Press "Enter" to skip to content

Locally Sourced Science

LSS 59: Fun with the Fungi

The fungi edition features Luisa Torres interview with Dr. Teresa Iturriaga and Robert Dirig of Cornell Plant Pathology Herbarium. They discussed the collection of preserved fungi samples, photos of mushrooms and lichens and pathologic specimen. This organization has been at Cornell University since the 1800s.

If anyone is interested in checking out the collection of specimen the herbarium is open by appointment only. Prior to your visit contact Teresa Iturriaga at cup-herbarium@cornell.edu.


In the short segment, we learn about how baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is able to survive under stress conditions and how these same survival mechanisms are being utilized in other microbes pathogens.

Vandana Raghavan: Ph.D. Candidate on the brink of defending her thesis


Eric Alani: Cornell University Professor

Contributors: Luisa Torres  | Esther Racoosin | Liz Mahood | Candice Limper | Cecil Barnett-Neefs

Producer: Cecil Barnett-Neefs

Music: Show Theme by Joe Lewis and Cece Giannotti. “Funky Energy Loop” Kevin MacLeod (freepd.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 1.0 License

LSS 58: Earth Day Edition: Soil science, Energy Day at Cornell and a short history of Climate science.

The Earth Day edition features Candice Limper’s interview with Soil scientist Joseph Amsili.  They discuss the living things that benefit soil’s health and how paying greater attention to the quality of soils can benefit the planet. Amsili is an extension associate in the Soil and Crop sciences section at Cornell University.  Joe will be making a presentation at the upcoming workshop on Climate Wise Gardening.

Joseph Amsili holding an alfalfa plant
Joseph Amsili holding an Alfalfa plant

In the second half of the show LSS’s Liz Mahood presents a short history of Climate science.  A list of references is below:

Esther Racoosin visits a poster session at Cornell’s Energy Day, hosted by Cornell Energy Systems Institute and the Cornell Energy Systems Club.

Zach Lee presents his poster

Contributors:  Candice Limper | Liz Mahood | Esther Racoosin | Patricia Waldron

Producer:  Esther Racoosin

Music:  Show Theme by Joe Lewis and Cece Giannotti. Episode includes pieces “Inamorata” and “Idle Ways” from Blu Dot Sessions.

LSS 57: Women in STEM, Science and Health Communication, Nobel Prizes

The last show of March brings in discussions about the numerous gender-based obstacles that impede research and career advancement for women in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) and how men can be better allies to women in the sciences; the most recent Nobel prize winner in physics; breast cancer screening overuse, and our science event calendar.

As always the science is local, fresh, and yours to enjoy.

The main interview takes us on location to D.C. for the annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting held in February. The first segment is with Christine O’Connell, a Cornell alumna, who was the founding Associate Director at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University where she helped create and build the Center and its curriculum to international acclaim. O’Connell is currently an assistant professor of communicating science at Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism.

The second segment is with Bruce Lewenstein, professor and chair of science and technology studies in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of communication in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell.

In the short history piece we learn about Donna Strickland, whose doctoral studies at the University of Rochester were recognized with a Nobel Prize in 2018. The prize was awarded for the development of techniques to make ultra-short, ultra-intense laser pulses. This plays a role in anything that needs really high intensity light from eye surgery to laser-based acceleration of charged particles.

The final interview is with Dr. Sunita Sah, a former physician and now an assistant professor at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Dr. Sah studies institutional corruption and ethics in decision making. She is a co-author on a new study that finds that in the US we are inadvertently overusing breast cancer screening and other healthcare services.

Calendar links:

Contributors: Mark Sarvary | Patricia Waldron | Kitty Gifford | Esther Racoosin

Producer: Mark Sarvary

Music Credits:

Show theme by Joe Lewis and Cece Giannotti

“Laser Groove” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

LSS 56: St. Patrick’s day special episode with beer, clover, trees and Irish scientists

This live episode features Patricia’s interview with Akiva Silver, owner of the Twisted Tree Farm, whose new book explores how farmers can use trees to improve their land, help climate and diversify their income.

Mark talks to Dr. Kaylyn Kirkpatrick of Cornell AgriTech. Kaylyn manages the Cornell Brewing Extension (CBE) program which provides analytical lab services, educational content, and brewing resources to the craft beer community in New York State.

Kitty Gifford interviews biologist Ann Bybee-Finley about why cover crops are so important to soil ecology.

Lastly, Esther Racoosin captures the essentials of computer bug discovery in a conversation with Paul Anderson – a specialist in code security.

Contributors: Patricia Waldron | Kitty Gifford | Liz Mahood | Mark Sarvary | Cil Barnett-Neef | Esther Racoosin

Hosts: Esther Racoosin | Daniel Kolbin | Luisa Torres | Nick Segerson | Cil Barnett-Neef