Witness at Fukushima
When the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan and the Daiichi nuclear plant in March 2011, an American technical crew with 40 workers was on site. Among the crew was Carl Pillitteri, a maintenance supervisor who was on the floor of one of the four turbine buildings – enormous structures that house the gigantic turbines that produce energy.
Excerpt from a one-hour special/”BURN: An Energy Journal” (March 2012)
This is the Oil Business
Nothing actually about oil is a sure thing. Least of all: finding it. Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars leasing land and drilling wells all over the world based on what’s basically some very educated guesswork. There are hundreds of smaller companies poking around right here in the U.S. looking for the next big find.
Produced for “Marketplace” (April 2012)
Drilling for Arctic Oil
Shell started its hunt for oil off the coast of Alaska in late 2013, but the effort proved disastrous. Shell spent $5 billion, but not a single well was drilled and its rig ran aground. Shell racked up big fines for faulty equipment, pollution and safety violations and sat out the last season. Reporter Elizabeth Arnold looked into the state of Arctic oil exploration in the U.S.
Produced for “Marketplace” (January 2014)
Treating Tuberculosis
Drug resistance caused by people not finishing their meds has become a serious obstacle in treating tuberculosis. People still get tuberculosis in this country: one person in every five or six thousand is known to be infected. Reporter John Kalish followed a caseworker for the National Tuberculosis Center in New Jersey as she went on her rounds to make sure people take their meds.
Excerpt from one-hour special/”DNA Files” (2001)
The Melting of Greenland
Sea level rise has become the ugly face of climate change. SoundVision’s “Rising Seas” special examined the causes and consequences of sea level changes in south Florida, the Gulf Coast, New York City, and Greenland, where ice-melt is going to make the world a very different place. Former NPR host and correspondent Neal Conan went to Greenland for a closer look at the island’s melting ice. One of his guides was acclaimed science and nature writer Gretel Ehrlich.
Excerpt from one-hour special/”BURN: An Energy Journal” (October 2013)
Music and Emotion
Music provides us with an excellent example of how culture can influence our emotional framework. What may be considered a happy ditty in one corner of the world may be heard as something totally different in another culture. Reporter Alex Cohen brings us this report.
Excerpt from one hour special “The Really Big Questions” (2009)
Black Gold
New York City is poised to become the country’s largest producer of an unexpected type of green energy. This fuel source you can make yourself, and you certainly do. The director of the NYCDEP Office of Energy explains how NYC’s Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant is turning sewage and food scraps into “black gold.”
“The Adaptors” podcast (January 2015)
The Joy is in the Giving
Money can make you happy. Especially if you give it to someone else. A growing body of research shows that giving money to other people is more likely to make you happier than keeping the money. In this episode, Michael Norton from the Harvard Business School tells host Dean Olsher about his fascinating research into sharing and generosity.
Excerpt from one-hour special/“The Really Big Questions” (February 2014)
Chimps and Us
There are some pretty big differences between chimps and us. Digging around in genomes may one day help us explain how language works, but to get a better picture now, we first need to widen our view.
Excerpt from one-hour special/”DNA Files” (2007)
When Rats Inherit the Earth
If humans were to go extinct, what would the planet look like? Jan Zalasiewicz, a paleobiologist at the University of Leicester, says the creatures most likely to take our place are rats. Biologist Ken Aplin and neurobiologist Peggy Mason help imagine a future rat society.
“The Adaptors” podcast and Morning Edition (September 2015)
We Are Dead Stars (VIDEO)
Every atom in our bodies was fused in an ancient star. NASA astronomer Dr. Michelle Thaller explains how the iron in our blood connects us to one of the most violent acts in the universe – a supernova explosion – and what the universe might look like when all the stars die out.
Produced for “The Really Big Questions” with The Atlantic (March 2014)