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!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Free Radicals - The Dirt on Clean
Our November 19th show may be about the history of cleanliness but the truth is it's pretty dirty. I talk to Canadian author Katherine Ashenburg about her new book "The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History," which goes into detail about the long history of how people in the Western world have kept themselves clean, or not clean, and how the notion of cleanliness is so totally tied to society and culture over time.
Why do we wear perfume and deodorant? Why was water once considered to be extremely dangerous to your health? This book and this interview helps answer these questions and more.
Listen to the show!
Why do we wear perfume and deodorant? Why was water once considered to be extremely dangerous to your health? This book and this interview helps answer these questions and more.
Listen to the show!
Free Radicals - The Anatomy Lesson
Our November 5 show featured an interview with Belgian artists Marijs Boulogne and Julia Clever, who were in Montreal to perform their multi-faced multi-media piece "The Anatomy Lesson" - an "exploration of love, death and ritual through forensic storytelling." I talked to them about the impetus for the piece, its connection to forensics and media representations of forensic science, as well as the various emotional audience reactions they've received.
I saw their show on October 27 at Studio 303 here in Montreal and was blown away - by the intricacies of the anatomically correct newborn baby made entirely out of thread and yarn, the detail of the endoscopic camera used in the piece, and the depth of emotion throughout.
Listen to the interview!
I saw their show on October 27 at Studio 303 here in Montreal and was blown away - by the intricacies of the anatomically correct newborn baby made entirely out of thread and yarn, the detail of the endoscopic camera used in the piece, and the depth of emotion throughout.
Listen to the interview!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Free Radicals - Fungus Radio
Corpse finder. Destroying angel. Black Trumpet. It’s the Halloween episode of Free Radicals!
Turn out the lights and lock the doors as you take a listen to Fungus Radio.
In today's show gastronomer Catherine Macpherson and science journalist Hannah Hoag take you on a tour through the fabulous world of the mushroom, from the mushroom laboratory of mycologist Suha Jabaji-Hare to delectable forest cuisine at La Table des Jardins Sauvages.
Listen to the show!
Free Radicals - Breast Cancer Awareness
On our October 22 show, we honoured Breast Cancer Awareness month by raising a somewhat skeptical eyebrow at it. What is missing from the current discussions on breast cancer and our awareness of its causes and treatments? In an interview with Madeline Bird of Breast Cancer Action Montreal, we address the gaps in research and education and offer an alternative view on a health issue with major social and cultural relevance.
Listen to the show!
Listen to the show!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Free Radicals - Your Brain on Music
On this week's show, science journalist Hannah Hoag provides insight into how music affects us on a neurological level. We hear some clips from a recent talk given by McGill psychology and neuroscience professor Dan Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession. I play some examples of music that would light up certain parts of my brain if my brain were in an MRI machine or CT scanner and then I play name that tune with Hannah. Which I possibly rule at or possibly fail. To find out you'll have to:
Listen to the show!
Listen to the show!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Free Radicals - Thanksgiving Day Science
It's Thanksgiving Day here and Free Radicals is thankful for a lot of things - from friends to music to the wonders of universe. By which I mean, on today's show I play some 90s rocknroll and talk about why leaves change colour in the fall. But because today's show is a full hour long, much more goes on, of course.
As a follow-up to last's week show about science and education, I rebroadcast an interview I did during the summer with mathematician and educator John Mighton, who is certain that anyone can learn math, and that, yes, it's fun.
In the second half hour of the show, we hear a talk from ted.com given by Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. The talk focuses on "the way humans mimic nature in the products we build and the systems we implement. And because the champion adapters in the natural world are, by definition, those that can survive without destroying the environment that sustains them, biomimicry can contribute to the long-term health of our planet." Then I play some more rocknroll.
Listen to the show!
As a follow-up to last's week show about science and education, I rebroadcast an interview I did during the summer with mathematician and educator John Mighton, who is certain that anyone can learn math, and that, yes, it's fun.
In the second half hour of the show, we hear a talk from ted.com given by Janine Benyus, author of Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature. The talk focuses on "the way humans mimic nature in the products we build and the systems we implement. And because the champion adapters in the natural world are, by definition, those that can survive without destroying the environment that sustains them, biomimicry can contribute to the long-term health of our planet." Then I play some more rocknroll.
Listen to the show!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Free Radicals - Science, Education and Everyday Life
Today we talk about how people bring science into their everyday lives and how certain facets of science become part of common knowledge. Kamal Fox, who holds an MA in Media Studies and teaches communications to engineers, and I quizzed several students on the McGill campus and asked them what they think about the sciences - what they had to say mirrors the complexity of our general relationship to science - we play those clips throughout the show. And Hannah Hoag, science journalist and former science graduate student, addresses where we get our science information, as well as the commonly understood divide between hating and loving science and between science and arts.
This divide in education obviously stems from a wider social divide though. For instance, I was listening to an episode of Tapestry where Ursula Franklin, Ph.D. in experimental physics, mentor to a generation of engineers and women in science, Companion of the Order of Canada, author, peace activist, and Quaker, generally brilliant person (and Canadian). She was responding to a question about how science affects our lives and our personal beliefs, Ursula Franklin on a recent episode of CBC’s Tapestry: “As I see it, all that science brings us, the inherently increased knowledge of the world around us, brings me to just knowing how little I know and how much more there is. But also, when you look at what science has brought from the cosmic to the molecular to the atomic – we’ve learned that nature works, and it’s amazing that nature works, we’ve learned that nature works frugally with a minimum of waste, and the products of nature are beautiful. Why would anyone think that any being of any form would be threatened or contradicted by the accumulating results of scientific inquiry? Then you can argue with scientists, what do you do with your knowledge? And that’s where I argue that my belief doesn’t allow me to make an atomic bomb but that’s not science, to me that’s the use, that’s society of which scientists are an integral part.”
Listen to the show!
This divide in education obviously stems from a wider social divide though. For instance, I was listening to an episode of Tapestry where Ursula Franklin, Ph.D. in experimental physics, mentor to a generation of engineers and women in science, Companion of the Order of Canada, author, peace activist, and Quaker, generally brilliant person (and Canadian). She was responding to a question about how science affects our lives and our personal beliefs, Ursula Franklin on a recent episode of CBC’s Tapestry: “As I see it, all that science brings us, the inherently increased knowledge of the world around us, brings me to just knowing how little I know and how much more there is. But also, when you look at what science has brought from the cosmic to the molecular to the atomic – we’ve learned that nature works, and it’s amazing that nature works, we’ve learned that nature works frugally with a minimum of waste, and the products of nature are beautiful. Why would anyone think that any being of any form would be threatened or contradicted by the accumulating results of scientific inquiry? Then you can argue with scientists, what do you do with your knowledge? And that’s where I argue that my belief doesn’t allow me to make an atomic bomb but that’s not science, to me that’s the use, that’s society of which scientists are an integral part.”
Listen to the show!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Free Radicals - Targetting a Gene to Enhance Memory
On today's show, Emma Duerden, PhD candidate in neuroscience at the University of Montreal, and David Crane, Master's candidate in neuroscience at McGill, discuss new research into how our long-term memory works. They explain how we make memories at a cellular level and how new research into genetics may be able to enhance memory function.
Emma and David spoke with three Montreal researchers who are the authors of a breakthrough paper published in April in Cell, a highly regarded journal of experimental biology. Their paper details the discovery of a gene that can be targetted to enhance memory in people with memory deterioration due to Alzheimer's disease or other neurological factors, including the natural process of aging.
Listen to today's show on CKUT 90.3 fm!
Emma and David spoke with three Montreal researchers who are the authors of a breakthrough paper published in April in Cell, a highly regarded journal of experimental biology. Their paper details the discovery of a gene that can be targetted to enhance memory in people with memory deterioration due to Alzheimer's disease or other neurological factors, including the natural process of aging.
Listen to today's show on CKUT 90.3 fm!
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