Kira – Page 2 – EVERYTHING IS INTERESTING

30. Octo-Knowledge30. Octo-Knowledge

What’s going on inside a nautilus’s shell? Is it true that cephalopods can edit their own genes? An octopus has how many brains?

Oh hey.

Join Keera & Kira, plus coordinators of the Portland branch of the March for Science and test your Octo-knowledge in today’s quiz, “Science Fact or Science Fiction: Cephalopod Edition.”

We hope to see you at the Portland March for Science, taking place on Saturday, April 22nd, 2017! Kira & Keera will be there, with their nonprofit educational organization, Science Project. From 10am until 3pm, the Science Project’s exhibit, “Oceans: Dive Deeper!” will provide lots of exciting hands-on experiments that will give you a better understanding of the many layers of our oceans. Plus we’ll be unveiling our very first edition Everything Is Interesting t-shirt!! Come by and visit us, and get your very own!

4/12/2017

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29. Salmon, Streams, & Suction Dredge Mining29. Salmon, Streams, & Suction Dredge Mining

March 29, 2017

A healthy stream ecosystem is an intricate fabric, where pulling one thread could cause the whole system to unravel. Furthermore, each aspect of this ecosystem may provide a service to you directly, but in ways you probably often overlook. You eat the salmon, but the Aquatic Reed Sweetgrass makes your oxygen, the Western Pearlshell Mussel filters the toxins out of your drinking water, and the stable riverbanks supply nutrients that eventually end up in the food you eat.

On this episode, Keera and Kira talk with Jack Williams of Trout Unlimited and Matt Sloat of the Wild Salmon Center, 2 of Oregon’s premiere experts on fishery science and aquatic ecosystems, about our streams, why they matter, and what’s threatening them.

********(Looking for the information about how to send this show to your legislators? Go here: Contact Your Oregon Legislators)*********

(Looking for more information about Suction Dredge Mining and healthy stream ecosystems? Go here: OLCV 2017 Legislative Priorities, here: Trout Unlimited, or here: Wild Salmon Center

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28. Yes, We Have Many Bananas.28. Yes, We Have Many Bananas.

March 22, 2017

Ah, the banana. Cornerstone of Snack Time, foundation of the banana split… and genetically identical to every other banana you’ve ever eaten (in the US, anyway). How did we end up with a banana monoculture? What’s the difference between the DNA of a naturally evolved banana plant and a banana plant clone? And what’s the connection between bananas, Big Mike the rapper, and 100 unicorns? Find out, on today’s episode.

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27. Resistance Is Futile.27. Resistance Is Futile.

March 1, 2017

What goes through the mind of a bee? Does it have its own thoughts, or is being part of a hive-minded collective like being a part of the Borg? Can an organism with swarm intelligence have a private identity, or does the community simply add each individual’s biological and technological distinctiveness to its own?

Lower your shields. Resistance is futile.

On this episode, Keera and Kira examine the decision making process in communities of bees, birds, neurons, and slime mold, and discover what life is like as part of a hive mind.

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26. They’re Wet & Weird & Wild, You Make Them Come Alive…26. They’re Wet & Weird & Wild, You Make Them Come Alive…

February 22, 2017

Every now and then, Keera and Kira hang out and do stuff OTHER than talk about science. Like, sometimes they reminisce about growing up in the 90’s, and the strange toys and commercials and fashion that shaped their impressionable little minds.

That’s how K+K stumbled upon the Amazing Live SEA MONKEYS! Remember getting those eggs in the mail, and how excited you were for your microscopic primates to come alive with just a little water? Kira and Keera do!

On this episode, the Science Ladies talk about this aquatic crustacean species, Artemia salina, (Spoiler Alert: they’re not monkeys. Sorry.) as wells as where they come from, how they evolved, and why you can send them through the mail like a pack of tomato seeds. They also explore the story of Harold von Braunhut, the man who sold these little creatures as living magic tricks, and the science behind really good marketing.

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25. Affairs Of The Heart (The Science Of Love)25. Affairs Of The Heart (The Science Of Love)

February 15, 2017

It’s Valentines Day! So in true nerd fashion, Keera and Kira delve into the biochemistry of love. Why DO your palms get sweaty when you see the person your attracted to?

Also, they explore the heart throughout medical history. Why do we use the heart as the symbol for where love comes from, when we now know that emotions, thoughts, and sweaty palms all begin in the brain?

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24. Volcanoes & Geysers & Lava, Oh My!24. Volcanoes & Geysers & Lava, Oh My!

February 8, 2017

On today’s episode, Kira & Keera explore the immense geological forces that help to shape our planet, and then share some of the places you can go to see them, right here in our own National Parks.

Talking points:

LAVA!
The discovery of plate tectonics
The Cascadia Subduction Zone
How geysers form
MORE LAVA!

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23. SPIDERS!23. SPIDERS!

February 1, 2017

On today’s episode, Kira and Keera quiz the XRAY team on the life and times of Amazing Arachnids! Can spiders get caught in their own web? Why DO spiders have 8 eyes? What would a 20 foot tall spider be like? And what would really happen if you were bitten by a radioactive spider?

The most cuddly thing on 8 legs.

Then in the last 5 minutes, we share some ways that you, the listener, can be active in our national democracy and advocate for science!

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22. Solar POWER!22. Solar POWER!

January 25, 2017

Today, Kira and Keera talk about the incredible power of that fiery ball in the sky, the sun! how we clever humans have devised the technology to harness it.

We also answer some of your burning questions (get it?), like:

What is nuclear fusion?
How does old dead plant matter become fossil fuels?
How do photo-voltaic cells capture sun energy?
What is artificial photosynthesis, and how do we make it happen?

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21. Snowflakes21. Snowflakes

January 18, 2017

A raging ice storm has had most everyone in Portland trapped indoors, with nothing to do but listen to old episodes of Everything Is Interesting. Visions of snowflakes dancing in their heads, K+K the science questions they dreamed up about cold weather, and the way snow forms.

They also asked listeners what snow questions they had been pondering, and got some pretty good ones! So here’s the answers!

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