From dainty toy poodles to steadfast bulldogs to massive Saint Bernards, dogs come in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes. But their dog genes are remarkably similar. What is it about the biology of dogs that allows dog breeders to wring so much physical variation out of a single species? The link between the DNA and the physical appearance of a species is generally difficult to sort out, but a revolution in genetic technology has made a breakthrough possible with dogs. In the podcast, Dr. Adam Boyko, a geneticist at Stanford University, talks about the connection between the appearance ... Read More
Year After BP Oil Spill: Where Are We?
May 3, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and blowing out an oil well a mile below the ocean's surface. In the four frantic months it took to seal off the well, almost five million barrels of crude oil spewed into the Gulf, causing untold economic and environmental havoc. A year after the spill, Dr. Molly Redmond talks about the impact of the spill on the gulf. Redmond, a biogeochemist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was on the scene in the gulf within a few weeks of the beginning of the spill and she is among ... Read More
Nuclear Power’s History in the US: Miracle to Demon
April 25, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
Of all the miracle technologies of the 20th century — aircraft, computers, antibiotics — none held more promise than nuclear power. In the middle of the 20th century, nuclear power held the potential for limitless, clean, and safe energy — something never before achieved in human history. How did a technology with so much potential end up being so hard to handle? Dr. Patrick McCray, a historian of science and a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, talks about the Cold War power politics that led to the creation — and to the downfall — of the nuclear power ... Read More
The Dilemma and Future of Nuclear Power
April 13, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
In this last of a three part podcast, Dr. Theo Theofanous talks about the health impacts of radiation leaking from the crippled Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and about the future of nuclear power. Here, he discusses the dilemma of nuclear power as a technology that is continually improving, but which remains in the hands of those who are incapable of managing it safely. Theofanous is a professor of chemical and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara and he has spent decades researching nuclear reactor design and nuclear reactor safety. He ... Read More
Japanese Nuclear Crisis: How Does This End?
April 7, 2011 • By • Leave a Comment
The fate of the badly damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant in Japan has been front-page news worldwide for weeks. But given the massive destruction at the power plant — with radiation leaking by air, ground, and sea — can the situation be contained? In this podcast, Dr. Theo Theofanous talks about the current state of Fukushima, with reactor cores in partial or total meltdown, and the options that the Japanese have for averting even greater disaster. Theofanous is a professor of chemical and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He ... Read More