Science Questions

Today on Science Questions, we begin a two-part series titled, "In the state of Mental Breakdown" discussing the overhaul of the Valley Mental Health system.

Valley mental health has been the major, and almost only mental health provider across the Wasatch Front for the past two decades, and is now under a revamp. Sheri Quinn and Suzi Montgomery talk to doctors and patients to find out how this affects the care given to those who need it.

Science Questions profiles the oil and gas industry, particularly the technique called horizontal hydraulic fracturing. It's like a modern-day gold rush and it is breaking new ground in pockets all over the nation bringing jobs and money to the towns near you.

Get ready for a live Science Questions, when Sheri Quinn learns all about the end of the world from astronomer Phil Plait. Will a coronal mass ejection and solar flares knock out half the Earth's power and leave millions in the cold? Will a huge asteroid strike the Earth and send us the way of the dinosaurs? Perhaps our planet will be sucked into a giant black hole. Scariest of all could be supernovae close enough to cause mass extinction.

SQ Radio introduces us to the brand new Molecular Biotechnology Lab on the University of Utah campus, where interdisciplinary research teams will collaborate to advance big areas in science like nanotechnology, renewable energy, early disease detection, and geochemistry.

Then they profile a USTAR - USU Energy Dynamics Lab project called Intuitive Building, where engineers are developing software and devices that essentially decode an office room scene in order to light it based on the occupants' daily patterns and preferences. The wave of the future!

Science questions reveals new research on the effects of environmental toxins and autism and the legal and ethical implications of human diseases caused by environmental exposures. 

The clown, the hero, the fool, the sacred one...the coyote plays a number of roles including the most abundant predator in North America. Tracking the coyote takes us on a thorny trail filled with political, ethical and environmental strife that forces us to confront the human struggle for power over nature. Science Questions presents this controversial canine and its perseverance in the West.

Science Questions takes a comprehensive look at what's called the "Paleo Diet", a way of eating that mimics diets of our hunter-gatherer ancestors: lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts.

Science Questions explores stem cell therapy and its potential to transform the treatment of human disease.  Adult stem cells have been used to treat leukemia since the late 1950s. Among early attempts to do this were several bone marrow transplants conducted in France following a radiation accident. Since physicians could not isolate stem cells at that time, they transfused bone marrow with stem cells in it.  The research has come a long way and now researchers at the University of Utah are among the first in the nation to lead clinical trials on the injection of stem cells into human hearts.

Though the field of Epigenetics was conceived in the era of platforms and poly-leisure suits, it has received sparse media attention. And now, scientists are realizing it has the potential to explain A LOT about human disease and evolution particularly, the grey areas where genetics seems to fall short.

Michael Skinner, Professor of Biological Sciences at Washington State University and director of the Center for Reproductive Biology, and Professor Randy Jirtle, director of the Epigenetics and Imprinting Laboratory at Duke University are forging new territory in science with their leading work in the field of epigenetics. 

Science Questions presents Part II of the series we started last week about Epigenetics: The New Frontier in Science and Medicine. Today's episode explores current research on the origins of mental illness through the lens of epigenetic science.