Advertise on podcast: Science Straight Up

There are millions of tiny machines at work in our bodies, keeping our genes repaired when they break.  These machines--protein molecules--can be watched and monitored by science, thanks to imaging technology developed by Dr. T.J. Ha, who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in the 1990's. His research aims at understanding how exactly these proteins do their work and what happens when they break down, leading to diseases like cancer.  This could have enormous implications for treating childhood leukemia.  Telluride Science featured Dr. Ha in a talk at the Mountain Village Conference Center and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

"It takes a monster to kill a monster." So says Dr. Clodagh O'Shea of California's Salk Institute.  In her talk, sponsored by Telluride Science, she details the work her lab does to reprogram viruses to attack cancer cells while leaving normal cells untouched. Now in early human trials, this sort of treatment could revolutionize the way medicine deals with cancer.  O’Shea is a professor of molecular and cell biology at the Salk Institute, where she holds the Wicklow Chair. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of California San Diego. The session was held at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Centar and moderated by award-winning veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Dr. Philip Bevilacqua from Penn State University traces RNA’s origins in outer space to the primordial soup of early Earth to its starring role in today’s medical breakthroughs, offering a plain-language look at how this once-overlooked molecule is now powering CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) gene editing, an improved flu vaccine and the fight against diseases like Ebola.  He spoke at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center and veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis served as moderators.

Tau, a protein, normally supports brain cells’ internal structure; Dr. Lukasz Joachimiak, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, is focused on what happens when it does not. His lab uses computational and experimental methods to determine how and why tau gets tangled and forms the toxic aggregates found with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The hope is to come up with ways of detecting Alzheimer's and treating it early, before the destruction of brain cells is underway. His cutting-edge research uses A.I.-powered computer simulations to come up with synthetic molecules that might prove effective in fighting brain diseases.

How did the atoms in the universe come together to form life? Dr. Daivd Lacy, of the University of Buffalo says that at the heart of this mystery is the conversion of small molecules into the building blocks of life, Metals, such as iorn, cobalt and manganese, play an important part in this process. Dr. Lacy also explores the possibility of life on other planets and we answer a question from a young man in our audience who asks, "Are there flies on the Moon?"  Your hosts for Science Straight up are Emmy and Peabody-award-winning broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Water is far more than a refreshing drink — its unique molecular properties make life possible. By forming a dynamic network of weak chemical bonds, water acts as both a selective solvent and a kind of molecular lubricant, driving the assembly of cells and keeping the tiny protein machines inside them flexible and in constant motion. Understanding the role water plays in the generation of these vibrations is one of the great frontiers of modern science, with real-world implications for greener industrial chemistry and smarter, safer drug design.

Dr. Derek Posselt is a research scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and one of the participants in this year's science workshops sponsored by Telluride Science. He and his colleagues have been studying ways to modify the weather, using computer modeling and other advanced techniques to pursue an old idea, since humans have been trying to change the weather for over a century. He spoke about the ways people have tried to modify the weather, what has worked (and what hasn’t), and whether it is, in fact, a good idea to try in the first place. Dr. Posselt addressed a live audience at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center in Colorado and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.  If you have questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected]

The revolution in artificial intelligence is sucking up a lot of electrical power, something that's growing at an alarming rate.  Science may have a solution in a new generation of highly efficient computer chips that use materials other than silicon and depend on light, rather than electricity to process data, bringing down power demands.  Dr. Milan Delor, a chemist from Columbia University, spoke about the groundbreaking work his lab is doing in a "Town Talk" sponsored by Telluride Science. His presentation was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Quantum computing promises to supercharge scientific research with its ability to solve multiple problems all at once. It could lead to more rapid development of drugs and materials to improve the way we live. But first, there are some serious bugs that have to be overcome.  Dr. Kade Head-Marsden, a chemist at the University of Minnesota, who uses quantum computers to study molecules, lays it all out for us; what is quantum computing, how will it help us, what are the promises and pitfalls.  Her presentation, excerpted from a live talk sponsored by Telluride Science, was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Scientists, intensly focused on their own areas of research, don't usually stray out of their own lanes. So, Dr. Rohit Pappu, of Washington University in St. Louis, whose field is cellular and molecular biophysics and bioengineering, was surprised when asked to review a scientific publication about improving heart transplants. But when he began to read the article, he saw that a team of doctors at the Mayo Clinic, led by surgeon Paul Tang, had drawn on the basic research of his lab and others to save lives. Dr Pappu and Dr. Tang join us to tell this heartwarming tale about how studying little molecular communities within cells can lead to advances in medicine.  Veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis are our guides for this podcast.

A revolution in fabricating DNA into useful objects is underway and Dr. Guillermo Acuña of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland is right in the middle of it. In a talk sponsored by Telluride Science, he laid out a world of possibilities; tiny drug delivery devices, nano sensors to detect disease, tiny traps to catch cancer cells. His presentation, in Mountain Village, Colorado, was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis. Our sponsors are Alpine Bank and the Telluride Mountain Village Owners' Association.

Dr. Josh Schaidle is the Laboratory Program Manager for Carbon Management at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado. According to Schaidle, there are all sorts of untapped opportunities in above-ground carbon, found in biomass such as plants and trees and also in carbon dioxide emissions from factory smokestacks or in the air. During his presentation, Schaidle plans to describe the different ways we can access these carbon sources and convert troublesome greenhouse gases into the fuels and products that we use in our everyday lives. Veteran broadcast journalists George Lewis and Judy Muller are the hosts for this series of podcasts.

Movies tell stories – whether it’s a gritty historical drama or a teen vampire romance – there are few better ways to absorb content than by watching events unfold on the silver screen (or in the comfort of your home). Similarly, Steve Corcelli's molecular movies welcome viewers into a new world with cutting-edge visualizations that capture the motion of molecules in real time, allowing researchers to observe chemical and biological processes at the atomic level. Dr. Corcelli spoke at one of the "Town Talks" presented by Telluride Science and the session was moderated by veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis.

Dr. Natalia Shustova’s lab at the University of South Carolina works with metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs, molecules of metal ions and organic links. MOFs can be engineered with specific properties for a wide variety of applications – from building construction, clothing, and smartphone materials to pharmaceuticals and energy generation. Part of Dr. Shustova's work centers on nuclear waste management and she and her colleagues are exploring ways MOFs could be used in detecting and storing radioactive materials.  But wait, there's more!  And you'll hear all about it in this podcast moderated by veteran award-winning broadcast journalists George Lewis and Judy Muller.

Amid growing piles of plastic waste in our landfills and in our oceans, Dr. Michael McGuirk of the Colorado School of Mines and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is working on new methods to recycle plastics and turn them into useful products, from new plastics to fuels to polymers that can capture CO2 from the atmosphere and help ease global climate change.  His optimism about his research is tempered by the fact that he's worried by the current cutbacks in government research funds. His talk was recorded before a live audience at the Telluride Mountain Village Conference Center with veteran journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis moderating.