Featured image: A rugged climb up the hills of the Taklamakan Desert, which consumes much of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. (courtesy Zahariz Khuzaimah)

This week we host Jane Baldwin, PhD candidate in Princeton’s Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Dept., who studies the reasons that deserts exist in Asia. Jane first wondered about the changing climate of the steppes of Inner Mongolia, where famous grasslands have slowly morphed to low, dry shrubs. Surprisingly, she found a more fundamental question that needed study first: why do Asian deserts, like the Taklamakan and Gobi, exist in general? Global climate simulations give researchers a crucial tool to study WHY the climate works as it does, so Jane tested various hypotheses about the Taklamakan: does it still exist if you run a simulation without Tibet? Without Europe taking moisture from Asia’s westerly winds? Without the Tian Shan mountains, which lie between the Taklamakan and the Gobi? Tune in for surprising results that hint how important well-placed mountains can be for the climate.

In other news:

• A fungus species uses a gravitationally sensitive crystal to tell which way is up—but evidently it inherited this trait from bacteria who use the crystals for other purposes.
• The Milky Way and other galaxies may have more than one supermassive black hole: others may wander aimlessly, left over after their birth galaxy collided with ours.
• Whales can hear extremely low sounds by using their skulls as antennae, shown by scientists simulating reverberations in their ear bones and heads.

The playlist can be found on WPRB.com or below.

Featured image: An army of heavily-educated volunteers advocates to Congress for a carbon fee and dividend policy in 2016. (Courtesy Citizens Climate Lobby)

This week we interview Sam Daley-Harris, grassroots organizer and coach for advocacy groups, on his philosophy for impacting policy as an average citizen. Most people feel there are critical issues the government needs to act on, but they feel powerless to change anything and therefore don’t speak up. Sam believes that this fear can be overcome by well-organized, educational advocacy groups that train volunteers deeply about an issue. Groups like RESULTS and Citizens Climate Lobby expose their members to curricula that teach them to write op-eds and meet with Congresspeople, regardless of party or beliefs, and over time they develop relationships that make an impact. Sam discusses pitfalls that make some groups ineffective, as well as success stories that show what well-educated volunteers can achieve on many important issues.

In other news:

• Bat neuroscience has taken a huge leap forward: scientists and engineers have developed flight-ready brain scanners for bats to wear, giving us insight into how they choose their course in the air.
• One of the largest ichthyosaur fossils ever was recently discovered in England, possibly edging out the blue whale as the largest creature that ever lived.
• A new injectable microchip measures blood alcohol content continuously, sitting under your skin and consuming tiny amounts of stored power.

The playlist can be found on WPRB.com or below.

Featured image: Genetic variants of breast cancer cells, with different proteins highlighted by fluorescence. Many types of cancer cells coexist within a tumor, mutating more as time goes on. (Courtesy Marc van de Wetering et al., Cancer Research 2001)

Our guest this week was Rebecca Elyanow, PhD candidate at Brown University and Visiting Student Research Scholar in Princeton’s Department of Computer Science, who covered her fascinating work on understanding cancer mutations. All human cells copy DNA when they split, and many of these replications cause mutations in our genes. While these errors are normally corrected, some of them persist and develop into invasive cancers. Tracking these mutations and finding which ones are most harmful is a daunting task—which is why computer scientists like Rebecca write algorithms to sequence the tangled DNA of cancer cells. Hear how gene assembly works in practice (the shotgun method) and how computer science can help us unveil a mutation’s family tree. Plus, we end with a primer on machine learning and possible uses in keeping the government honest.

Listen to the whole recording for a sample of WPRB’s one and only All Vinyl Week, plus news about:

• Supernova enveloped by gas and particulates end much quicker! The Kepler telescope found a recent explosion to last only days, much faster than these behemoth star deaths typically go.
• Huge swaths of the southern Amazon seem to have been inhabited by civilizations as recently as 1500 BC, upturning conceptions that the area was sparsely populated. Imagine, maybe a million people overlooked until now!

The playlist can be found online at WPRB.com or below.