PODCAST · science
KGNU - How On Earth
by KGNU - How On Earth
How On Earth is a 25-minute news magazine about science, environment, technology, and more. The show is produced by volunteers at KGNU community radio in the Boulder-Denver area. We collect fascinating science headlines from around the world, produce features about the exciting research being done in our region, and interview the many accomplished scientists that make Colorado their home. How On Earth is also broadcast live at 8:35am (Mountain Time) every Tuesday morning in the Boulder-Denver area on KGNU: 88.5 FM / 1390 AM / Streaming on KGNU.org
Episodes
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Regenerating Cartilage to Heal Osteoarthritis (Achy Knees) CU-Boulder Stephanie Bryant
One million Americans get knee replacements every year, for a cost of up to $70,000 per knee, plus a year-long recovery. CU-Boulder scientist Stephanie Bryant leads a team that’s developing a single-shot hydrosol that helps the body regenerate cartilage in the knee, so it can heal in just a few...
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Replaceable You: The Science of Growing Body Parts
The Quest to Replace Human Body Parts (start time: 3:06) In this week’s pledge-drive show, science writer Mary Roach discusses her latest book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, which was recently released in paperback (W.W. Norton & Co.). Roach is a New York Times bestselling author…
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Youth+Adult Climate Engagement
From Climate Week to Societal Climate Engagement (start time: 1:22) Last week tens of thousands of people from environmental nonprofit organizations, private companies, academia and other sectors came together in New York City for Climate Week NYC, which coincided with the United Nations General...
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Symbiosis – Maybe We Are All Living Together
In this week’s show, Beth speaks with author and evolutionary biologist, Rowan Hooper, discussing the themes and examples of symbiosis from his current book, Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life’s Greatest Collaborations. He explored the history of study of symbiosis, as well as...
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Measuring War: Aaron Clauset
CU Boulder Computer Scientist Aaron Clauset says military leaders frequently underestimate the ultimate length and size of a war. Clauset offers a new way to measure wars, not just by counting deaths at a war’s end – his research shows how death rates change, throughout a war. This provides...
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How Megafires are Transforming Conifer Forests
Forests Vanishing in Wake of Megafires (start time: 7:55) Increasingly large and hot wildfires are turning many conifer-dominated forests in the western U.S.and Canada into shrublands or grasslands, largely by making it impossible for ponderosa and other pines to reseed themselves. The stakes are...
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Screens & Tech Safety . . . in Schools
Teaching through screens is part of getting kids ready for the digital world. But when do tech and screens help students and when do they get in the way? CU-Boulder Journalism Student Juliana Krigsman explores these questions with teachers, with Boulder Valley School District’s Academic Services...
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Moving Beyond Climate “Hushing”
Climate “hushing” (start time: 5:41) Since President Trump began his second term as president in January, 2025, his administration, at a dizzying pace, has attacked climate change as a Democratic elite “hoax” and gutted federal funding for climate-related research and institutions. Partly in...
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Take a Pause – With Jillian
In her new book, The Power of the Pause: 90 Seconds to Calm, Reset, and Reconnect, Jillian Pransky teaches readers how a brief 90-second break can help regulate the nervous system and stop automatic, reactive habits. Today, we get into some of the science underlying the utility of the pause, but...
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Operation Music – Why or Why Not?
A heart attack forced Boulder community leader and journalist Sam Fuqua to need emergency care. While being wheeled into the operating room, Sam hoped to soothe his anxiety by hearing some favorite music. His hope had scientific merit. Studies like this indicate that surgery patients who get to...
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Colorado River // Ghostbots
Colorado River Water (starts 1:00) Steep cuts are ahead in the use of Colorado River water by Arizona and California. But what about Colorado? For answers, we talk with CU-Boulder’s Doug Kenney, water law expert and chair of the Colorado River Project. Ghostbots (starts ) AI apps offer to help...
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Just What is Wilderness?
What is a wilderness, really? Here in the US we think of it as undeveloped land, put aside to appreciate its beauty and remoteness. In other lands and cultures, wilderness is a powerful, ancient concept, at the intersection of landscape, philosophy, and ecology. For thousands of years, people…
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Eat Your Garden!
Gardens are popping up everywhere, from community plots to elementary school yards to vertical plantings. A unique approach proposed by award winning British landscaper, Harry Holding, is integrating the edible aspect of vegetable gardens with the esthetic side of flower, bush and tree…
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Plastics: Health Risks & Solutions
Microplastics: Health Concerns, Solutions (start time: 6:02) The Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a new rule related to monitoring 30 unregulated chemicals in drinking water that could pose human health risks. While the list includes pesticides and so-called “forever” substances…
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Poking the Squid – What We Can Learn from Animal Sex
Poking the Squid – Good Reads calls author and illustrator Perrin Roosevelt Ireland’s new book a brilliantly funny, beautifully illustrated graphic nonfiction book that shatters our puritanical and binary notions of nature.. Hosts/Producers/Engineers: Shelley Schlender, Joel Parker Executive...
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Childrearing Tips (and Cautionary Tales) From the Animal Kingdom
Parenting Across the Animal Kingdom (start time: 5:02) As humans, we tend to think that we raise our children with more care than any other animal on the planet. After all, human kids depend on their parents on average for much longer than do those of any other species. But are we really so…
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Kyle Datta – Energy Security, War & Renewable Energy
Global conflicts are revealing vulnerabilities in the global reliance on imported fossil fuels and centralized power. Energy Analyst Kyle Datta says energy security needs may speed the adoption of renewables and “as a side effect,” reduce the rise of global warming. For Datta’s full speech, which...
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Hidden Nations of Animals
Complex Animal Networks (start time: 7:17) As humans, we’re all familiar with, as we live in and are members of, nations. But most of us don’t think of non-human species, be they tiny ants or beavers or bears, in this context. But Ryan Huling does, and he hopes you will, too. In this week’s How …...
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Climate Change: Perils and Progress
Climate Change & Action: From the Arctic to Colorado (start time: 2:33) Twenty years ago the Academy-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth was released in theaters nationwide. It sparked millions of people to ask themselves, How can I wake up and do something to help solve, not just…
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Silent Sky // Gold Lab Symposium
Protest It, Respect It, Defend It, Use It (starts 1:00) Friday at Denver Patagonia and Saturday at Boulder Patagonia environmental activists Annie Leonard and André Carothers discuss their new book Silent Sky (starts 2:00) Viva Theater celebrates the unsung heroism of female astronomer Henrietta...
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A Longer Healthier Life
On this week’s How on Earth, Beth speaks with author, psychologist, and aging explorer Alan Carpenter to discuss the paradigm shift on aging he espouses. Following a life changing accident, he turned his life around by diving into the science of healthy aging. In his book, Choose Better, Live...
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The Loneliness Epidemic – CSU Researcher Natalie Pennington
The Loneliness Epidemic – Social media fuels extra risk. Especially vulnerable are people undergoing transitions . . . such as college students, who today share what can lead loneliness and how to heal from it. CU-Boulder senior Lorraine Healey also talks with Colorado State University…
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Forest as Superorganism: What it means to Clearcut.
On this week’s How on Earth, Beth speaks with Suzanne Simard, professor and researcher at the University of British Columbia, about her book, WHEN THE FOREST BREATHES, both a call to action, and a journey into the heart of British Columbia’s old growth forests and the indigenous communities that...
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Buy Now Pay Later – Enticement or Addiction?
Buy Now Pay Later – is this lending service simply enticing, or is it addictive? For the GenZ 20 somethings that are its biggest users, is Buy Now Pay Later a danger or a deal? CU Boulder student and Howonearth volunteer Juliana Krigsman speaks with students about this, plus Adam Brown – director...
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Women’s Health Pt. III: Menopause & the Brain
The Brain on Menopause (start time: 01:24) In this week’s show, we offer the finale of our three-part series on menopause and women’s health. We focus on a most precious organ: the brain. And we discuss how hormones such as estrogen and cortisol affect brain health; on how experiencing stress...
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A Brain Circuit That Switches Acute to Chronic Pain
On this week’s How on Earth, Beth talks with neuroscientist and chronic pain researcher Jayson Ball. He recently completed a study of a novel brain circuit involved in generating chronic pain. Since finishing his graduate studies at CU Boulder, he has moved to Neuralink, a biotech start up…
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Conserving Imperiled Prairie Dogs, Raptors & Their Grasslands
Preserving prairie dog+raptor ecosystem (start time: 5:03) Spring has just begun, even if winter hardly visited Colorado. On the plains, prairie dog colonies seem to be in full swing. However, populations of these keystone species have plummeted, as the grasslands they and raptor predators rely…
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Pollinator Power & Precarity
The Power of Precarity of Pollinators (start time: 8:01) This extremely warm winter in Colorado has delivered early spring blooms, and thus early appearances of some pollinators. In this week’s show we explore the world of pollinators, such as such as butterflies, bees, moths, hummingbirds and...
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The Scale of the Universe
How big is the universe – not just in the scale of distance but also the scale of time? What do those…astronomical…scales mean about us humans on Earth and how can we understand and measure such vast expanses? In this episode, our guest, astronomer and author Dr. Jeff Bennett, helps us wrap our...
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Winter Recreation in a Warmer World
On this week’s How on Earth, we hear from a climate scientist about the implications of our changing weather patterns for winter recreation. It’s a warm, dry winter, throughout the Rocky Mountain West and elsewhere in the country, the weather has been a mixed bag. Dr. Elizabeth Burakowski, a...
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What do Grasslands Have to do with Climate Change?
We hear an interview aired by our sister community radio station’s, Science MOAB. Ecologist Brooke Osborne talks about how dryland ecosystems – such as the grasslands east of Boulder – influence the whole planet. Dryands cover 40% of the earth; they support a third of the planet’s humans, and…
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Women’s Health Pt. II: Heart Health
Truths & Tips About Women’s Heart Health (start time: 7:33) February is American Hearth Month, a nationwide observation spotlighting cardiovascular disease, and a call for all of us to take care of our hearts. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the country, for both men and women, and...
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Women’s Health Pt. I: Menopause, etc.
New Rules of Women’s Health (start time: 6:26) If you’re female, you may have come of age reading the landmark feminist health book Our Bodies, Ourselves. Originally published in the 1970s, it yielded several revised editions up to 2011. Well, get ready for an even more comprehensive tome. It’s...
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Hepatitis B Vaccination: Just the Facts
On today’s science show we hear from vaccine researchers Rochelle Walensky and Angela Ulrich, and physician/scientist Peyton Thompson, about the safety and efficacy of the hepatitis B vaccine. This is one of 6 that have been removed from the list of recommended childhood vaccines by the CDC.…
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Water Your Winter Trees
Water your trees! This warm, dry winter means urban trees need extra water to stay healthy. City of Boulder foresters Patrick LaPhilliph and Andrew Holt, and City of Longmont forester Brett Stadsvold share how and why the cities waters trees once a month during dry winter months, how citizens can...
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Improving Law Enforcement Behavior through Artificial Intelligence
We speak with experts about how artificial intelligence combined with Police Body Camera footage improved professionalism in the Aurora Colorado Police Department. Guests include Anthony Tassone, CEO of Truleo and Ian Adams, Criminologist at the University of South Carolina and co-author of a new...
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Colorado’s Wildlife Action Plan, etc.: Pt. II
Protecting Wolves, ferrets, prairie dogs, vultures, etc. (start time: 3:39) How effective are Colorado’s efforts to preserve vulnerable species – wolves, black-footed ferrets, bears, prairie dogs and others? And what ingredients make it possible, including throughout the U.S. and the world, for...
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Colorado’s Wildlife Action plan: Pt. I
Wolves, bears, prairie dogs and more (start time: 7:12) A couple of months ago, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife agency released a plan to support biodiversity and guide how the state conserves some of the state’s most vulnerable species and habitats. Everything from iconic bears, wolves and…
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Coral: Past, Present, Future
In this week’s show Beth speaks with science writer, educator, and scientist Dr. Lisa Gardiner about her recent book Reefs of Time: What Fossils Reveal about Coral Survival. Lisa studied the fossil remains of ancient coral reefs, which also suffered from environmental challenges. In our...
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Wind: It’s Past & Future
The Force of Wind (start time: 7:10) For those living here on Colorado’s Front Range, you’ve likely had close encounters with wind — whether you’ve witnessed in fear branches snapping off trees in a windstorm, or simply looked up to marvel at the UFO-like lenticular cloud formations created by…
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World Domination…by Slime Molds?
On today’s show, Beth speaks with award-winning science writer Jennifer Frazer about her upcoming book: The Slime Mold’s Guide to World Domination: A Natural Mystery. The book is a funny natural history of slime molds that’s also a mystery that asks: how can a giant crawling cell possibly be...
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Critical Earth Minerals Hiding in Plain Sight – Elizabeth Holley
Critical Earth Minerals Hiding in Plain Site – Colorado School of Mines professor Elizabeth Holley shares how the US could break its dependency on critical earth mineral imports, and lead the world in environmentally safe ways to do it. Show Producer/Host/Engineer: Shelley Schlender Executive...
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Better Steam//CU-Boulder at World Climate Conference
Great Steam . . . from a Heat Pump (starts 1:00) Time Magazine named CSU Engineer Todd Bandhauer one of 2025’s top climate innovators. His heat pump makes steam better than fossil fuel steam boilers. Interview thanks to Rocky Mountain Community Radio and Aspen Public Radio. CU-Boulder at COP30...
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Megadroughts Could Cause World Wide Dustbowls — CSU Melinda Smith Explains
Dustbowl Days Today (starts 5:00) Colorado State University grasslands scientist Melinda Smith explains the study she conducted with the grassroots help of nearly 200 scientists around the world. Their research indicates grasslands are vulnerable to Megadroughts, which climate change is making…
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Winter is Coming: Why Leaves Fall
The physiology of deciduous trees (start time: 11:09) For many people living in places with four distinct seasons, such as here in Colorado, a favorite pastime at this midpoint in autumn is watching the faded leaves fall from their branches, and listening to the crackling sound while raking up…
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Peak Performance: Revisiting a Classic
Five years ago, Beth spoke with Dr Marc Bubbs about his best-selling hardcover book, PEAK: THE NEW SCIENCE OF ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE. Since then, Bubbs has been on the leading edge of new developments in the physiology and psychology of athletic performance. Bubbs helps athletes and other clients…
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Into The Unknown (Part 2)
Into The Unknown (starts at 9:05) What do we know about the universe, and how do we know we know it? Conversely, what do we know we don’t know, what don’t we know that we don’t know, and why not? To help us unravel these age-old philosophical questions in the context of current science, our …...
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Into The Unknown (Part 1)
Into The Unknown (starts at 7:57) What do we know about the universe, and how do we know we know it? Conversely, what do we know we don’t know, what don’t we know that we don’t know, and why not? To help us unravel these age-old philosophical questions in the context of current science, our …...
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Autumn Insects and their Songs
Science & Songs of Katydids, Cicadas, etc. (start time: 3:08) It’s the time of year to savor listening each night to the pulsating and clicking sounds of katydids, cicadas, crickets and other straight-winged insects, all crying out for a mate. Soon, with the first big frost, the songs, along with...
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From Habitat Loss to Repairing Connectivity
Helping Wild Animals Roam (start time: 3:29) Wild animals, whether buffalos or bats, need space to move around–not just to survive, but to forage, reproduce, migrate, and generally thrive as a species. But it’s getting increasingly difficult for so many species to do this, thanks to humans…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
How On Earth is a 25-minute news magazine about science, environment, technology, and more. The show is produced by volunteers at KGNU community radio in the Boulder-Denver area. We collect fascinating science headlines from around the world, produce features about the exciting research being done in our region, and interview the many accomplished scientists that make Colorado their home. How On Earth is also broadcast live at 8:35am (Mountain Time) every Tuesday morning in the Boulder-Denver area on KGNU: 88.5 FM / 1390 AM / Streaming on KGNU.org
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KGNU - How On Earth
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does KGNU - How On Earth have?
KGNU - How On Earth currently has 787 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is KGNU - How On Earth about?
How On Earth is a 25-minute news magazine about science, environment, technology, and more. The show is produced by volunteers at KGNU community radio in the Boulder-Denver area. We collect fascinating science headlines from around the world, produce features about the exciting research being done...
How often does KGNU - How On Earth release new episodes?
KGNU - How On Earth releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 787 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
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You can listen to KGNU - How On Earth on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts KGNU - How On Earth?
KGNU - How On Earth is created and hosted by KGNU - How On Earth.
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