Science Questions

On today’s program, we  look at the first installment of a series featuring artists and engineers from across the nation. Gabriel Hugh Elkaim, an associate professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, joins us to discuss robotics. He developed one of the first robotic lawn mowers and in college, designed a winged, robotic catamaran. This design is used as a model for other robotic boats.  

Archeological data suggests the Aché Indians lived and hunted throughout the Atlantic rainforest in Paraguay for thousands of years. Now they are cornered near a shrinking region of the endangered forest, rich in biodiversity and hosts several species threatened with extinction. One Salt Lake resident worked with the tribe. His book tells the story of a fictional band of Aché forced to deal with the diminishing forest in "The Shrinking Jungle." 

Today on the program Sheri Quinn talks to paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Carpenter about recent advances in the study of dinosaurs and why Utah is one of the best places on earth to study them.  

At 9:30 science questions explores the era after the extinction of the dinosaurs, the Eocene, where mammals ruled the planet.

There isn't anyone in the U.S. who isn't a downwinder. In collaboration with local artists, Utah state history, and City Academy Charter School, Higher Ground Learning, a creative learning center for youth and 5 teenagers, explored nuclear testing, power and waste from their classroom and from their camp-out in the Utah West Desert, one of the areas hardest hit by the nuclear fall-out.

    The amazing recordist Chris Watson, from Britain, takes us on a sound journey to  Antarctica, where he encounters some of the rarest sounds on Earth.  At 9:30, we visit the Pope's summer home in Italy, to hear about astronomy. 

A new Utah State University study reveals which traits allow wolves to reproduce successfully. Science Questions producer Elaine Taylor speaks with Professor Dan MacNulty, whose findings were published this month in the Online Journal of Animal Ecology.

Science Questions profiles leading scientists in Utah’s pharmaceutical industry.  It is a risky business that pays off well when a drug makes it to market but the chances of getting there are slim. 

Science Questions presents current wolf policies across the west and the new book called "Wolfer," a memoir about one man's experience trapping and hunting wolves for the federal government and how it changed his life's direction.   

Science Questions guides you through the steps to launch a rocket into outer space with the private aerospace company ATK based in northern Utah.  Then,  Science Questions presents current satellite research and a student driven project in space that was developed at USU's Space Dynamics Lab. 

Science questions explores science education through the innovative lens of a Native American scientist named Ed Galindo.  He is infamous for landing his student's high school science project on the international space station.