Virtually Speaking Science

Mars missions and the Curiosity landing anniversary

Kelly Hills talks to Madhusudan Katti about reconciliation ecology: managing urban ecosystems for biodiversity; which includes managing the impact of droughts. Read Dr. Katti on water management in cities in the American West, and on global urban biodiversity:Water and the City: A Dispatch From an American Frontier Town http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2013/02/10/water-and-the-city-an-american-frontier-tale/Biodiversity can flourish on an urban planethttps://theconversation.com/biodiversity-can-flourish-on-an-urban-planet-18723

Former NASA astronaut and planetary scientist Tom Jones and Alan Boyle preview Asteroid Day, an occasion that highlights the threats and opportunities posed by near-Earth objects. Scores of Asteroid Day events are scheduled around the world on Tuesday,  which marks the 107th anniversary of the 1908 Tunguska asteroid explosion. Jones is the chairman of the Committee on Near-Earth Objects of the Association of Space Explorers, a supporter of Asteroid Day and signerr of the 100X Declaration. 

Kelly talks with Dr. Kaberi Kar Gupta, Principal Scientist of the Urban Slender Loris Project, where citizens and scientists learn about this small nocturnal primate found only in Sri Lanka and Southern India in order to figure out how urban coexistance might be possible. Slender lorises are arboreal and therefore require continuous forest canopy. This continuity is created by either large trees that are close to each other in old forests or by the climbing vines in forests where the understory is undisturbed. Their preferred diet is mostly insects and fruit.

The science of swaying popular opinion: think vaccines. Dartmouth political scientist/psychologist Brendan Nyhan specializes in the cognitive biases that come with identity politics. Jennifer and Brendan talk about the psychology of changing minds, how our beliefs and opinions are tied to personal identity, and what does and does not work in terms of strategy when it comes to swaying popular opinion. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/upshot/why-californias-approach-to-tightening-vaccine-rules-could-backfire.htmlhttp://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/vaccine-denial-psychology-backfire-effect