Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
Cheetahs are the fastest of all land animals – they can reach speeds of up to 70 mph in short bursts. Despite their speed and hunting ability, cheetahs are endangered in Africa and Asia, and don’t breed especially well in captivity. In Africa, they can attack livestock herds for food, and that puts them in danger from the subsistence farmers who need to …
Lab-grown diamonds and gemstones don’t require dangerous working conditions, and they’re made with just a fraction of the environmental impact of mined gems. But are those stones grown in laboratory really diamonds? Do they look the same as the mined versions? We talk to a spokesperson for lab-grown diamonds and to a geologist about the issue.
We’re all familiar with the various ages such as the Jurassic and the Paleozoic, but have you ever heard of the Anthropocene? We meet a woman who has traveled around the world looking at how climate change caused by humans has transformed areas of our planet and how people are looking for creative ways to deal with the changes in lifestyle, agriculture and …
When an American trophy hunter killed Cecil the Lion, a protected animal in an African game preserve, the internet was packed with Tweets and Facebook diatribes condemning the man who did it and big game hunting in general. Why are we so concerned about one animal when there are millions of them killed around the world every year? Is there a good reason to …
Are invasive species present because they’re the only ones that can thrive in an area? Are they multiplying because of something bad we’re injecting into their environment? Are these aliens actually helping nature create a diverse and robust environment? And are those so-called native species of plants and animals really native? Our guests have some …
Synopsis: Hundreds of people die each year in boating accidents – and many of those can be prevented if the right equipment is on board and boating safety procedures are followed. We talk to two Coast Guard specialists about what you need to know and have on hand in your boat to make this summer’s …
We’ve heard a lot about climate change and global warming over the past 20 years or so, but ironically people care about it less now than they did a decade ago! We talk to a researcher and author about how the framing of climate change can skew the message and create attitudes that affect how we think of global warming and how we become motivated – or not – …
Every spring, millions of gardeners head outside to spruce up their flower beds, trees, shrubs and vegetable patches, without thinking much about the history – and sometimes toxicity – of some of their plantings. We talk to a man who has researched the unusual side of gardening and find out about some very interesting plants, and how they were cultivated and …
One fact that was brought out during the onslaught of that Hurricane Sandy was the need to update our nation’s weather forecasting and emergency management systems. We talk to a journalist and author who conducted research on the storm, the systems that tracked it and found out how our weather forecasting, tracking and evacuation protocols and equipment need …
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