In conjunction with Telluride Science, "Science Straight Up" delves into how science impacts our everyday lives. Your hosts, veteran broadcast journalists Judy Muller and George Lewis talk to leading scientists and engineers from around the world.
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"The Tiny Molecules That Keep us Alive"--Dr. T.J. Ha, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard University
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…
"When the Cure is a Virus: Reprogramming a Killer to Fight Cancer"--Dr. Clodagh O'Shea
"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…
Breakthroughs in RNA Science: From Pond Scum to Life-Saving Medicine--Dr. Philip Bevilacqua, Penn State University
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…
Tau: Untangling Early Alzheimer's Detection--Dr. Lukasz Joachimiak
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…
Small Molecule Activation at the Origins of Life--Dr. David Lacy, University of Buffalo
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…
"Good Vibrations: Water, Proteins and the Molecular Motions that Make Life Possible"
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…
Can We Change the Weather (and do we really want to?) Derek Posselt, Jet Propulsion Lab
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…
"Trees in the City: Cooling, Carbon and the Complications"
Dr. Lucy Hutyra admits she's "a total tree-hugger." She's the Chair of the Department of Earth and Environment at Boston University, and a MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. She and her BU colleagues study the impact of trees on urban environments, particularly their effects on carbon dioxide levels and heat. While trees can reduce heat and CO2 levels, complications arise because urban trees tend…
"Shape up Those Proteins--The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Amyloids"--Dr. Ann McDermott, Columbia University
Proteins are the building blocks of life. Our bodies make about 25-thousand of them. Dr Ann McDermott, a biophysicist from Columbia University, studies the shapes of perteins as they clump into structures called amyloids. Sometimes these amyloids stick to one another, forming amyloid plaques that can lead to diseases like Alzheimer's. But Dr. McDermott and her colleagues are also looking at good…
"What if the Future of Computing Isn't Silicon?"--Dr. Milan Delor, Columbia University
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…
