Archive for the ‘science’ Category
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State of the Beaches in New Jersey and Delaware
May 22
Guests: Matthew Doherty, Thomas Herrington, Collin O'Mara Seven months after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the region, several beach towns in New Jersey are still picking up the pieces. Many communities are in the process of restoring boardwalks and other [...]
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Climate change milestone
May 21
Guests: Gavin Schmidt, Anthony Leiserowitz Last week carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels — 400 parts per million, according to a monitoring station in Hawaii. Never in human history have carbon dioxide concentrations been that high. [...]
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Governor Christie's weight-loss surgery
May 13
Guests: Matt Katz, Thomas Wadden, Margaret Bonafide New Jersey Governor Chris Christie revealed last week that he underwent gastric band surgery in February. The Governor explained his reasons for the secret weight loss surgery to the New York [...]
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The Brothers Emanuel
May 10
Guest: EZEKIEL EMANUEL HR 1 [REBROADCAST]EZEKIEL EMANUEL is the eldest brother of the current Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff, and a powerful Hollywood agent immortalized in the HBO series, “Entourage” – Rahm and [...]
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Hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay — ethics and the law
May 8
Hour 1 Guests: Carol Rosenberg, Jonathan Marks and Scott Allen Over 100 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center have been on a hunger strike since February in protest of their seemingly indefinite detention and the alleged mishandling [...]
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Plan B, politics and parents
May 8
Guests: Jessica Arons and Joan Vennochi Back in 2011, in a controversial decision, Health and Human Services Secretary Katherine Sebelius announced that the morning after pill, known as Plan B One-Step, would be available over-the-counter only to women [...]
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Anatomy of violence
May 6
Guest: Adrian Raine Why does someone commit a violent crime? Is it their genes, their environment or a combination of the two? Neurocriminologist ADRIAN RAINE has been studying the psychological origins of crime for 30 years and, through [...]
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Adam Rome and “The Genius of Earth Day”
April 19
GUEST: ADAM ROME Over forty years ago this month, an important political event took place that caused reverberations throughout the country. The Genius of Earth Day is the story of the first Earth Day, its significance, and how [...]
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Babies, language and the developing brain
April 15
Guests: Roberta Golinkoff, Trude Haecker Talk to your baby – it’s critical for their developing brains. And researchers now know that the choice and number of words that parents use matter. Early exposure to language helps predict kids' [...]
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Frans de Waal: Primates, evolution and morality
April 11
Hour 2 Guests: Frans de Waal Morality is not unique to humans. Biologist FRANS DE WAAL has found ethical behavior like empathy, altruism, and fairness in chimpanzees, bonobos and capuchin monkeys. De Waal is the director of the [...]
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Keystone XL Pipeline debate
April 10
Guests: Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Amy Myers Jaffe The Obama administration is expected to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline expansion in the next few months. The pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude [...]
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Debating 'no smoker' hiring policies
April 5
Guests: Harald Schmidt, David Asch Smokers need not apply to the University of Pennsylvania Health System starting this July when a ban on hiring nicotine users will go into effect. Penn Health system says this policy is an [...]
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The Brothers Emanuel
April 2
Guest: EZEKIEL EMANUEL EZEKIEL EMANUEL is the eldest brother of the current Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff, and a powerful Hollywood agent immortalized in the HBO series, “Entourage” – Rahm and Ari Emanuel. [...]
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Marlene Zuk on "Paleofantasy"
April 1
Guest: Marlene Zuk Have you tried barefoot running, the Caveman Diet or attachment parenting? Taking lessons from our ancient ancestors has become all the rage lately. But evolutionary biologist MARLENE ZUK warns that our Paleolithic past was far [...]
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Douglas Rushkoff's Present Shock
March 27
Guest: DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF Do you often feel you aren’t on your game because you’re not hip to the new trend and are behind in your tweets? Our guest, author DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, has been observing our culture’s need to [...]
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Online Comments
March 25
Guests: Dietram Scheufele, Meghan Daum, Bob Cohn Do you read the comments at the end of an article or blog? Do you post responses yourself? A recent study examined the effect of online comments on readers and found [...]
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Salt, Sugar and Fat
March 21
GUEST: MICHAEL MOSS If you eat processed food, how much do you scrutinize the ingredients on the package? Our guest, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, MICHAEL MOSS, has considered the quality of these ingredients, including identifying the 8,500 milligrams [...]
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Fishermen’s Energy & the future of wind energy in New Jersey
March 14
GUESTS: CHRIS WISSEMANN, JEFF TITTEL and STEFANIE BRAND We examine the future of wind energy in New Jersey from three different perspectives. Should wind farms come to the Garden State? First, we get an inside look from Fishermen’s [...]
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Nuclear weapons and nonproliferation
February 21
GUEST: WARD WILSON North Korea conducted its third underground nuclear test last week, the same day President Obama addressed the country in his State of the Union speech. Obama has made reducing the nation’s nuclear arsenal a priority [...]
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Laughing, sneezing, burping and more: the science of curious behavior
February 18
[REBROADCAST] Scientists have sent rovers to Mars and decoded our DNA but they rarely look at the strange assortment of behaviors that we all do everyday – scratching, burping, sneezing, yawning, and laughing. Psychologist and neuroscientist Robert Provine [...]
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Separating fact from fiction on weight loss and obesity
February 12
GUESTS: DAVID SARWER and STELLA VOLPE An article in last week's issue of The New England Journal caught our attention. It's authors identified seven commonly held beliefs about obesity and weight loss that actually have never been scientifically [...]
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Cats and their impact on wildlife
February 5
A new report says that outdoor cats are a major threat to wildlife. Free-ranging cats, including pets that go outside, stray and feral cats, are the leading cause of death for birds and small mammals, killing billions each [...]
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The Genius of Dogs
February 4
If you've ever had a dog, chances are you’ve wondered what is going on in their head. Scientists have been thinking about this too, probing the canine mind to figure out just how smart dogs really are. And [...]
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Will Obama's second term change prospects for climate?
January 24
In his inaugural speech, President Obama made climate change a central priority of his second term: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future [...]
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True confessions: Lance Armstrong comes clean
January 18
Lance Armstrong confessed last night in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to taking performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career. Yesterday, the International Olympic Committee stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal and last fall cycling’s governing body, the [...]
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Food myths and fad diets
January 11
Every New Year millions of Americans resolve to lose weight, eat better and hit the gym. Sadly, many of us aren’t successful. But in our quest to be slimmer and fitter, we often seize on headlines that tout [...]
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Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss: 'A Universe from Nothing'
January 4
[REBROADCAST] How did the Universe arise from nothing? And what was there before? Those are the kinds of questions that for most of us set our heads spinning — not so for renowned cosmologist LAWRENCE KRAUSS. Krauss says [...]
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David Quammen on 'Spillover' of animal diseases into humans
December 28
[REBROADCAST] Avian flu. Ebola. SARS. AIDS. All of us have been exposed, at least in the media, to diseases that have migrated from animal hosts to humans, a phenomenon scientists call "spillover. That's also the name of acclaimed [...]
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Debunking doomsday 2012 junk science
December 21
[REBROADCAST] Today is December 21st, 2012. And the hype about the “end of the world” has reached a supernova, mostly based on a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar. Almost a year ago, we reached out to two astronomers [...]
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Some good news in the childhood obesity battle
December 20
This year there’s some good news in the fight against childhood obesity – particularly for Philadelphia. Rates of childhood obesity have declined in Philadelphia along with a few other cities including New York, El Paso, and Anchorage. Though [...]
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How to protect yourself from scams
December 20
Tens of billions of dollars are lost each year to consumer fraud and when the economy is down, fraud goes up. These last years have been boom times for scammers. While research shows that many of us are [...]
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The risks and rewards of older parenthood
December 13
Among the many changes in American families over the past few decades is the increasing number of parents who are having children later in life. While the average first time parent in the U.S. is in her twenties, [...]
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Contraception, sexual health and teens
December 11
The American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a recommendation recently to increase teen access to emergency contraception. In a new policy report, the organization advised pediatricians to not only openly discuss contraception with their female patients but [...]
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Post-Sandy politics of rebuilding the Jersey Shore
December 5
As New Jersey struggles with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we follow up our look at the science and engineering with a look at the politics of whether, how, where and who pays for rebuilding the beloved Jersey [...]
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Genetic testing and medicine
December 4
Doctors are increasingly turning to genetic testing to track down diseases, uncover a patient’s risk and better target treatments. Every cell in our body contains our complete DNA and from a swab of saliva or a little blood, [...]
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The Jersey Shore, after Sandy: To rebuild or not to rebuild
November 21
When Superstorm Sandy slammed into and through the southern Jersey Shore near Ocean City in the evening of Oct. 29, the full-moon high tide and storm surge laid waste to structures, streets and stretches of shoreline up and [...]
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Our sense of hearing and how it shaped the mind
November 21
Sound is everywhere in this world – you can’t escape it. Our ears process millions of noises all day long –laughter, car horns, music, bird calls, computer keyboard clicks, the wind. Sound and the way we hear it [...]
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The Search for Earth-like planets
November 12
Hour 2 Last week, astronomers announced they had found a planet seven times the size of Earth and with a habitable climate. This Super-Earth orbits dwarf star HD 40307 and is just 43 million light years away (one [...]
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Is 60 the new 40? A conversation about middle age
November 9
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Is 60 really the new 40? It all depends on how you define the middle years of life, says author PATRICIA COHEN. According to Cohen, traditionally, society has viewed the age of 40 as the [...]
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Dreamland: David Randall on the science of sleep
November 2
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] When journalist DAVID RANDALL woke up in his hallway screaming in pain after sleepwalking into a wall, he decided it was time to get some answers to his years of troubled sleep. But what Randall [...]
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What candidates are NOT talking about, Pt. 1: Climate change & infrastructure repair
October 31
Hour 1 The 2012 presidential election, for the most part, has been about the economy and more recently foreign policy. Among the issues that have received little or no attention on the campaign trail are climate change and [...]
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Hurricane Sandy, Day 2: Jersey Shore, Philly water, Delaware
October 30
Hour 2 Our coverage of Hurricane Sandy continues in this hour of Radio Times. We start with a live update from WHYY reporter TOM MacDONALD from the Jersey Shore, where he spent the morning touring the devastation, including [...]
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Hurricane Sandy hits the Delaware Valley
October 29
Hour 1 With Hurricane Sandy roaring into the Delaware Valley, Radio Times covers the storm’s approach, the preparations made by residents and public safety officials throughout the region, and the early word of impacts. We’ll start the hour [...]
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Hurricane Sandy: Philly & Delaware responses, weird weather & storm science
October 29
Hour 2 In our second hour examining Hurricane Sandy's impacts, we'll talk with Philadelphia Mayor MICHAEL NUTTER about the city's preparations for the storm's approach and aftermath. And we'll talk with MICHAEL LEMONICK senior science writer for Princeton-based [...]
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Fracking, natural gas & energy issues in political campaigns
October 18
Hour 1 Energy issues, including natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region, are a big issue in Pennsylvania, and a factor in political campaigns across the commonwealth and the presidential race. On today’s Radio Times, we catch [...]
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David Quammen on 'Spillover' of animal diseases into humans
October 16
Hour 1 Avian flu. Ebola. SARS. AIDS. All of us have been exposed, at least in the media, to diseases that have migrated from animal hosts to humans, a phenomenon scientists call "spillover. That's also the name of [...]
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Laughing, sneezing, burping and more: the science of curious behavior
October 13
Hour 2 Scientists have sent rovers to Mars and decoded our DNA but they rarely look at the strange assortment of behaviors that we all do everyday – scratching, burping, sneezing, yawning, and laughing. Psychologist and neuroscientist Robert [...]
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Hair and who we are
October 8
Hour 2 Our hair says a lot about who we are. That’s why losing it can be so traumatic. But for balding men, a new study may offer some hope. It turns out that a completely shorn head [...]
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Elephant poaching: the dramatic rise in ivory trafficking
September 27
Hour 1 Over 25,000 elephants were slaughtered last year in the growing illicit ivory trade — sometimes entire herds gunned down from helicopters. Elephant poaching in Africa reached its highest levels in 2011 since the global ivory ban [...]
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Wearable computers
September 26
Hour 2 Smart phones may be migrating from our hands to our heads. Google has a product coming out next year that puts all the capabilities of a smartphone into a pair of high-tech, wraparound glasses. Project Glass [...]
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A look at drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region
September 20
Hour 1 The new technology that can extract the deep, gas resources of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale has created a complex divide among residents, government and industry about the promise of a low-emission, fossil-fuel bridge to American energy independence, [...]
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Has pop music changed?
September 10
What is pop music and how does it change throughout the decades? The top ten songs on Itunes and Billboard may not reflect what you listen to and your grandparents listened to, but millions of people are still [...]
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NASA's Mission to Mars and Curiosity
August 27
Hour 1 NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on the Martian surface for three weeks now and so far, except for a broken wind sensor, everything has gone according to plan. After an eight and a half month journey [...]
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Quiet: The Power of Introverts
August 27
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] In a world that celebrates the loudest, most outlandish, extroverted personalities, a recent book makes the case for quieter types – those who shy away from the limelight and who like to spend time alone. [...]
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The Great Animal Orchestra: finding the music in nature
August 24
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Naturalist BERNIE KRAUSE has spent 40 years listening to and recording the natural world. He’s traveled the world, capturing the sounds of over fifteen thousand species and making four thousand hours of wild music – [...]
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Update: The drought, PA's voting laws, and Philadelphia's state test cheating scandal
August 21
Hour 1 We get updates on three news stories we've been following. We'll start off talking about this year’s drought, the worst drought in U.S. history since the 1950's with writer CHARLES FISHMAN. In his recent New York [...]
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Rabies: The story of a diabolical virus
August 21
Hour 2 For most of us, the only time we think about rabies is when we take our dog or cat to the vets for vaccinations. But while rabies rarely kills people in Western countries, globally some 55,000 [...]
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Dreamland: David Randall on the science of sleep
August 17
Hour 1 When journalist DAVID RANDALL woke up in his hallway screaming in pain after sleepwalking into a wall, he decided it was time to get some answers to his years of troubled sleep. But what Randall found [...]
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How the Universe Began
August 17
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Who hasn’t looked up at the dark, night sky and marveled at the enormity of the universe and wondered about those very first moments when it was all began. Astronomer CHRIS IMPEY has spent his [...]
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Extreme weather and climate change
July 30
Hour 1 We’re in the midst of the worst drought in 50 years. The last 12 months have been the hottest on record. Heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires have been wreaking havoc this spring and summer in [...]
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America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States
July 23
Hour 2 “Getting there is half the fun,” is rarely a desire of the modern traveler, but back when the S.S. United States made its maiden voyage, this passenger luxury liner was built for speed and comfort. It [...]
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Update on the battle against AIDS
July 20
Hour 1 The International AIDS Conference starts this weekend in Washington D.C. and there is some good news to celebrate. Last year, 8 million people in poor countries received life-saving AIDS medications and infection rates among children continued [...]
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E.O. Wilson's provocative evolution theory, 'The Social Conquest of Earth'
July 13
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] In his controversial recent book, “The Social Conquest of Earth,” which the acclaimed biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents as the capstone to his legendary career, EDWARD O. WILSON firmly and fundamentally breaks with a [...]
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The future of Philadelphia's oil refinery workers
July 12
Hour 1 The future of United Steelworkers’ (USW) jobs at local oil refineries futures looked bleak last September when Sunoco announced plans to sell or close their South Philadelphia and Marcus Hook facilities. Later that month ConocoPhillips announced [...]
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What's in a calorie?
July 12
Hour 2 What should we be eating to maintain a healthy diet? Low carb? Low fat? It’s been 10 years since science journalist GARY TAUBES’ New York Times Magazine cover story about eating more fat and less carbohydrates, [...]
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American philosophy 101 with Carlin Romano
July 3
Hour 2 According to the 19th century French intellectual Alexis de Toqueville, "in no other country in the civilized world is less attention paid to philosophy than in the United States." That's not true today, says our guest [...]
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Red knots, horseshoe crabs & the Delaware Bay
June 18
Hour 2 Spawning season for horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay Estuary and Cape May shoreline is coming to a close, ending the annual natural phenomenon of beaches clogged with the prehistoric creatures, often attached in an eons-old [...]
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The buzz on beekeeping as a hobby
June 12
Hour 2 City rooftops, suburban backyards, even fancy hotels like New York’s Waldorf-Astoria and Intercontinental are buzzing with bees. Beekeeping is becoming a popular hobby across America. In recent years, bee populations across the United States have faced [...]
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Weighing the new prostate cancer screening recommendations
June 8
Hour 1 Millions of men over the age of 50 get screened for prostate cancer with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in American men and for years, [...]
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Visiting national parks before climate changes them
June 5
Hour 1 MICHAEL LANZA is a longtime backpacker, climber, skier and freelance writer and photographer of outdoors and wilderness. He is the northwest editor of Backpacker magazine, where he chronicled the effects of climate change on Montana’s Glacier [...]
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Transit of Venus: its history & transit methods today
June 1
Hour 1 Each century Venus passes directly between the sun and the Earth twice, eight years apart. On June 5th or 6th 2012, depending on where on Earth you are, you may be able to see the last [...]
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The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon
May 30
Hour 2 All across America, on their e-readers, I-Pads and in paperback, women of all ages have voraciously been reading Fifty Shades of Grey, the first in a trilogy of erotic novels by British author E. L. James. [...]
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Friendship's evolution, in us & our animal friends
May 28
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Friendship is something often associated with the human species. Most of us make dozens of friendships in our lives and gain a great deal from them – we get love, support, even, as we now [...]
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The Great Animal Orchestra: finding the music in nature
May 23
Hour 2 Naturalist BERNIE KRAUSE has spent forty years listening to and recording the natural world. He’s traveled the world, capturing the sounds of over fifteen thousand species and making four thousand hours of wild music – insect [...]
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What's in our food? Michael Pollan & Keeve Nachman
May 9
Hour 2 What is in your chicken? A new study found that chickens were eating feed containing a banned antibiotic and the active ingredients for pain relievers, antihistamines, and antidepressants. There’s been growing concern over the use antibiotics [...]
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Ghost Factories: Lead's toxic legacy in our soil
May 2
Hour 1 In hundreds of U.S. neighborhoods, including several in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, the soil that children play in is contaminated by lead and other toxic metal particles once spewed into the air by factories that [...]
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Science Ink
April 30
Hour 2 When you think about tattoos, what comes to mind — snakes, hearts, flowers, Celtic knots, mermaids, or the name of a true love? Well, what if that true love is science? It turns out a lot [...]
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E.O. Wilson's provocative evolution theory, 'The Social Conquest of Earth'
April 24
Hour 2 In his controversial new book, “The Social Conquest of Earth,” which the acclaimed biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents as the capstone to his legendary career, EDWARD O. WILSON firmly and fundamentally breaks with a theory [...]
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How the Universe Began
April 19
Hour 2 Who hasn’t looked up at the dark, night sky and marveled at the enormity of the universe and wondered about those very first moments when it was all began. Astronomer CHRIS IMPEY has spent his career [...]
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Academy of Natural Sciences turns 200
April 10
Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences is celebrating its 200th birthday this year. The renowned Academy is the oldest natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its renowned collection of 18 million plants and animals includes dinosaur fossils collected [...]
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The Race to the South Pole: Roald Amundsen vs. Robert Falcon Scott
April 6
Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] Just over a hundred years ago, Roald Amundsen and four companions were the first human beings to stand at the South Pole. Using skis and dog sleds they beat Robert Falcon Scott’s British expedition by [...]
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Cutting-edge science & challenges of premature babies
April 5
Hour 2 The science and stories of premature babies, viable ever-earlier thanks to advances in medicine and technology but with medical challenges testing the limits of neonatology. Dr. ADAM WOLFBERG knows about these challenges intimately – he’s the [...]
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Delaware Valley's response to the rising rates of autism
April 4
Hour 1 A new estimate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the rates for autism in American children is rising ever faster. Now, about one in 88 children in the United States has autism or a [...]
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Mapping the Mind: Sebastian Seung on the Connectome
March 30
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Many people think that our genes tell the story of who we are. But a group of researchers believe that the wiring in our brain may be even more revealing and they’ve set out to [...]
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The neuroscience of the addicted brain
March 21
Hour 2 Neuroscientist MARC LEWIS had first-hand knowledge of addiction when he began to study the effect of drugs on the brain. He was an addict for 15 years, starting when he was at boarding school and homesick. [...]
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Problem-solving as education: Philadelphia's Sustainability Workshop
March 15
Hour 2 Twenty-eight Philadelphia public high school seniors, who have proven their strengths in math, science and engineering, have been participating in a new alternative project on the edge of the Navy Yard. This pilot program, the Sustainability [...]
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Is Sugar Toxic?
March 1
Hour 2 Should sugar be regulated like tobacco and alcohol? Obesity researcher ROBERT LUSTIG thinks so because it’s a toxic substance. Lustig researches the health effects of sugar and believes that our sweet habit plays a leading role [...]
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Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss: 'A Universe from Nothing'
February 28
Hour 2 How did the Universe arise from nothing? And what was there before? Those are the kinds of questions that for most of us set our heads spinning — not so for renowned cosmologist LAWRENCE KRAUSS. Krauss [...]
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Friendship's evolution, in us & our animal friends
February 22
Hour 2 Friendship is something often associated with the human species. Most of us make dozens of friendships in our lives and gain a great deal from them – we get love, support, even, as we now know, [...]
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Is 60 the new 40? A conversation about middle age
February 21
Hour 2 Is 60 really the new 40? It all depends on how you define the middle years of life, says author PATRICIA COHEN. According to Cohen, traditionally, society has viewed the age of 40 as the entry [...]
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Problem-solving as education: Philadelphia's Sustainability Workshop
February 17
Hour 1 Twenty-eight Philadelphia public high school seniors, who have proven their strengths in math, science and engineering, have been participating in a new alternative project on the edge of the Navy Yard. This pilot program, the Sustainability [...]
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College cuts: Pennsylvania's higher ed on the chopping block
February 16
Hour 1 Last week, for the second year in a row, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced that his budget for 2012-2013 would include steep cuts in higher education funding. The state-related universities Penn State, Temple and Pitt would [...]
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A fee with impact: Pennsylvania's shale gas tax
February 13
Hour 2 The Pennsylvania legislature has passed a bill that allows a tax on natural gas drilling. It enables municipalities to levy an impact fee on the gas industry and Governor Corbett is expected to sign it. Proponents [...]
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Quiet: The Power of Introverts
February 10
Hour 2 In a world that celebrates the loudest, most outlandish, extroverted personalities, a new book makes the case for quieter types – those who shy away from the limelight and who like to spend time alone. Writer [...]
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Mapping the Mind: Sebastian Seung on the Connectome
February 9
Hour 2 Many people think that our genes tell the story of who we are. But a group of researchers believe that the wiring in our brain may be even more revealing and they’ve set out to make [...]
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The Race to the South Pole: Roald Amundsen vs. Robert Falcon Scott
February 1
Hour 2 Just over a hundred years ago, Roald Amundsen and four companions were the first human beings to stand at the South Pole. Using skis and dog sleds they beat Robert Falcon Scott’s British expedition by just [...]
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David Eagleman: The Secret Lives of the Brain
January 13
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] We like to think we’re in charge of ourselves but neuroscientist DAVID EAGLEMAN says that have a lot less self-control than we think. In his fascinating book "INCOGNITO: The Secret Lives of the Brain," Eagleman [...]
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Debunking doomsday 2012 junk science
January 3
Hour 2 2012 is upon us, and if you thought the end-of-the-world hysteria was insane last year, just you wait for the end of this year. Hollywood helped kick the doomsday hype last year with its disaster movie [...]
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A Conversation with Dolphin Researcher Diana Reiss
December 26
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] The ability to recognize oneself in the mirror is considered a sign of high intelligence and is relatively rare in the animal world. Humans can do it and so can great apes. But DR. DIANA [...]
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New Dinosaur Discoveries
December 19
Hour 2 It’s not only kids who are captivated by dinosaurs – the idea that gigantic reptiles walked the Earth over 65 million years ago is pretty awe inspiring. Of course, they weren’t all giants – some were [...]
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State of the Beaches in New Jersey and Delaware
May 22
Guests: Matthew Doherty, Thomas Herrington, Collin O'Mara Seven months after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the region, several beach towns in New Jersey are still picking up the pieces. Many communities are in the process of restoring boardwalks and other [...] -
Climate change milestone
May 21
Guests: Gavin Schmidt, Anthony Leiserowitz Last week carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached record levels — 400 parts per million, according to a monitoring station in Hawaii. Never in human history have carbon dioxide concentrations been that high. [...] -
Governor Christie's weight-loss surgery
May 13
Guests: Matt Katz, Thomas Wadden, Margaret Bonafide New Jersey Governor Chris Christie revealed last week that he underwent gastric band surgery in February. The Governor explained his reasons for the secret weight loss surgery to the New York [...] -
The Brothers Emanuel
May 10
Guest: EZEKIEL EMANUEL HR 1 [REBROADCAST]EZEKIEL EMANUEL is the eldest brother of the current Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff, and a powerful Hollywood agent immortalized in the HBO series, “Entourage” – Rahm and [...] -
Hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay — ethics and the law
May 8
Hour 1 Guests: Carol Rosenberg, Jonathan Marks and Scott Allen Over 100 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center have been on a hunger strike since February in protest of their seemingly indefinite detention and the alleged mishandling [...] -
Plan B, politics and parents
May 8
Guests: Jessica Arons and Joan Vennochi Back in 2011, in a controversial decision, Health and Human Services Secretary Katherine Sebelius announced that the morning after pill, known as Plan B One-Step, would be available over-the-counter only to women [...] -
Anatomy of violence
May 6
Guest: Adrian Raine Why does someone commit a violent crime? Is it their genes, their environment or a combination of the two? Neurocriminologist ADRIAN RAINE has been studying the psychological origins of crime for 30 years and, through [...] -
Adam Rome and “The Genius of Earth Day”
April 19
GUEST: ADAM ROME Over forty years ago this month, an important political event took place that caused reverberations throughout the country. The Genius of Earth Day is the story of the first Earth Day, its significance, and how [...] -
Babies, language and the developing brain
April 15
Guests: Roberta Golinkoff, Trude Haecker Talk to your baby – it’s critical for their developing brains. And researchers now know that the choice and number of words that parents use matter. Early exposure to language helps predict kids' [...] -
Frans de Waal: Primates, evolution and morality
April 11
Hour 2 Guests: Frans de Waal Morality is not unique to humans. Biologist FRANS DE WAAL has found ethical behavior like empathy, altruism, and fairness in chimpanzees, bonobos and capuchin monkeys. De Waal is the director of the [...] -
Keystone XL Pipeline debate
April 10
Guests: Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, Amy Myers Jaffe The Obama administration is expected to make a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline expansion in the next few months. The pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude [...] -
Debating 'no smoker' hiring policies
April 5
Guests: Harald Schmidt, David Asch Smokers need not apply to the University of Pennsylvania Health System starting this July when a ban on hiring nicotine users will go into effect. Penn Health system says this policy is an [...] -
The Brothers Emanuel
April 2
Guest: EZEKIEL EMANUEL EZEKIEL EMANUEL is the eldest brother of the current Mayor of Chicago and former White House Chief of Staff, and a powerful Hollywood agent immortalized in the HBO series, “Entourage” – Rahm and Ari Emanuel. [...] -
Marlene Zuk on "Paleofantasy"
April 1
Guest: Marlene Zuk Have you tried barefoot running, the Caveman Diet or attachment parenting? Taking lessons from our ancient ancestors has become all the rage lately. But evolutionary biologist MARLENE ZUK warns that our Paleolithic past was far [...] -
Douglas Rushkoff's Present Shock
March 27
Guest: DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF Do you often feel you aren’t on your game because you’re not hip to the new trend and are behind in your tweets? Our guest, author DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, has been observing our culture’s need to [...] -
Online Comments
March 25
Guests: Dietram Scheufele, Meghan Daum, Bob Cohn Do you read the comments at the end of an article or blog? Do you post responses yourself? A recent study examined the effect of online comments on readers and found [...] -
Salt, Sugar and Fat
March 21
GUEST: MICHAEL MOSS If you eat processed food, how much do you scrutinize the ingredients on the package? Our guest, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, MICHAEL MOSS, has considered the quality of these ingredients, including identifying the 8,500 milligrams [...] -
Fishermen’s Energy & the future of wind energy in New Jersey
March 14
GUESTS: CHRIS WISSEMANN, JEFF TITTEL and STEFANIE BRAND We examine the future of wind energy in New Jersey from three different perspectives. Should wind farms come to the Garden State? First, we get an inside look from Fishermen’s [...] -
Nuclear weapons and nonproliferation
February 21
GUEST: WARD WILSON North Korea conducted its third underground nuclear test last week, the same day President Obama addressed the country in his State of the Union speech. Obama has made reducing the nation’s nuclear arsenal a priority [...] -
Laughing, sneezing, burping and more: the science of curious behavior
February 18
[REBROADCAST] Scientists have sent rovers to Mars and decoded our DNA but they rarely look at the strange assortment of behaviors that we all do everyday – scratching, burping, sneezing, yawning, and laughing. Psychologist and neuroscientist Robert Provine [...] -
Separating fact from fiction on weight loss and obesity
February 12
GUESTS: DAVID SARWER and STELLA VOLPE An article in last week's issue of The New England Journal caught our attention. It's authors identified seven commonly held beliefs about obesity and weight loss that actually have never been scientifically [...] -
Cats and their impact on wildlife
February 5
A new report says that outdoor cats are a major threat to wildlife. Free-ranging cats, including pets that go outside, stray and feral cats, are the leading cause of death for birds and small mammals, killing billions each [...] -
The Genius of Dogs
February 4
If you've ever had a dog, chances are you’ve wondered what is going on in their head. Scientists have been thinking about this too, probing the canine mind to figure out just how smart dogs really are. And [...] -
Will Obama's second term change prospects for climate?
January 24
In his inaugural speech, President Obama made climate change a central priority of his second term: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future [...] -
True confessions: Lance Armstrong comes clean
January 18
Lance Armstrong confessed last night in an interview with Oprah Winfrey to taking performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career. Yesterday, the International Olympic Committee stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal and last fall cycling’s governing body, the [...] -
Food myths and fad diets
January 11
Every New Year millions of Americans resolve to lose weight, eat better and hit the gym. Sadly, many of us aren’t successful. But in our quest to be slimmer and fitter, we often seize on headlines that tout [...] -
Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss: 'A Universe from Nothing'
January 4
[REBROADCAST] How did the Universe arise from nothing? And what was there before? Those are the kinds of questions that for most of us set our heads spinning — not so for renowned cosmologist LAWRENCE KRAUSS. Krauss says [...] -
David Quammen on 'Spillover' of animal diseases into humans
December 28
[REBROADCAST] Avian flu. Ebola. SARS. AIDS. All of us have been exposed, at least in the media, to diseases that have migrated from animal hosts to humans, a phenomenon scientists call "spillover. That's also the name of acclaimed [...] -
Debunking doomsday 2012 junk science
December 21
[REBROADCAST] Today is December 21st, 2012. And the hype about the “end of the world” has reached a supernova, mostly based on a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar. Almost a year ago, we reached out to two astronomers [...] -
Some good news in the childhood obesity battle
December 20
This year there’s some good news in the fight against childhood obesity – particularly for Philadelphia. Rates of childhood obesity have declined in Philadelphia along with a few other cities including New York, El Paso, and Anchorage. Though [...] -
How to protect yourself from scams
December 20
Tens of billions of dollars are lost each year to consumer fraud and when the economy is down, fraud goes up. These last years have been boom times for scammers. While research shows that many of us are [...] -
The risks and rewards of older parenthood
December 13
Among the many changes in American families over the past few decades is the increasing number of parents who are having children later in life. While the average first time parent in the U.S. is in her twenties, [...] -
Contraception, sexual health and teens
December 11
The American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a recommendation recently to increase teen access to emergency contraception. In a new policy report, the organization advised pediatricians to not only openly discuss contraception with their female patients but [...] -
Post-Sandy politics of rebuilding the Jersey Shore
December 5
As New Jersey struggles with the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, we follow up our look at the science and engineering with a look at the politics of whether, how, where and who pays for rebuilding the beloved Jersey [...] -
Genetic testing and medicine
December 4
Doctors are increasingly turning to genetic testing to track down diseases, uncover a patient’s risk and better target treatments. Every cell in our body contains our complete DNA and from a swab of saliva or a little blood, [...] -
The Jersey Shore, after Sandy: To rebuild or not to rebuild
November 21
When Superstorm Sandy slammed into and through the southern Jersey Shore near Ocean City in the evening of Oct. 29, the full-moon high tide and storm surge laid waste to structures, streets and stretches of shoreline up and [...] -
Our sense of hearing and how it shaped the mind
November 21
Sound is everywhere in this world – you can’t escape it. Our ears process millions of noises all day long –laughter, car horns, music, bird calls, computer keyboard clicks, the wind. Sound and the way we hear it [...] -
The Search for Earth-like planets
November 12
Hour 2 Last week, astronomers announced they had found a planet seven times the size of Earth and with a habitable climate. This Super-Earth orbits dwarf star HD 40307 and is just 43 million light years away (one [...] -
Is 60 the new 40? A conversation about middle age
November 9
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Is 60 really the new 40? It all depends on how you define the middle years of life, says author PATRICIA COHEN. According to Cohen, traditionally, society has viewed the age of 40 as the [...] -
Dreamland: David Randall on the science of sleep
November 2
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] When journalist DAVID RANDALL woke up in his hallway screaming in pain after sleepwalking into a wall, he decided it was time to get some answers to his years of troubled sleep. But what Randall [...] -
What candidates are NOT talking about, Pt. 1: Climate change & infrastructure repair
October 31
Hour 1 The 2012 presidential election, for the most part, has been about the economy and more recently foreign policy. Among the issues that have received little or no attention on the campaign trail are climate change and [...] -
Hurricane Sandy, Day 2: Jersey Shore, Philly water, Delaware
October 30
Hour 2 Our coverage of Hurricane Sandy continues in this hour of Radio Times. We start with a live update from WHYY reporter TOM MacDONALD from the Jersey Shore, where he spent the morning touring the devastation, including [...] -
Hurricane Sandy hits the Delaware Valley
October 29
Hour 1 With Hurricane Sandy roaring into the Delaware Valley, Radio Times covers the storm’s approach, the preparations made by residents and public safety officials throughout the region, and the early word of impacts. We’ll start the hour [...] -
Hurricane Sandy: Philly & Delaware responses, weird weather & storm science
October 29
Hour 2 In our second hour examining Hurricane Sandy's impacts, we'll talk with Philadelphia Mayor MICHAEL NUTTER about the city's preparations for the storm's approach and aftermath. And we'll talk with MICHAEL LEMONICK senior science writer for Princeton-based [...] -
Fracking, natural gas & energy issues in political campaigns
October 18
Hour 1 Energy issues, including natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region, are a big issue in Pennsylvania, and a factor in political campaigns across the commonwealth and the presidential race. On today’s Radio Times, we catch [...] -
David Quammen on 'Spillover' of animal diseases into humans
October 16
Hour 1 Avian flu. Ebola. SARS. AIDS. All of us have been exposed, at least in the media, to diseases that have migrated from animal hosts to humans, a phenomenon scientists call "spillover. That's also the name of [...] -
Laughing, sneezing, burping and more: the science of curious behavior
October 13
Hour 2 Scientists have sent rovers to Mars and decoded our DNA but they rarely look at the strange assortment of behaviors that we all do everyday – scratching, burping, sneezing, yawning, and laughing. Psychologist and neuroscientist Robert [...] -
Hair and who we are
October 8
Hour 2 Our hair says a lot about who we are. That’s why losing it can be so traumatic. But for balding men, a new study may offer some hope. It turns out that a completely shorn head [...] -
Elephant poaching: the dramatic rise in ivory trafficking
September 27
Hour 1 Over 25,000 elephants were slaughtered last year in the growing illicit ivory trade — sometimes entire herds gunned down from helicopters. Elephant poaching in Africa reached its highest levels in 2011 since the global ivory ban [...] -
Wearable computers
September 26
Hour 2 Smart phones may be migrating from our hands to our heads. Google has a product coming out next year that puts all the capabilities of a smartphone into a pair of high-tech, wraparound glasses. Project Glass [...] -
A look at drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region
September 20
Hour 1 The new technology that can extract the deep, gas resources of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale has created a complex divide among residents, government and industry about the promise of a low-emission, fossil-fuel bridge to American energy independence, [...] -
Has pop music changed?
September 10
What is pop music and how does it change throughout the decades? The top ten songs on Itunes and Billboard may not reflect what you listen to and your grandparents listened to, but millions of people are still [...] -
NASA's Mission to Mars and Curiosity
August 27
Hour 1 NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on the Martian surface for three weeks now and so far, except for a broken wind sensor, everything has gone according to plan. After an eight and a half month journey [...] -
Quiet: The Power of Introverts
August 27
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] In a world that celebrates the loudest, most outlandish, extroverted personalities, a recent book makes the case for quieter types – those who shy away from the limelight and who like to spend time alone. [...] -
The Great Animal Orchestra: finding the music in nature August 24
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Naturalist BERNIE KRAUSE has spent 40 years listening to and recording the natural world. He’s traveled the world, capturing the sounds of over fifteen thousand species and making four thousand hours of wild music – [...] -
Update: The drought, PA's voting laws, and Philadelphia's state test cheating scandal August 21
Hour 1 We get updates on three news stories we've been following. We'll start off talking about this year’s drought, the worst drought in U.S. history since the 1950's with writer CHARLES FISHMAN. In his recent New York [...] -
Rabies: The story of a diabolical virus August 21
Hour 2 For most of us, the only time we think about rabies is when we take our dog or cat to the vets for vaccinations. But while rabies rarely kills people in Western countries, globally some 55,000 [...] -
Dreamland: David Randall on the science of sleep August 17
Hour 1 When journalist DAVID RANDALL woke up in his hallway screaming in pain after sleepwalking into a wall, he decided it was time to get some answers to his years of troubled sleep. But what Randall found [...] -
How the Universe Began August 17
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Who hasn’t looked up at the dark, night sky and marveled at the enormity of the universe and wondered about those very first moments when it was all began. Astronomer CHRIS IMPEY has spent his [...] -
Extreme weather and climate change July 30
Hour 1 We’re in the midst of the worst drought in 50 years. The last 12 months have been the hottest on record. Heat waves, storms, floods and wildfires have been wreaking havoc this spring and summer in [...] -
America’s Greatest Naval Architect and His Quest to Build the S.S. United States July 23
Hour 2 “Getting there is half the fun,” is rarely a desire of the modern traveler, but back when the S.S. United States made its maiden voyage, this passenger luxury liner was built for speed and comfort. It [...] -
Update on the battle against AIDS July 20
Hour 1 The International AIDS Conference starts this weekend in Washington D.C. and there is some good news to celebrate. Last year, 8 million people in poor countries received life-saving AIDS medications and infection rates among children continued [...] -
E.O. Wilson's provocative evolution theory, 'The Social Conquest of Earth' July 13
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] In his controversial recent book, “The Social Conquest of Earth,” which the acclaimed biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents as the capstone to his legendary career, EDWARD O. WILSON firmly and fundamentally breaks with a [...] -
The future of Philadelphia's oil refinery workers July 12
Hour 1 The future of United Steelworkers’ (USW) jobs at local oil refineries futures looked bleak last September when Sunoco announced plans to sell or close their South Philadelphia and Marcus Hook facilities. Later that month ConocoPhillips announced [...] -
What's in a calorie? July 12
Hour 2 What should we be eating to maintain a healthy diet? Low carb? Low fat? It’s been 10 years since science journalist GARY TAUBES’ New York Times Magazine cover story about eating more fat and less carbohydrates, [...] -
American philosophy 101 with Carlin Romano July 3
Hour 2 According to the 19th century French intellectual Alexis de Toqueville, "in no other country in the civilized world is less attention paid to philosophy than in the United States." That's not true today, says our guest [...] -
Red knots, horseshoe crabs & the Delaware Bay June 18
Hour 2 Spawning season for horseshoe crabs in the Delaware Bay Estuary and Cape May shoreline is coming to a close, ending the annual natural phenomenon of beaches clogged with the prehistoric creatures, often attached in an eons-old [...] -
The buzz on beekeeping as a hobby June 12
Hour 2 City rooftops, suburban backyards, even fancy hotels like New York’s Waldorf-Astoria and Intercontinental are buzzing with bees. Beekeeping is becoming a popular hobby across America. In recent years, bee populations across the United States have faced [...] -
Weighing the new prostate cancer screening recommendations June 8
Hour 1 Millions of men over the age of 50 get screened for prostate cancer with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in American men and for years, [...] -
Visiting national parks before climate changes them June 5
Hour 1 MICHAEL LANZA is a longtime backpacker, climber, skier and freelance writer and photographer of outdoors and wilderness. He is the northwest editor of Backpacker magazine, where he chronicled the effects of climate change on Montana’s Glacier [...] -
Transit of Venus: its history & transit methods today June 1
Hour 1 Each century Venus passes directly between the sun and the Earth twice, eight years apart. On June 5th or 6th 2012, depending on where on Earth you are, you may be able to see the last [...] -
The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon May 30
Hour 2 All across America, on their e-readers, I-Pads and in paperback, women of all ages have voraciously been reading Fifty Shades of Grey, the first in a trilogy of erotic novels by British author E. L. James. [...] -
Friendship's evolution, in us & our animal friends May 28
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Friendship is something often associated with the human species. Most of us make dozens of friendships in our lives and gain a great deal from them – we get love, support, even, as we now [...] -
The Great Animal Orchestra: finding the music in nature May 23
Hour 2 Naturalist BERNIE KRAUSE has spent forty years listening to and recording the natural world. He’s traveled the world, capturing the sounds of over fifteen thousand species and making four thousand hours of wild music – insect [...] -
What's in our food? Michael Pollan & Keeve Nachman May 9
Hour 2 What is in your chicken? A new study found that chickens were eating feed containing a banned antibiotic and the active ingredients for pain relievers, antihistamines, and antidepressants. There’s been growing concern over the use antibiotics [...] -
Ghost Factories: Lead's toxic legacy in our soil May 2
Hour 1 In hundreds of U.S. neighborhoods, including several in Philadelphia and the surrounding area, the soil that children play in is contaminated by lead and other toxic metal particles once spewed into the air by factories that [...] -
Science Ink April 30
Hour 2 When you think about tattoos, what comes to mind — snakes, hearts, flowers, Celtic knots, mermaids, or the name of a true love? Well, what if that true love is science? It turns out a lot [...] -
E.O. Wilson's provocative evolution theory, 'The Social Conquest of Earth' April 24
Hour 2 In his controversial new book, “The Social Conquest of Earth,” which the acclaimed biologist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author presents as the capstone to his legendary career, EDWARD O. WILSON firmly and fundamentally breaks with a theory [...] -
How the Universe Began April 19
Hour 2 Who hasn’t looked up at the dark, night sky and marveled at the enormity of the universe and wondered about those very first moments when it was all began. Astronomer CHRIS IMPEY has spent his career [...] -
Academy of Natural Sciences turns 200 April 10
Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences is celebrating its 200th birthday this year. The renowned Academy is the oldest natural history museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its renowned collection of 18 million plants and animals includes dinosaur fossils collected [...] -
The Race to the South Pole: Roald Amundsen vs. Robert Falcon Scott April 6
Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] Just over a hundred years ago, Roald Amundsen and four companions were the first human beings to stand at the South Pole. Using skis and dog sleds they beat Robert Falcon Scott’s British expedition by [...] -
Cutting-edge science & challenges of premature babies April 5
Hour 2 The science and stories of premature babies, viable ever-earlier thanks to advances in medicine and technology but with medical challenges testing the limits of neonatology. Dr. ADAM WOLFBERG knows about these challenges intimately – he’s the [...] -
Delaware Valley's response to the rising rates of autism April 4
Hour 1 A new estimate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests the rates for autism in American children is rising ever faster. Now, about one in 88 children in the United States has autism or a [...] -
Mapping the Mind: Sebastian Seung on the Connectome March 30
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Many people think that our genes tell the story of who we are. But a group of researchers believe that the wiring in our brain may be even more revealing and they’ve set out to [...] -
The neuroscience of the addicted brain March 21
Hour 2 Neuroscientist MARC LEWIS had first-hand knowledge of addiction when he began to study the effect of drugs on the brain. He was an addict for 15 years, starting when he was at boarding school and homesick. [...] -
Problem-solving as education: Philadelphia's Sustainability Workshop March 15
Hour 2 Twenty-eight Philadelphia public high school seniors, who have proven their strengths in math, science and engineering, have been participating in a new alternative project on the edge of the Navy Yard. This pilot program, the Sustainability [...] -
Is Sugar Toxic? March 1
Hour 2 Should sugar be regulated like tobacco and alcohol? Obesity researcher ROBERT LUSTIG thinks so because it’s a toxic substance. Lustig researches the health effects of sugar and believes that our sweet habit plays a leading role [...] -
Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss: 'A Universe from Nothing' February 28
Hour 2 How did the Universe arise from nothing? And what was there before? Those are the kinds of questions that for most of us set our heads spinning — not so for renowned cosmologist LAWRENCE KRAUSS. Krauss [...] -
Friendship's evolution, in us & our animal friends February 22
Hour 2 Friendship is something often associated with the human species. Most of us make dozens of friendships in our lives and gain a great deal from them – we get love, support, even, as we now know, [...] -
Is 60 the new 40? A conversation about middle age February 21
Hour 2 Is 60 really the new 40? It all depends on how you define the middle years of life, says author PATRICIA COHEN. According to Cohen, traditionally, society has viewed the age of 40 as the entry [...] -
Problem-solving as education: Philadelphia's Sustainability Workshop February 17
Hour 1 Twenty-eight Philadelphia public high school seniors, who have proven their strengths in math, science and engineering, have been participating in a new alternative project on the edge of the Navy Yard. This pilot program, the Sustainability [...] -
College cuts: Pennsylvania's higher ed on the chopping block February 16
Hour 1 Last week, for the second year in a row, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced that his budget for 2012-2013 would include steep cuts in higher education funding. The state-related universities Penn State, Temple and Pitt would [...] -
A fee with impact: Pennsylvania's shale gas tax February 13
Hour 2 The Pennsylvania legislature has passed a bill that allows a tax on natural gas drilling. It enables municipalities to levy an impact fee on the gas industry and Governor Corbett is expected to sign it. Proponents [...] -
Quiet: The Power of Introverts February 10
Hour 2 In a world that celebrates the loudest, most outlandish, extroverted personalities, a new book makes the case for quieter types – those who shy away from the limelight and who like to spend time alone. Writer [...] -
Mapping the Mind: Sebastian Seung on the Connectome February 9
Hour 2 Many people think that our genes tell the story of who we are. But a group of researchers believe that the wiring in our brain may be even more revealing and they’ve set out to make [...] -
The Race to the South Pole: Roald Amundsen vs. Robert Falcon Scott February 1
Hour 2 Just over a hundred years ago, Roald Amundsen and four companions were the first human beings to stand at the South Pole. Using skis and dog sleds they beat Robert Falcon Scott’s British expedition by just [...] -
David Eagleman: The Secret Lives of the Brain January 13
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] We like to think we’re in charge of ourselves but neuroscientist DAVID EAGLEMAN says that have a lot less self-control than we think. In his fascinating book "INCOGNITO: The Secret Lives of the Brain," Eagleman [...] -
Debunking doomsday 2012 junk science January 3
Hour 2 2012 is upon us, and if you thought the end-of-the-world hysteria was insane last year, just you wait for the end of this year. Hollywood helped kick the doomsday hype last year with its disaster movie [...] -
A Conversation with Dolphin Researcher Diana Reiss December 26
Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] The ability to recognize oneself in the mirror is considered a sign of high intelligence and is relatively rare in the animal world. Humans can do it and so can great apes. But DR. DIANA [...] -
New Dinosaur Discoveries December 19
Hour 2 It’s not only kids who are captivated by dinosaurs – the idea that gigantic reptiles walked the Earth over 65 million years ago is pretty awe inspiring. Of course, they weren’t all giants – some were [...]

