As climate change worsens, the need for a transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources gets more urgent. But clean energy often has its own environmental costs. The risks posed by nuclear reactors and mining lithium for batteries are well known, but our speaker, Dr. Peter Ladwig, a materials scientist, is working on another aspect of the problem: dirty magnets used in the electric motors that power green transportation. In a "Town Talk" sponsored by Telluride Science, he d...

Methane is a greenhouse gas that's 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. And unvortunately, methane concentrations in our atmosphere are rapidly increasing. Yet, methane may also offer a potential climate solution. With a much shorter half-life than CO2, reductions in methane pack a punch. Dr. Jessica Swanson has a plan to use methane-eating bacteria called methanotrophs to do just that. A side benefit, she says, is that once the bacteria have gobbled up all the methane they can hol...

Life on Earth is fundamentally impacted by thunderstorms, from the life-sustaining fresh water they supply, to the life-threatening severe weather they produce. T In spite of the critical role of thunderstorms in our weather and climate system, we've fallen short in predicting how they'll behave. But Dr. Susan van den Heever's team and NASA plan to observe these storms from space, helping to construct better models for predicting severe weather, something that could save many lives.&nbs...

Before there was life on Earth, there was something called "the period of maximum bombardment" when comets, meteors and other space objects crashed into the planet. Some of those carried materials necessary for life to emerge. Dr. Nir Goldman of Lawrence Livermore has been using computer simulations to investigate the hypothesis that some of these collisions synthesized the building blocks of life. He spoke at a "town talk" sponsored by Telluride Science. Moderators: award-w...

Our planet has always been powered by sunlight. Plants use light and water and air to grow through the process of photosynthesis. Dr. Jenny Yang, Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Irvine proposes that we imitate plants to produce fuel through artificial photosynthesis. That fuel would be carbon neutral because we would be pulling CO2 out ot the air to manufacture it. She says this would be part of a portfolio of green solutions to man-made climate...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are relatively new, powerful, and disruptive technologies that are rapidly entering practice in our daily lives and shaping our future in areas ranging from employment, health, politics, and what it means to be human. This talk, by Dr. Teresa Head-Gordon of the University of California, Berkeley considers the current status of AI and ML and the ethical considerations that can guide us to finding the best in this emerging technology while ...

Our fifth season of "Science Straight Up" kicks off with Dr. Michael Wasielewski of Northwestern University talking about the basics of quantum theory and how it will change our lives. We can't beam people aboard the starship just yet, but teleportation of information using quantum techniques is happening right now. Many of us have heard about quantum computers and some of the amazing things that they will do, literally a “quantum leap” in performance. However, this is not the whole sto...

Cancer biopsies are scary. The patient gets tissue removed from his or her body, the sample gets sent off to the lab and then there's the agonizing wait for the results.  Dr. Stephen Boppart of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, both a physician and an engineer, is working on instant biopsies that will produce results in minutes. Using laser light and artificial intelligence, Dr. Boppart and his colleagues have been able to identify cancers early and accurately. Moreover, this...

Our experience with mRNA vaccines during the COVID pandemic showed us the possibility of  designing other RNA-based drugs in a flexible and efficient manner. Dr. Athma Pai of the UMass Chan Medical School talks about how her research into RNA therapeutics and the immense promise it holds for conquering a wide range of diseases, from. cancer to sickle cell anemia, and more.  Veteran broadcast journalists George Lewis and Judy Muller moderated the session with Dr. Pai, recorded at the Telluride...

Dr. Amy Mueller and her team are measuring the vital signs of cities, gathering data that will inform future additions and improvements to our urban areas. How do we build cities in a sensible, sustainable way? Key to this work is getting communities involved and arming them with the information they need to make strategic decisions about the future.  Dr Mueller is an associate professor of marine and environmental science and civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University in...

Quantum Dots are marvelous little crystalline structures that work as electrical semiconductors and emit light.  But that's not all they do.  Dr. Jennifer Hollingsworth of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, talked about the many potential applications of these tiny wonders.  Veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis moderated the talk with Dr. Hollingsworth. 

American agriculture contributes about 10 percent of this country's greenhouse gas emissions, but done right, it can absorb rather than produce carbon and help overcome the problem of man-made climate change.  This exciting possibility is the subject of a Telluride Science panel moderated by Adam Chambers of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Panelists include Tony and Barclay Daranyi, who practice regenerative agriculture at their farm 33 miles northwest of Telluride; Chris Hazen, from the...

Dr. Omar Farha of Northwestern University and NuMat Technologies talks about Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOF's) that he prefers to call "programmable sponges." Hailed as a potential defining material of the 21st century, these nano-sized structures can be used to neutralize toxic materials, pull water out of the moisture in the air and eventually, capture carbon emissions that threaten the planet.  The Pentagon is investing in this technology to create military clothing that can be used on...

We've long thought that aging was just a part of life but now science is beginning to view aging as a disease that can be treated. This, as research on aging is exploding and some scientists speculate people could live 150 years or more.  Our aging expert, Dr. Kristin Slade, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in upstate New York says, "We already know what is going on with aging at the people level, but I was determined to get inside the cell and discover...

We talk about chirality, how some molecules have left-handed properties and others have right-handed properties.  It turns out that electrons, carrying energy and information vital to life, spin in different directions when interacting with these two types of molecules and harnessing that effect could lead to big advances in energy production, agriculture and medicine.  Our panelists are two of the leading researchers in the field:  Dr. Ron Naaman of the Weizman Institute of Science and Dr....

We hear from three eminent researchers who take us into the nano universe where they study miniscule openings in the cells of our bodies…passageways called nuclear pore complexes.  These complexes are incredibly smart collections of proteins that direct traffic into and out of the nuclei of our cells…where our DNA is located.     Joining us are Cees Dekker, professor of molecular biophysics at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and director of the Kavli Institute of...

Dr. Jayajit Das of the Ohio State University and Nationwide Childrens Hospital talks about harnessing the power of immunity using powerful computer technology to orchestrate the body’s response to disease.  He is interviewed by noted broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis during a “town talk” at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village, CO.

A guy named Jon Snow came to Telluride to talk about ice and fire.  No, not the Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, but rather Dr. Jonathan Snow, arctic explorer, professor and chair of geology and geophysics at Louisiana State University.  He says there’s all sorts of fascinating stuff going on with the undersea volcanoes deep beneath the Arctic ice.  Dr. Snow is joined by award-winning broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

"Hey, Siri, what's the lowdown on A.I.?"  Every time we use an electronic assistant like Siri or Alexa, we're tapping into the burgeoning world of artificial intelligence.  We've assembled a panel of three people with plenty of real intelligence to talk about how AI is helping scientists sift through data in a wide variety of fields.   Our panel this episode: Amy Mueller, Assistant Professor at Northeastern University's College of Engineering, Jon Tapson, Chief Technology Officer at Iona...

This year, the summer months have brought record high temperatures, fires, floods and other climate extremes.  A U.N. climate change report has sounded a "red alert" for humanity.  We're joined by one of the contributors to that report, Kevin Gurney of Northern Arizona University's school of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems.  Also joining us, Ron Cohen from the University of California, Berkeley, professor of chemistry who studies air quality and climate, and Amy Mueller from...

Scientists speak of those moments of discovery when all their hard work, all their experimenting, and all their trial and error yield sometimes surprising results.  Hosts Judy Muller and George Lewis chat with three noted researchers about how creativity plays a big part in their science.  Our guests are Philip Bevilacqua, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Penn State, Scott Showalter, also from Penn State, Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and...

The science of cryopreservation and cryogenics promises new life through fertility treatments, preserves plant and animal species and provides cell therapy for ailments ranging from cancer to spinal cord injuries. It can also help with organ transplants. Hosts Judy Muller and George Lewis discuss cryopreservation with three prominent scientists:  Allison Hubel, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota; Songi Han, Professor in the Department of  Chemistry and...

Science isn't just about white guys in white lab coats these days.  Joining us are Rigoberto Hernandez from the Johns Hopkins University,  Amber Krummel from Colorado State University and Stephen Bradforth from the University of Southern California.  They talk about the importance of diversity on scientific teams with hosts Judy Muller and George Lewis.