CSU's The Audit

Yosemite National Park welcomes more than 4 million visitors each year, but those visits come at a steep environmental cost. National parks historian Michael Childers discusses the park's long history of overcrowding, the recent decision to end its reservation system and what the record-breaking crowds expected this season could mean for Yosemite’s future.

Most people have experienced déjà vu at one time or another, that eerie feeling that you've been in a situation before when you know that you haven't. But what is déjà vu? And why does it happen? In this encore episode, CSU memory researcher Anne Cleary explains the phenomenon. 

Researchers with CSU’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Lori Catalano and Scott Curry talk about why now is the time to leave your lawn in favor of beige-er pastures that are anything but boring.

On Wednesday, House Bill 1031 was signed into Colorado law making it a deceptive trade practice to market fruits and vegetables as "Colorado-grown" if the products were produced elsewhere. Violators of the law could be fined fines up to $20,000.In this encore episode of The Audit podcast, Colorado State University ag economist Dawn Thilmany talks about why the Colorado label is so critical to both producers and consumers.

CSU archaeologist Robert Madden talks about his groundbreaking research revealing that dice and games of chance have been a central part of Native American culture for millennia. And they were about a lot more than fun and games.

CSU atmospheric chemist Delphine Farmer talks about indoor air pollutants such as cleaning products, smoke and stoves, and how you can strike a balance between refreshing your home and protecting your health. 

Why aren't forests bouncing back after wildfires like they used to? CSU researcher and former wildland firefighter Camille Stevens-Rumann talks about the problem, as well as one unique (and slightly controversial) solution.

CSU's Hamed Qahri-Saremi talks about how artificial intelligence is not only rapidly transforming the way we interact with information, but also reshaping democratic processes, challenging public trust in institutions and even influencing human empathy.

CSU Avenir Museum Curator Paula Alaszkiewicz explores the surprising roles of the humble pocket throughout history, from its connection to the women’s suffrage movement to its use as a litmus test for economic trends.

CSU’s David Korostyshevsky talks about the history of Dry January, our continued complicated relationship with alcohol and whether we might be entering the next anti-alcohol era.

CSU food scientist Caitlin Clark explains what makes us love chocolate, why "healthy" chocolate isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be and how much that chocolate bar should actually cost.

It may not be considered "polite conversation," but Jordan Kraft Lambert thinks we all need to be talking more about poop. In fact, the director of ag innovation at CSU’s Spur campus has made it her mission to bring this and other “icky” topics to the table – figuratively and literally. In this encore episode, Lambert talks about how poop is actually a pretty powerful commodity, and why liver gets such a bad (and largely undeserved) rap.

From voters saying no to hosting the Winter Olympics to the Earth Liberation Front's attack on Vail ski resort, Colorado State University Associate Professor and author Michael Childers says it hasn't been all powder for Colorado's snow business. In this encore episode, Childers talks about Colorado's bumpy path to becoming a ski haven. (Originally aired March 2023)

Through the lens of Hallmark holiday movies, CSU Film and Media Studies Associate Professor Kit Hughes researched how holiday film tropes both reflect and shape economic opinions. 

While less obvious than the yellow kind, contaminants such as forever chemicals, heavy metals and microplastics are showing up in Colorado's snowpack. CSU snow hydrologist Steven Fassnacht explains what that could mean for our winter wonderland.

Colorado State University toxicologist Brad Reisfeld talks about how to keep your holiday meal leftovers from turning into a recipe for food poisoning. 

Can watching horror movies make us more empathetic? Film researchers Scott Diffrient and Riana Slyter talk about the benefits of horror, as well as the history of the genre, how it’s evolving and why so many of us love to be scared.

Colorado State University history professor Ann Little talks about our fascination with the early North American witch trials and what a modern-day witch hunt could look like. (ENCORE EPISODE)

In 1983, Spirit Halloween stores began popping up with a very unique business model — rent out a large, vacant store front; fill it with Halloween costumes and temporary employees for about eight to 10 weeks; and then as of Nov. 1 — poof! They vanish like a ghost. CSU College of Business Associate Professor Zac Rogers researches the financial impact of supply chain sustainability, emerging logistics technologies, as well as purchasing and logistics issues. In this encore episode, Rogers talks about how the Spirit store model has influenced how we do business and whether its latest endeavor to enter the Christmas market will be a success.

CSU STRATA Vice President of Tech Transfer Richard Magid talks about CSU isn’t just producing the next generation of professionals ready to change the world, but also the next generation of innovations ranging from disease resistant wheat varieties that protect our food supply to vaccines that protect our pets. 

CSU researcher and former wildland firefighter Camille Stevens-Rumann talks about why forests aren’t bouncing back after wildfires like they used to as well as one unique (and slightly controversial) solution to the problem.

Colorado State University researcher Jaclyn Stephens is the director of the College of Health and Human Sciences BRAINSTORM Lab, where she studies adolescents and adults with sports-related concussion, along with more severe forms of traumatic brain injury. She recently spoke to CSU's The Audit about the short and long-term impacts of concussion, what we’re learning about the recovery process, and how yoga might play a key role in rewiring the brain.

Agriculture is big in Colorado, and a recent survey from the Colorado Department of Agriculture shows that Coloradans care a lot — not only about how their food is grown, but where it’s grown. CSU agricultural economist Dawn Thilmany spoke to The Audit about why the buy local movement matters so much to consumers.

CSU researcher Megan Mueller talks about the impact that restaurants and our food environment can have on our food choices and our health. 

As we head into Pride Month, The Audit revisits an episode in which CSU's Tom Dunn talks about the creation of the Queer Memory Project, an online archive dedicated to preserving LGBTQ+ history.

An encore episode featuring CSU Distinguished Professor, writer and poet Camille Dungy speaking about using her garden to explore issues of history, race, sustainability and motherhood in her book "Soil: The Story of a Black Mother's Garden."

Imagine being a sailor in the 1700s and suddenly in the pitch black of the night, the sea begins to glow a fluorescent green, illuminating the ocean like a giant nightlight. Today, this peculiar occurrence is known as “milky seas,” but more than 300 years later researchers still don’t know much more about the phenomenon than those sailors did.Now Colorado State University researcher Justin Hudson is using centuries worth of sea captain diaries and deck logs, coupled with satellite imagery, to help solve this maritime mystery. 

From making hip implants that stick to heart valves that slip, CSU biomedical engineering researcher and inventor Sue James talks about her career path, working to pave the way for other women engineers and her many patents along the way. 

CSU food scientist Caitlin Clark explains what makes us love chocolate, why "healthy" chocolate isn't necessarily all it's cracked up to be and how much that chocolate bar should actually cost.

In 2020, after burning for three months, the Cameron Peak Fire scorched more than 200,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in Colorado history. Five years later, and more than a thousand miles away, a series of devastating wildfires continues to burn in Los Angeles. Anne Mook, senior team scientist at CSU's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, along with Pilar Morales-Giner, a postdoctoral researcher at Spain's University of Granada, spoke with The Audit about their recently published research on the deeper impact wildfires can have on communities using the Cameron Peak Fire as a test case. The researchers explore how - for better and for worse - wildfires can reshape both our emotional and practical connections to our communities along with what lessons the Cameron Peak Fire could hold for LA.

It may not be considered "polite conversation," but Jordan Kraft Lambert thinks we all need to be talking more about poop. In fact, the director of ag innovation at CSU’s Spur campus has made it her mission to bring this and other “icky” topics to the table – figuratively and literally. Lambert spoke with CSU's The Audit podcast about how poop is actually a pretty powerful commodity, and why liver gets such a bad (and largely undeserved) rap.

Since the COVID 19 pandemic began in 2020, same day/next day delivery — something that was previously considered a premium service — has become a normal, and even expected, way to shop, largely thanks to Amazon.In this encore episode of CSU's The Audit, associate professor of operations and supply chain management Zac Rogers shares how this model of shipping works, why brick-and-mortar stores will never go away and the surprising reason all those Amazon returns might not be as bad as you might think. (Originally aired Nov. 2023)

Fifty years ago, the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was created, and despite some initial controversies, it has endured to become a beloved pastime and cultural touchstone for many. But for Colorado State University political science instructor James “Pigeon” Fielder, it’s much more than that.To Fielder, D&D — as it’s more commonly known — is a master class in political strategy, everything from diplomacy to alliance forming to conflict resolution. Fielder recently spoke to CSU's The Audit about what a fantasy game filled with sorcerers, warlocks and wizards can teach our political leaders and how it might benefit them — and us — if they started to wage a very different kind of campaign. 

From voters saying no to hosting the Winter Olympics to the Earth Liberation Front's attack on Vail ski resort, Colorado State University Associate Professor and author Michael Childers says it hasn't been all powder for Colorado's snow business. In this encore episode, Childers talks about Colorado's bumpy path to becoming a ski haven. (Originally aired March 2023)

Most people have experienced déjà vu at one time or another, that eerie feeling that you've been in a situation before when you know that you haven't. But what is déjà vu? And why does it happen? Colorado State University Psychology Professor Anne Cleary, who researches human memory and specifically déjà vu, says the reasons are a lot more normal than paranormal. Cleary recently spoke with The Audit about what actually happens when you experience this memory phenomenon. 

In 1983, Spirit Halloween stores began popping up with a very unique business model — rent out a large, vacant store front; fill it with Halloween costumes and temporary employees for about eight to 10 weeks; and then as of Nov. 1 — poof! They vanish like a ghost. Colorado State University College of Business Associate Professor Zac Rogers researches the financial impact of supply chain sustainability, emerging logistics technologies, as well as purchasing and logistics issues. Rogers recently spoke with The Audit about how the Spirit store model has influenced how we do business and whether its latest endeavor to enter the Christmas market will be a success.

Comedians have been joking about politics for probably as long as there have been politicians. But in the past few years, there's been a noticeable shift in political comedy.  No longer just a spotlight for the Democrats, more and more conservatives are getting in on the act, too, from the rise of comic and podcaster Joe Rogan to Fox's answer to “The Daily Show,” "Gutfeld," right-wing conservative comedy is on the rise. Colorado State University Associate Professor Nick Marx researches media industries and American politics and culture and is the coauthor of the book "That's Not Funny How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them." Marx recently sat down with The Audit to talk about this cultural shift and what it could mean for comedy and for politics.

Jessie Luna is an associate professor of sociology at Colorado State University. Her research investigates how cultural politics intersect with processes of capitalism to produce and naturalize social inequalities and environmental change. She recently spoke to CSU's The Audit about how cultural stereotypes impact our everyday lives, even during a simple trip to the zoo. 

Can you put a price on nature? Or maybe the better question is, should you put a price on nature?It may sound like a bizarre concept, but it’s one that renowned environmental economist Ed Barbier says could be key to saving the planet.Barbier is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics at Colorado State University, as well as a Senior Scholar in the School of Global Environmental Sustainability. His main expertise is natural resource and development economics and the interface between economics and ecology. He’s also the author of several books, including “Economics for a Fragile Planet: Rethinking Markets, Institutions and Governance,” which offers a blueprint for a greener and more inclusive economy. In that book, Barbier writes that managing an increasingly delicate ecosystem requires us to rethink the “underpricing” of nature, and to decouple wealth creation from environmental degradation through business, policy and financial actions aimed at better stewardship. Barbier recently spoke with CSU's The Audit about what a green economy looks like and how he believes we can get there. 

There are lots of different types of friends. Best friends, work friends. Facebook friends, even frenemies. Each has an important role in our lives that has been shown to impact our mental and physical health.Now the American Friendship Project, a new program co-led by Colorado State University communication studies researcher Natalie Pennington, provides one of the most complete looks at this highly critical — but rarely studied — relationship. In this episode of CSU's The Audit podcast, Pennington spoke about the project's findings, how we view friendship and how we can stay better connected.

Despite its landlocked location, Colorado State University is well known all along the Atlantic coast for its seasonal hurricane forecasts. Each spring, these forecasts predict the total amount and potential strength of storms for the upcoming hurricane season.The forecasts were first developed and shared by pioneering atmospheric science researcher William Gray, and are frequently used by media, officials and community leaders to inform the public and make planning decisions. Today, Gray’s former grad student Phil Klotzbach leads the effort to inform communities up and down the East Coast of the dangers the upcoming season presents. Klotzbach is a senior research scientist for the Department of Atmospheric Science within the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, and along with a team of students, faculty and research staff, has authored the forecasts since 2006. In late June, Klotzbach spoke to CSU’s The Audit about the University’s role in developing hurricane research, the increase in hurricane activity and destructiveness over the years, and what we can expect in terms of size and scale for future hurricane seasons.

In March, a New York state judge ruled that a lawsuit could go forward against several social media companies alleging that the platforms contributed to the radicalization of a gunman who killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York in 2022. The lawsuit claims companies like Meta, Reddit and 4Chan “profit from the racist, antisemitic and violent material displayed on their platforms in order to maximize user engagement.” However, the platforms say they are instead merely message boards containing third-party content and should not be held liable for what others post. While the case itself won’t likely see the inside of a courtroom for years, it has sparked a debate on just how culpable - and calculating - social media platforms really are. Hamed Qahri-Saremi is an Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems in Colorado State University’s College of Business. He recently collaborated on a new theory that social media misinformation might actually be taking a page from Shakespearean tragedies.

Methane is odorless, colorless, and invisible to the naked eye. But it's also one of the most damaging greenhouse gases impacting climate change. Colorado State University biology professor Joe von Fischer researches how humans, plants, soil and soil microbes influence greenhouse gas emissions, including methane. Today, we're talking with Von Fischer about how methane compares to the more notorious carbon dioxide, his research into ways we can better measure methane emissions, and why measuring and reducing methane is a critical opportunity in the climate fight.

Accounting may not be the sexiest topic but in the early 2000s everyone was talking about it after the energy company Enron was found to have committed widespread accounting fraud. Hiding billions of debt, Enron and its accounting firm Arthur Anderson misled Enron's board of directors and its shareholders, who eventually filed a $40 billion lawsuit against the company. In addition to causing the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, the fallout from the Enron scandal sent shock waves through the financial system, leading to calls for new regulation to ensure better accuracy and accountability in financial reporting for publicly traded companies. And so, the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or SOX Act for short, was enacted. More than 20 years later, Colorado State University assistant accounting professors Eric Lohwasser and Michelle Draeger have researched the effectiveness of the SOX Act, as well as some of its unintended consequences. 

On the second floor of Colorado State University’s Morgan Library, there are hundreds of boxes and stacks of books all dedicated to just one topic — water.There’s a copy of the Colorado River Compact, the landmark document that governs how the seven states that make up the Colorado River basin allocate its water. There are letters regarding Elwood Mead — Lake Mead’s namesake — who developed the country’s first irrigation engineering class while a faculty member at CSU before going on to oversee the construction of the Hoover Dam.There are also documents that point to the destructive power of water, such as photographs of the damage from the 1997 Spring Creek flood, which put much of CSU’s campus under several feet of water and caused more than $140 million in damage to the campus.Each marks a moment in Colorado’s long and complicated water history. And it's all just a part of CSU’s Water Resources Archive.Created in 2001 as a joint effort of the University Libraries and the Colorado Water Center, the archive features historic documents related to Colorado's water resources. Patty Rettig has been the head archivist for the program since it began, building the collections that, at last count, totaled an estimated 3 million items — from maps and photos to meeting minutes and contracts.Rettig recently spoke on CSU’s The Audit podcast about her role and the importance of preserving the state’s water heritage.

Wearable health trackers monitor everything from how many steps we take in a day to how well we sleep at night. But does this technology actually encourage better health? Does hearing that little voice declare "exercise ring closed" actually motivate people to work out? That's the question Natalie Pennington decided to answer. An assistant professor of communication studies at Colorado State University, Pennington looks at interpersonal communication and the use of communication technology. Pennington spoke to CSU’s The Audit about her recent research on how motivating wearable health trackers really are, and the role technology can play in helping or harming our health.

Much has changed over the years since Colorado State University first partnered with the National Western Stock Show when it began in 1906. Over the decades, it's become not only about selling livestock, but about selling potential livestock. Thanks to genetics and the seedstock industry. For almost 50 years, the CSU Seedstock Merchandising Team has been part of that endeavor, working to breed bulls and heifers with specific genetic traits to create the best cattle possible. Sam Cunningham is an assistant professor of animal sciences and faculty advisor for the team. Cunningham recently spoke on CSU’s The Audit podcast about the increasing importance of genetics in the future of the livestock industry and the seedstock merchandizing team's role in that future. 

Since the COVID 19 pandemic began in 2020, same day/next day delivery — something that was previously considered more of a premium service — has become a normal and even expected way to shop. But what does our get-it-now method of online commerce mean for the supply chain, especially one that has been so precarious in the post-pandemic era?Zac Rogers is an associate professor of operations and supply chain management at Colorado State University’s College of Business. As the holiday shopping season approaches, Rogers spoke on CSU’s The Audit podcast about how this model of shipping became so ubiquitous, why brick-and-mortar stores will never go away and the surprising reason all those Amazon returns aren’t as bad as you might think.

It's an indelible moment that poses the question: Is democracy in danger? On Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. Inside, they roamed the historic halls, ransacking offices and searching for lawmakers. Outside, they were smashing news cameras. It was the height of a cycle of polarization and distrust in some of the strongest examples of democracy that we have, free and fair elections and free speech.Dominik Stecula is an assistant professor of political science at Colorado State University. His research focuses on the intersection of political communication, political behavior and science communication in the American media. Stecula recently spoke on CSU’s The Audit podcast about the changing way people look at the media and democracy.

After being found in violation of a 1940 water compact, Colorado has a deadline: retire 25,000 acres of irrigated land by 2029 or face the shutdown of thousands of wells, impacting hundreds of thousands of acres of land and their surrounding communities. Colorado Water Center Director John Tracy and Professor Jordan Suter spoke with The Audit about the complicated history of the Republican River Basin Compact and what could happen if the wells run dry.