They disappear. Well, almost. A new study shows that the frogs can hide their red blood cells as they sleep, becoming expert camouflagers. Dr. Carlos Taboada, a biologist at Duke University, is a co-author on this study and he joins Ira to talk about the glass frogs’ tricks.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Keeping The Bubbly In Your Holidays, With Fizzical Science As the year winds to a close, you may be attending gatherings where a festive flute of champagne is offered. Champagne production starts out with a first fermentation process that turns ordinary grape juice into alcoholic wine. A second fermentation in the wine bottle produces the dissolved carbon dioxide responsible for the thousands of fizzy bubbles that are a distinctive part of the experience of drinking champagne and other sparkling wines.  In this archival interview from 2012, Ira talks with Stanford University chemist Richard Zare about the interplay between temperature, bubbles, the surface of the glass in which the drink is served, and surprising factors such as lipstick chemistry that can influence the sparkliness of each sip, and delves into the age old question of the best ways to keep an opened bottle of champagne bubbly for longer.     What Was It Like To Witness The End Of The Dinosaurs? 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid hit what we know today as the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Many people have a general idea of what happened next: The age of the dinosaurs was brought to a close, making room for mammals like us to thrive. But fewer people know what happened in the days, weeks, and years after impact. Increased research on fossils and geological remains from this time period have helped scientists paint a picture of this era. For large, non-avian dinosaurs like Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex, extinction was swift following the asteroid impact. But for creatures that were able to stay underwater and underground, their post-impact stories are more complicated. Joining Ira to discuss her book The Last Days of the Dinosaurs is Riley Black, science writer based in Salt Lake City, Utah.   ‘I Will Not Be Vole Girl’—A Biologist Warms To Rodents The path to becoming a scientist is not unlike the scientific process itself: Filled with dead ends, detours, and bumps along the way. Danielle Lee started asking questions about animal behavior when she was a kid. She originally wanted to become a veterinarian. But after being rejected from veterinary school, she found a fulfilling career as a biologist, doing the type of work she always wanted to do—but never knew was possible for her. Science Friday producer Shoshannah Buxbaum talks with Dr. Danielle Lee, a biologist, outreach scientist, and assistant professor in biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville Illinois about what keeps her asking questions, what rodents can help us understand about humans, and the importance of increasing diversity in science. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

This Soundscape Artist Has Been Listening To The Planet For Decades Jim Metzner is one of the pioneers of science radio—he’s been making field recordings and sharing them with audiences for more than 40 years. He hosted shows such as “Sounds of Science” in the 1980s, which later grew into “Pulse of the Planet,” a radio show about “the sound of life on Earth.” Over the decades, Metzner has created an incredible time capsule of soundscapes, and now, his entire collection is going to the Library of Congress. John Dankosky talks with Metzner about what he’s learned about the natural world from endless hours of recordings and what we can all learn from listening. Plus, they’ll discuss some of his favorite recordings. To hear the best audio quality, it might be a good idea to use headphones if you can.   The Surprising Animal Science Behind Jordan Peele’s ‘Nope’ One of the summer’s biggest blockbusters has been the alien horror film Nope, from director Jordan Peele. Nope has elements of many classic UFO films, with the Spielbergian charm of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the horror and destruction from The War of the Worlds. For the spoiler-averse, this is your warning to turn back now. The big twist in Nope that differentiates it from other alien films is that it isn’t a UFO (or UAP if you’re up to date on the lingo) hanging out in the skies above our main characters. The saucer-shaped figure is the alien itself. Writer and director Jordan Peele attributes much of the inspiration for the alien as coming from sea creatures. He enlisted the help of scientific consultants including marine biologist Kelsi Rutledge to help bring the creature, known in the film as Jean Jacket, to life. She even gave it a scientific name: Occulonimbus edoequus, meaning “hidden dark cloud stallion eater.” Kelsi, who is a PhD candidate at UCLA in Los Angeles, California, talks to Ira about the ingredients that went into creating a new creature to scare audiences.   Making A Meal Fit For An Astronaut Life on the International Space Station throws some wrenches into how food and eating work. There’s very little gravity, after all. And there are big differences between nutritional needs on Earth and in space. Astronauts must exercise two hours each day on the International Space Station to prevent bone and muscle loss, meaning daily caloric intake needs to be somewhere between 2,500 and 3,500 calories. Sodium must also be reduced, as an astronaut’s body sheds less of it in space. Astronauts also have an increased need for Vitamin D, as their skin isn’t able to create it from sunlight as people on Earth do. So, how do all these limitations affect the food astronauts eat? Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to answer these gustatory questions is Xulei Wu, food systems manager for the International Space Station in Houston, Texas. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.   Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.