Month: January 2014
Pulse of the Planet Daily Audio
Science of Football – Spin
Ever wonder why a football is shaped the way it is?
January 30, 2014Science of Football – Prolate Spheroid
You can throw a prolate spheroid – aka a football – a lot further than a basketball, or an inflated pig’s bladder!
January 29, 2014Science Diary: Sharks – Tagging
Hooked! Catch and release shark tagging off California’s coast.
January 28, 2014Science Diary: Sharks – Reeling In
In the Pacific Ocean, a shark abundance survey team catches, calms and tags sharks, in an effort to monitor their population.
January 27, 2014Animal Smarts – Dogs Were Once Wolves
Dogs and humans have changed each other in many ways over the years… perhaps for the better.
January 24, 2014Animal Smarts – Breed Smarts
If Einstein was a dog, would he have been a Jack Russell Terrier or a Labrador Retriever?
January 23, 2014Animal Smarts – Successful
How have dogs have managed to “nose” their way into the lives of humans around the world?
January 22, 2014Yoiks – Memories
For the Sami people of Scandinavia, yoiking is a sonorous characterization of loved ones.
January 21, 2014Food Science – Objectivity
We asked a food scientist to describe an apple pie, first “normally” then objectively. Warning – this program may make you hungry!
January 20, 2014Food Science – Language of Food
Listening to a food scientist talk about taste is a bit like hearing a wine connoisseur describing a favorite vintage.
January 17, 2014Food Science – Comfort Food
What’s your favorite “comfort food” and why?
January 16, 2014Physics Pioneer
A single physics textbook takes up about 40 volumes in braille.
January 15, 20143D Calculus for the Blind
How do you begin to visualize a three dimensional graph if you’re blind?
January 14, 2014Plough Monday – Tradition
Imagine a holiday like Halloween, with a bit of Mardi Gras thrown in, and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what Plough Monday was like – in 18th century rural England.
January 13, 2014Plough Monday – Purpose
Once a year, riotous behavior gave farm workers an escape from social constraints in 18th century England.
January 10, 2014Science Frontiers – Battery of the Future
What’s the battery of future going to be like? Well perhaps a cookie!
January 9, 2014Science Frontiers – Quantum Computers – Waves
Waves are one way of understanding how the next generation of computers will work their magic.
January 8, 2014Science Frontiers – Quantum Computers
The computer of the future is going to take advantage of quantum physics to explore many different possible solutions to problems simultaneously.
January 7, 2014Three Kings Day – Parranda
It’s Christmas caroling – Puerto Rican Style! In the days leading up to the Feast of Epiphany, the sounds of Parrandas are heard throughout the island.
January 6, 2014Three Kings Day – The Magi
One of our listeners returns to his homeland of Puerto Rico each year for the celebration of the Epiphany.
January 3, 2014Wildlife Veterinarian – Elephant Challenge
Locating an elephant in the rainforest and sedating it for a physical examination is no easy feat.
January 2, 2014Wildlife Veterinarian – Gorilla Health
Wildlife is susceptible to many of the same infectious diseases that afflict humans.
January 1, 2014Yoiks – Carrying On The Tradition
The nomadic Sami herdsmen of Scandinavia have preserved their oral history in a unique form of story-song called a “yoik.”