Elsa Partan

We don’t tend to acknowledge this, but at the heart of Living Lab Radio lies the belief that science can provide factual information that can help us make better decisions as individuals, as communities, and as societies.

But why should we trust science? How can we be sure that what we hear today won’t be proved wrong in the future?

Naomi Oreskes addresses these questions in her new book Why Trust Science?

Climate change is complicated. Every part of our daily lives can play a role in causing it, from electricity, to transportation, the homes we live in, the food we eat, even the healthcare services we rely on. And all of those aspects of our lives are also affected by climate change.

We've known for some time that, on average, women are most comfortable at room temperatures that are slightly higher than what men prefer.

Now, for the first time, researchers have looked into how differing preferences play out, that is, how men and women view the decision-making process around setting the thermostat. Interestingly, women in the study tended to see the interactions as conflicts, while men said that there was agreement or compromise. 

A proposed rule change at the EPA is back in the news almost a year and a half after it was first proposed – and met with strong pushback from the science community. It’s called the “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science Rule,” and members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee heard testimony on the proposal this week.

"That's the kind of backdrop for me in terms of thinking about science, is to think about the risks of rejecting science that's true versus the risks of accepting science that's false. And I argue that in our current world, with the threat of climate change bearing down upon us, the risk of ignoring what scientists are telling us is very, very grave indeed." - Naomi Oreskes

In 2007, a mysterious disease killed thousands of bats in a handful of caves in upstate New York. The culprit, dubbed white nose syndrome, was soon found to be a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, that thrives in cold, dark, humid environments and can kill entire bat colonies.

The Trump administration has begun the formal process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. It’s against that backdrop that more than 11,000 scientists from 153 countries have signed a letter declaring a climate emergency.

A new analysis finds that each great whale in the ocean is worth $2 million. Not only because they are the source of tourism revenue, but because they are an important part of enabling the ocean to produce more food and store more carbon.

Electronic cigarettes have been widely perceived as safer than conventional combustion cigarettes. But more than two thousand cases of lung injury and three dozen deaths associated with vaping have called that assessment into question.

"If I discovered that the toothpaste you're using was causing pancreatic cancer, and I just published in a journal - I didn't say anything about it - I just wouldn't be doing my duty and obligation. It's just troubling the way people feel that if you raise the alarm about climate change, well, you're no longer a scientist; you're an advocate. Well, we're also members of society. And we know we have special knowledge that not everyone has and we feel an obligation to share it. " - Bill Moomaw

This week on Living Lab Radio:

• Veteran climate scientist Bill Moomaw co-authored a study signed by more than 11,000 researchers declaring a climate emergency that could cause "untold suffering" without urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The study outlines six action areas and provides a dashboard of metrics for gauging progress.

Space exploration and space technology have led to improvements here on Earth. We wrap runners in space blankets at finish lines. Memory foam that once protected astronauts is now found in many of our pillows and mattresses.

The Outer Space Treaty of 1967 says that, “the exploration and use of outer space should be carried on for the benefit of all people, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development.”

But of course, that hasn't necessarily been the reality. Danielle Wood wants to change that.

As greenhouse gases build up in the atmosphere, the planet gets hotter, land-based ice melts, and warming ocean water expands. The result is sea level rise. A lot of scientific effort has gone into projecting how quickly and how high ocean waters will rise. But the ocean is only half the equation when it comes to the threat of sea level rise, and an update to the land side of the equation has dramatically increased the estimated number of people at risk.

Stephanie Spera, University of Richmond

The Arctic is warming faster than any other part of the planet.

As the permafrost thaws and the tundra burns, it is releasing powerful greenhouse gases that further accelerate warming.

Since the permafrost holds three times as much carbon as all the world’s forests combined, what’s happening in the Arctic is one of the most important aspects of climate change. It’s also one of the least understood.   

“Leaves are green to begin with because they make chlorophyll, and what chlorophyll does is it turns CO2 into the oxygen that we love and the sugar that they need to survive. Once the days start getting shorter and the temperatures start to cool down, they stop that chlorophyll production. And what happens is then that green pigment breaks down, and the oranges and yellows that have been there the whole time – we can actually see them.” - Stephanie Spera