Episodes

  • Day at the Museum

    Day at the Museum
    Jul 2 2024
    This show is part of a series exploring Science Moab’s School to Science Program, connecting students with scientists in the field, the lab, and beyond. This program began in 2021 and to date has mentored over 57 local students. In this episode, we talk with mentor Mary Langworthy, Public Programs Manager at the Moab Museum, and Klayre Humphreys, junior at Grand County High School. Mary has sponsored several day long job shadows with local students facilitated by Science Moab. Klayre spent a day at the museum with Mary in the spring of 2024 and ended up delving into the world of shark teeth which ultimately helped Moab Museum staff update and enhance their exhibit.
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    18 mins
  • Memory In Trees

    Memory In Trees
    Jun 4 2024
    As photosynthesis happens, trees take in carbon from the atmosphere and store it in the form of sugars or carbohydrates. These sugars can be stored for many years in trees as a sort of “memory” and used to support their growth and metabolism during times of stress, like a drought. We talk with Drew Peltier, ecophysiologist and professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Drew’s interests and research center on understanding how climate influences tree growth in our changing environment.
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    22 mins
  • Finding Collaboration and Trust Uncovering the Past

    Finding Collaboration and Trust Uncovering the Past
    May 7 2024
    From the perspective of an archaeologist, the physical body of an ancient person is a gift because a body is a time capsule of the past. They lived in that space and that time, and their bodies are manifestations of what was there. We talk with archaeologist Erin Baxter, teacher and Curator of Anthropology at Denver Museum of Nature and Science, about her work unraveling the ancient southwest culture and her fascination with the archaeology of death.
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    23 mins
  • Studying Growth Rates of the Humpback Chub

    Studying Growth Rates of the Humpback Chub
    Apr 2 2024
    The Little Colorado River (LCR) is a culturally and spiritually significant drainage for many people in the southwest. The LCR also provides sediment load to the main stem of the Colorado River for the production of sandbars downstream AND it is an important spawning ground for and home to the largest population of Humpback Chub. We talk with Phoebe Brown, river guide and researcher, about her studies that involve understanding the interactions of phosphorus and the growth rates of the Humpback Chub.
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    21 mins
  • Restoration on the Range

    Restoration on the Range
    Mar 19 2024
    Rangelands are vast, natural grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that support grazing and browsing mammals and they are primarily natural ecosystems with native vegetation.These rangelands can become degraded by fire or improper grazing. We talk with Kari Veblen, professor of Rangeland Ecology at Utah State University about her research that focuses on the ecology and management of rangelands. Her research emphasizes multi-use landscapes, public and private, that are managed simultaneously for wildlife conservation and sustainable livestock production. The ultimate goal of her work is to inform sustainable management of rangeland ecosystems.
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    21 mins
  • Working Together for River Conservation

    Working Together for River Conservation
    Mar 5 2024
    It is well known at this point that humans are using more water out of the Colorado River, then the river can support…for humans as well as other life forms that live along and within the river. Agriculture is using approximately 80% of that water. We talk with Aaron Derwingson, Water Projects Director of the Colorado River Program for the Nature Conservancy. Aaron and his team do freshwater conservation restoration projects across the whole Colorado River Basin, involving a combination of work from science and policy to direct project work on the grounds. By working to build relationships with the agricultural community, the team hopes to help ensure that there are sufficient water supplies for both people and nature.
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    21 mins
  • The Space between the Mountains

    The Space between the Mountains
    Feb 20 2024
    Sagebrush once stretched across almost 500,000 square miles from the Dakotas to California. Each year, a million acres is lost to invasive species, catastrophic wildfire, development, improper grazing and climate change. Matt Cahill is the director of the Sagebrush Sea program for The Nature Conservancy. Matt advocates that scientific solutions and large-scale collaboration are needed to reverse the trend in sagebrush. We talk with Matt about what is being done to save this vital landscape.
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    20 mins
  • The Next Generation of Indigenous Scientists

    The Next Generation of Indigenous Scientists
    Feb 6 2024
    For the past three years, the Nature Conservancy has hosted a small cohort of Indigenous college students at their Canyonlands Research Center in southeast Utah. The program, known as N.A.T.U.R.E. (Native American Tribes Upholding Restoration & Education), seeks to empower the next generation of science and conservation leaders on the Colorado Plateau. During those seven weeks, students work with Indigenous knowledge holders and scientists, Western scientists, and program mentors to learn and teach about the science, conservation, and knowledge of the region’s landscape and conduct their own original capstone research projects. In this episode, Science Moab talks with two students from the 2023 N.A.T.U.R.E. cohort, James Johanntoberns (Kiowa/Caddo/Pawnee) and Shundeen Smith (Diné). We talk about their experiences in the program and their capstone research projects focused on ant-biocrust interactions and the legacy of abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation.
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    21 mins