Exploradio Origins

Members of the Case Western Reserve University community are invited to tune into WKSU, Kent State University’s radio station, from 4 to 6 p.m. during local broadcasts of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” for Exploradio Origins. WKSU has partnered with the Institute for the Science of Origins to offer this new segment. Exploradio Origins is a weekly series in which origins scholars and host Kellen McGee ponder some of the biggest questions in the universe in 90 seconds. McGee is a former CWRU research assistant in biophysics and structural biology now pursuing pursuing a PhD in nuclear and accelerator physics at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. Tune in to 89.7 to listen live. Installments also will be posted, along with additional information, on the WKSU website. The lineup for December will be:

“Ketones and Human Brain Function”

Dec. 6 Our brains need sugar to survive, but Professor of Physiology and Biophysics Joseph LaManna found that ketones can also fill those energy needs, and that’s good news for kids with a rare form of epilepsy.

“How Blending Concepts Hold Clues to Cognition”

Dec. 13 Mark Turner, Institute Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science, co-developed the theory of conceptual blending. Our habit of putting conflicting ideas together to form a new concept is a uniquely human act of creation.

“The Moon as a Dark Matter Detector”

Dec. 20 The problem with dark matter, according to Glenn Starkman, Distinguished University Professor and director of the Institute for the Science of Origins, is that it’s invisible, hence the name. But he says the moon, like a big bowl of jello, might respond to dark matter’s passage.

“How To See Gravity Waves”

Dec. 27 Kenyon College professor Madeline Wade works on LIGO—Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory—in a Texas desert. She does precise calibrations that allow the instrument to detect gravitational ripples in space 1,000 times smaller than an atom.