May
11
It’s springtime and Distillations has babies on the brain. But we’re not oohing and aahing over these babes – we’re onto the games of the little parasites. First, Sabiha Khan shares the history of the breast vs. bottle debate. Did you know that the guy who first came up with infant formula is the same guy who “invented” marmite?! (More on that in our next show.) Then Audrey Quinn explains the many pregnancy hormones that can wreak havoc on a mother’s body, and the one that makes it all worthwhile.
Image of my little parasite at one month.
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Apr
27
Just looking at this picture makes my lungs seize up; I am SO allergic to cats. On this episode of Distillations, we examine the science of allergies. First we look at the development of hypoallergenic pets. Then producer Gretchen Kuda Croen visits the first ever dust library – a collection of individual dust particles that could help health experts determine what components in the air are likely to make us sick.
Image courtesy of Flickr user admiller.
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Apr
13
On this episode of Distillations, we examine asbestos. Once heralded as an ideal building material — light, cheap, and heat resistant — asbestos is now recognized as a major health hazard. Remediating asbestos-laden buildings is a time consuming and costly venture, so thousands of buildings sit vacant in abandoned lots throughout the country. Bob Kenworthy tells us about one of these waste sites in Ambler, PA. Then producer Larkin Page-Jacobs brings us to Pittsburgh, PA, where an architectural wonder of a school building sits crumbling.
Image courtesy of Wikimedia.
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Mar
30
On this episode of Distillations, we tackle Mass Spectrometry – a technology that’s hard to explain and even harder to say. (Go ahead, try it!) First we learn about some of its modern uses – like newborn genetic screening and testing for steroids. Then we dip into the CHF oral history archives to hear a portion of an interview with mass spec pioneer Alfred Nier – who worked on the instrument during the Manhattan Project and beyond. And if you still haven’t gotten your fill of mass spec, visit CHF’s new online exhibit.
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Mar
16
Before there was Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye the Science Guy, there was the Fairyland of Chemistry - a late-19th century children’s book in which fairies (as the elements) dance around and join hands to make hydrochloric acid and other compounds. On this episode of Distillations we explain how educators used these fairy tale images to teach chemistry. And we present our first ever podcast play – a dramatic reading of part of the book.
Image from Real Fairy Folks: Explorations in the World of Atoms, by Lucy Rider Meyer, 1887. Courtesy of CHF’s collections.
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Mar
2
This episode of Distillations is about the early days of genetic modification. When gene manipulation first became popular in the 1940′s it was seen as a great new fad; a way to speed up evolution. People even grew atomic gardens using radioactive seeds. We interview a Yale PhD student about her research on this. Then, when Harry Truman announced major funding for the hydrogen bomb in 1950, people started to get a little nervous. Hollywood played out the worst case scenarios in a slew of monster movies. We celebrate those sci-fi classics in the second half of the show.
While researching this episode, I found this video produced by GE in 1952. I’ll give you a dollar if you can find the clip I snuck into the show. 
Image courtesy of Flickr user Marxchivist.
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Feb
17
The latest episode of Distillations is about how the natural world responds to and recovers from major disasters. First, a segment on ecological succession – how plants and animals repopulate an area after it’s been devastated by a major disaster – in this case, a hurricane. Then an interview with Haverford College chemistry professor Helen White about how the Gulf of Mexico is faring since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
I’m a little frightened that this is the second disaster-related piece I’ve produced recently. Late last year I reported this piece about what emergency responders can learn from jazz improvisors when responding to major disasters.
Image courtesy of Flickr user EPI2oh.
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Feb
3
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here’s the latest episode of Distillations. First, a chemical exploration of spit. (We produce 2-4 PINTS of it every day!!) Then, an interview with Sheril Kirshenbaum, author of The Science of Kissing. For me, her book is right up there with Mary Roach’s Bonk – good scientific fun.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Scented Mirror.
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Jan
20
Dedicated to my sports-crazed husband. J-E-T-S! (maybe next year)
From the Distillations website:
Whether it’s football season, baseball season, or basketball season, one thing is constant: a good chunk of the population has sports on the brain. On today’s episode of Distillations we explore why this is the case. First, producer Lindsay Patterson follows a high school basketball team to learn about the role chemistry plays in winning a big game. Then we check in with the fans at home, learning what happens in your brain when you’re cheering on your favorite team. One word: Dopamine! (Thanks to Ric Seaberg for the great song.)
Image courtesy of Flickr user seantoyer.
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Jan
6
The latest Distillations is all about the genome. This from the Distillations website:
“Each of us is made of more than 20,000 genes that determine everything from our tendency towards baldness to our likelihood to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. On today’s episode of Distillations we look at how researchers have sought to identify our individual genomes and how they can be interpreted. First, we learn how advances in DNA sequencing technology are increasing the likelihood that soon we will all have our genomes mapped. Then we talk to an expert in personalized medicine about the pros and cons of having such sensitive information available.”
Image courtesy of Flickr user skreck.
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Jan
4
I reported this piece over the summer and it’s finally out in the world! It’s about an RPI engineer who studied how jazz music can help teach first responders to improvise better under pressure.
It was produced for IEEE Spectrum Radio in collaboration with the NSF, and was mixed (beautifully) by Dennis Foley. You can listen to the complete one-hour show on PRX here (we’re at minute 40) or you can listen to my standalone piece below.
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Dec
23
It’s official – reporting on alcohol has become a Distillations holiday tradition. In 2007 we covered champagne. In 2010 it was beer. And this year, the hard stuff. First, producer Catherine Girardeau visits St. George Spirits in Alameda, California, where master distillers concoct tasty artisan spirits. Catherine also visits one of my favorite Bay Area spots – the Exploratorium – for a distillation demonstration. Then, a segment about the morning after – a study of the hangover. Pickled sheep eyes in tomato juice, anyone?
Photo of Buddha’s Hand Citron Vodka by Erin Hall, courtesy of St. George Spirits.
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Dec
9
On this episode of Distillations, it’s a symphony of science. First, our assistant producer Anne Fredrickson reveals one of the secrets of Stradivari violins’ phenomenal sound. Then, a profile of sound artist Susan Alexjander, who uses vibrational frequencies from the natural world – from DNA to planetary spins – to create her music. I produced that one, my first non-narrated piece in awhile.
Image courtesy of the Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, Othmer Library of Chemical History, Chemical Heritage Foundation.
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Nov
25
Attention all shoppers, this episode of Distillations is all about what happens to you chemically when you hit the mall. First, producer Sheri Quinn has the story of her mom, a shopoholic. She interviewed my good friend Mauricio Delgado, a neuroscientist at Rutgers, Newark, about what happens in your brain when you shop. Then, Lindsay Patterson explains the dangers hiding in… receipts?
Image courtesy of Flickr user kevinspencer.
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Nov
11
In this latest episode of Distillations, we ask the age-old question: are we alone in the universe? First, a segment about how two famous cosmologists battled it out over the Big Bang. Then, producer Andrew Stelzer visits the SETI Institute to learn about the search for extra terrestrial life, and, once we find it, how we’ll go about making conversation. If you’re a space nerd like me, you’ll love hearing the Arecibo message. It’s like an intergalactic techno song. So cool.
Image courtesy of NASA.
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Oct
28
I’ve been looking for an excuse to visit Hyde Park’s CIA since I moved to the Hudson Valley, and I finally found one. On this Halloween episode of Distillations, I learn to make candy corn with the Culinary Institute’s Peter Greweling. Plus, I find an excuse to call my friend Iris – a Dutch expat now living in Alaska – to interview her about a Dutch treat I can only describe as… inedible. But she LOVES it. We have a segment on what Drop, or salt licorice, is made of. Here’s a hint: one of the ingredients can also be found in fertilizer.
Image courtesy of flickr user Juushika Redgrave.
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Oct
14
My upstate NY garden is offering up the last of its bounty for the season – a few green beans, the final tomatoes, some late-season lettuces. And in this week’s episode of Distillations, we celebrate the end of the fall harvest. First, a segment on the Doomsday Vault, a safe-deposit box for plant seeds – buried deep in a mountain in the middle of the Arctic. Then, producer Sabiha Khan has the story of Miguel Santistevan, who uses the farming techniques of his ancestors to grow crops in the harsh high desert of Northern New Mexico.
Image courtesy of Mary Tefre/Svalbard Globale Seed Vault.
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Oct
6
I have done dozens of tape syncs as a freelancer and I rarely get to hear how the tape I gather gets used. But this time was different. My friend and fellow j-school graduate Tamara Keith needed sound from Schoharie, NY, a city that was hit hard by Hurricane Irene. So I drove up there and met Harold Vroman and Alicia Terry, held the mic while Tamara interviewed them over the phone from DC, and then had them show me around town. I sent the tape to Tamara from the parking lot of the Schoharie Free Library, and she wrote this story.
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Sep
30
We love to talk about history on Distillations and on today’s show we go way back to the Jurassic Era.
First, a look at how some recent fossilized finds have strengthened the link between birds and dinosaurs. Then, producer Lindsay Patterson talks to paleontologist Jack Horner and others about why triceratops may follow brontosaurus out of the pre-history books.
Plus, the catchiest dinosaur rap I’ve ever heard. ROAR!
I dedicate this show to my dino-obsessed three-year-old, who probably could have fact-checked this entire show.
Image courtesy of Flickr user InfoMofo.
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Sep
16
This is the fourth and final episode of Distillations’ series Our Chemical Landscape – a look at how science has shaped each of these four areas: the city, the suburb, the farm, and today, the wild. In this sound-rich show, we look at how animals use chemistry to communicate.
From the Distillations website:
First we learn about the firefly singles’ scene. And next, producer Diane Hope explores the clever ways residents of the Sonoran Desert interact while hiding from the harsh world around them.
Image courtesy of Flickr user kangotraveler.
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Sep
2
Back in Distillations episode #88 we explored the sense of smell. In this show, we take on another sense – TASTE. First, producer Audrey Quinn examines the ubiquitous and wildly inaccurate tongue map. Then, Andrew Stelzer talks to the man who put Stevia—a sweetener 300 times sweeter than sugar—on the market.
Image courtesy of Flickr user Mike Burns.
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Aug
19
This is part three of Distillations‘ four-part series Our Chemical Landscape. In this episode we head out to farm country to learn how crop production has evolved in response to exploding global population growth. First we learn about the gruesome pursuit of guano—a powerful natural fertilizer—in the 19th century. And next, producer Julia Botero visits a Louisiana farm to investigate the impact of the EU’s ban on genetically modified crops.
Image courtesy of Flickr user chefranden.
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