Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
It’s the final day of our Spring Fund Drive, and it's vital we reach our goal. There's still time to make a difference, but we need your help now! Help us cross the finish line by giving before 7:00 p.m. DONATE NOW!

UnDisciplined: Science News Roundup - September 2019

Heiko Kiera / Fotalia
This week, among other science news stories, we'll discuss New Zealand's "rat-pocalypse," and what dramatic scientific solutions are being discussed to solve it.

This week on the show, we're talking about the science behind Hurricane Dorian, a "rat-pocalypse," a new human ancestor, and poison dart frogs. Everybody on the show is an expert on something, but none of them is an expert on those things. 

We're joined this week by Safeez Safarian, an associate professor of physics and atronomy and adjunct assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Utah; Rodrigo Noriega, an assistant professor of physical and material chemistry at the University of Utah; Susan Matt, a social and cultural historian at Weber State University who last joined us to talk about a recent book, "Bored, Lonely, Angry, Stupid: Changing Feelings About Technology, from the Telegraph to Twitter;" and last but not least: Danielle Lemmon, a doctoral candidate in Boulder, Colo. working on the diversity of El Nino events.  

Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something occurred to him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be so brutally depressing all the time. These days, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects with his work on UnDisciplined — Utah Public Radio's weekly program on science and discovery.