A lazy-crazy town: New Orleans

Hi everyone! This is Aude Jimenez again, reporting for Free Radicals. I recently spent a weekend in New Orleans and LOVED it - now I'm going to take you there! Come discover this romantic, warm and cozy town... which goes completely crazy at night!

In this radio documentary, recorded shortly after mardi gras (the party was still going though when I was there), you'll meet Stacy, from Scotland, working in a fantastic (and cheap!) hostel in MidCity, the India House; some bad-boys-turned-comedians making jokes on the sidewalk (they've even been to Montreal before with Just For Laughs), a typical waitress (serving typical drinks!), Dr. John Jerrytone, who lives in a Shotgun House and is particularly concerned by the effects of hurricane Katrina; and more... Have a nice trip!

Listen to the sounds and stories of New Orleans here, on CKUT 90.3FM. And see some of the sights here!
- Aude

Lufa Farms in Montreal

Hi Everyone,
This is Aude Jimenez, a new contributor to Free Radicals: Science, Culture and Connection on CKUT 90.3FM. Thanks to Robyn, the host of the show, I can now offer you a few new reports about things I'm interested in. For today's show, I profiled a farm that makes its home on the roof top of a building near the Marché Central here in Montréal. Lufa Farms is a greenhouse farm project that means fresh and local food begins its day on the farm and is on our plates by dinner.

I talked to Lauren Rathmell, a biochemistry specialist and one of the farm's founders and operators. She told me that in a few weeks it's going to be like a jungle there: the tomatoes are literally going to touch the roof of the greenhouse... Imagine! A jungle, here, in Montreal, in early spring!! What about a drink there?

Listen to the show!

For more on Lufa Farms, see www.lufa.com

Bring on the bugs!

Welcome back to Free Radicals: Science, culture & connections. It's been a while. We missed you too. Despite the rather lengthy blogging hiatus, the show has continued to air on CKUT every Monday morning at 11:30. You can also listen online or download up to six weeks of past shows.

August 9, 2010
Get outside

Can a walk in the woods really change us? Scientists are beginning to think so. There's evidence to suggest that being in a busy city environment can reduce the brain's capacity to remember things and lower self-control. Kids are driven to school and back, and off to soccer practice, and then when they get home, they turn on the computer or TV and settle down to an evening of screen-tertainment. The growing children and nature movement suggests children's problems with obesity, attention span and lack of understanding of the environment are connected to less outdoor play and exposure to nature. Do you have nature-deficit disorder?

Listen to the show. (We're currently having some technical difficulties bringing the mp3 to this blog, but you should be able to stream the show from this link.)

Find out more:
Children and Nature Network
Environment Canada's Biokits
Child & Nature Alliance

Red Fox Remix
Here's a treat: Growing up in Toronto in the 1970s, I was exposed to Hinterland Who's Who--one-minute wildlife video segments about muskox, moose and the mighty beaver. (See the Red Fox below.) Now the Canadian Wildlife Service and the Canadian Wildlife Federation have opened the nostalgia gates for parents across Canada and giving kids the chance to remix their own Hinterland Who's Who. It's brilliant. Make your own HWW remix with your favourite Canadian critter. Don't forget to upload it to the HWW YouTube channel.



HWW video Copyright CWS, CWF (2005) Please direct any questions about the video to info@hww.ca.

Still going strong - despite lack of updates!

Ah, it's a busy life, the life of a science radio show person. So busy that regular blogging hasn't happened in aaages! But Free Radicals: Science, Culture and Connection has still been happening every Monday 11:30-noon on CKUT 90.3fm here in Montreal. We've covered topics from climate change to tracing genetic heritage to digital copyright. The last six weeks of shows are available on the CKUT archives.

We'll see if I get back to regular updates now!
Robyn
p.s. My regular gig these days is in that medium known as "print" - craaazy: Hour

Free Radicals - The Neuroscience of Aging

Two shows from McGill researcher and PhD candidate in neuroscience, Jonathon Burman, on the topic of aging and age-related disease. What can neuroscience research discover about how we age and if it is possible to treat and prevent age-related diseases?

The February 4 show features an interview with Dr. Rémi Quirion on Alzheimer Disease and brain cell development.
Listen to the show!

The February 11 show features an interview with Dr. Sigfried Hekimi on the molecular genetics of biological rates and aging.
Listen to the show!

Free Radicals - GeekMontreal.com

Our January 28 show saw an action-packed studio talking about all things geek. Or a few things geek. Mostly though, what it means to be a geek these days - it turns out to be kind of awesome. Alex Megelas and Ossie Michelin from geekmontreal.com talk with Free Radicals about the website they've set up to connect people in the Montreal area with diverse interests and various levels of geekery (they even have a board-games night!) The conversation addresses definitions of 'geek' and the social implications and opportunities surrounding interests that could be termed part of 'geek culture,' whatever that might be.

Listen to the show!

Free Radicals - Reading and the Brain

On our January 21 show, we feature an interview from another science radio show - Groks Science, out of Berkeley, California. The interview with Prof. Maryanne Wolf, Director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, discusses the evolution and development of the reading brain. She is the editor of Dyslexia, Fluency and the Brain, and has also written/designed three empirically proven instructional programs on thinking skills for middle school students, on reading and writing for elementary school students, and on linguistic awareness for emergent readers.

Listen to the show!

Free Radicals - Art, Space and Time

January 14 - Today's show delves into the depths of space and time through the art of Calgary-based artist Robyn Moody. Moody's latest exhibition runs until February 9 at SKOL gallery and features a piece called TARDIS (named after the space-time vehicle in Doctor Who) and an installation called Constellation. I talk to Robyn Moody about his latest work, how he uses electronics and mechanics, and his take on our human interpretations of space and time.

You can see his exhibition at SKOL gallery, 372 St Catherine O. #314, until February 9. It's great!

Listen to the show!

Free Radicals - Compassionate Minds

January 7 - our first show of 2008! The show is pretty low-key today but addresses an issue of importance during a time of new year's resolutions - compassion. Where does it come from and how does it manifest in society? Today's show is the other bookend to the pre-holiday show about happiness, featuring a ted.com talk by psychologist Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence. His talk looks at the psychological and neurological basis of compassion and how it is linked to socialization - why do we empathize with others in the first place? And what is true compassion?


Listen to the show!

Free Radicals - Nov 19 - Dec 17

Climate change, Canadian wine production, particle physics, and happiness, oh my

It's been an intense last several weeks of 2007, but the Free Radicals crew at CKUT made it through. (I'm also happy to say that I'm officially a Master of the Arts now, having successfully defended my thesis on December 13 - yaay!) We're looking forward to making a whole lot of new show ideas into reality for 2008, with more on green chemistry and environmental sciences, neuroscience, new discoveries in genetics, and much more. As always, to listen to past shows, just click the link provided. Below is a list of our shows from November 19 to December 17. Thanks for listening!

November 19 - Hannah Hoag hosts the show today and talks about recent news in climate change and what is being done, or not being done, to address this fundamental issue that affects all our lives. Hannah rebroadcasts a talk from ted.com about possible solutions to climate change, such as geo-engineering, by David Keith, Canada Research Chair at the University of Calgary. Listen to the show.

November 26 - Part one of Robyn's interview about experimental particle physics with McGill professor and FERMI and CERN researcher Brigitte Vachon, in which we talk about what particle physics is and how physics looks at how particles act in nature. Listen to the show.

December 3 - Co-hosts Hannah Hoag and Cat MacPherson speak with guest Normand Belanger about Canadian wine production in the face of climate change. Listen to the show!

December 10 - Part two of Robyn's interview about experimental particle physics with McGill professor and FERMI and CERN researcher Brigitte Vachon, in which we talk more in-depth about how particle colliders work and why particle physics matters in our everyday lives. Listen to the show.

December 17 - On this snowy and sunny day in what we know is only the beginning of a very cold winter, Robyn plays a talk from ted.com about happiness. Dan Gilbert, Harvard professor and researcher in neuroscience and psychology, talks about what happiness is, where it comes from, and why we need it in our lives. Listen to the show!