This week: We’re visiting Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park to hear about a battle between conservation and development. A Scottish researcher tells us how to make biofuel from the byproducts of single malts. We have two stories about bacteria—one about microbes that survived outer space, and the second about methane-eating bacteria in peat bogs. Also in today’s show, plastic in the Atlantic ocean and helping the blind see, with sound.

Conservation vs. Development in Tanzania: Can wildebeest and trucks coexist? That’s the question at the heart of a controversy in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. The Serengeti is home to some of the last great herds of migrating animals… including hundreds of thousands of wildebeest. That’s great for nature lovers and tour operators, but there’s a downside: most of the region has no roads, which is bad news for some remote communities. Now the Tanzanian government has a controversial plan to build a road through the park.
Report by: Benedict Moran
Wildebeest facts from National Geographic.
Serengeti official site.
Serengeti information from UNESCO.

Microbes Survive Outer Space: Bacteria from an English village have survived more than a year in space. The microbes were taken from cliffs in the village of Beer and placed in experimental boxes outside the International Space Station. Scientists were conducting the research to find microbes that could be used as life-support systems for humans traveling in space. The surviving bacteria are now back in a laboratory at the Open University in Milton Keynes.
Guest: Charles Cockell
See a video of Charles Cockell in his laboratory talking about his space-traveling microbes.
Cockell also studies microbes that live in Icelandic volcanoes.
Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• Methane-Eating Bacteria: One-third of the Earth’s terrestrial carbon is tied up in peat bogs, where it’s stored as frozen and partially decayed plant matter. Global warming could thaw the bogs, accelerating decay and pumping tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Now researchers have found that methane-eating bacteria living inside sphagnum moss could help sop up the greenhouse gas as its released from rotting plant matter.
  The study.
  Photo gallery of sphagnum mosses.
  More about permafrost, peat bogs, and climate.
• Plastic in the Atlantic: Researchers have released 22 years’ worth of data on the location and quantity of plastic crumbs floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Much as in the Pacific Garbage Patch, ocean currents in the Atlantic concentrate the plastic soup in a giant slow-moving whirlpool hundreds of miles from shore. The amount of plastic in the Atlantic didn’t increase over the 22 years of the study–but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’ve been keeping our garbage out of the ocean.
  The study.
  The Sea Education Association led the new research.
  Our previous coverage of plastic in the Atlantic, in the Pacific, and in albatross bellies.
  Slate article on plastic beads in exfoliants.
• Seeing with Sound: A Dutch inventor came up with a way to translate camera images into soundscapes. Blind people can train their brains to interpret these sounds as visual scenes in their minds. New Scientist looked into how the system works.
  The New Scientist article (preview only).
  More about the technology from the inventor’s website. (To hear soundscapes and the images to which they correspond, follow the link next to “No Surgery” at the top of the page, then scroll down to “Example Sounds.”)

Biofuel from Single Malts: A team from Edinburgh Napier University has come up with a way to produce a biofuel from the byproducts of whiskey. They say the fuel could soon be mixed with gasoline or diesel to power cars. Not only would that be a boon to Scotland, but the new process could save a lot of fuel.
Guest: Martin Tangney
Edinburgh Napier University’s Biofuel Research Team.
Watch a video about the discovery from Edinburgh Napier University here.

This week: We’re going to Lebanon for a story on threatened cedar trees. Then to Sweden and India to learn about a greenhouse pollutant that’s been making headlines lately – black carbon. This month seems to be one of astronomical discoveries – scientists have discovered a new magnetar. Also, Elsa is back from vacation and brings us news about birds and insect and tips on pouring Champagne. And we’re still talking online about volunteer computing projects in our Science Forum discussion. So please stop by with your comments and questions.

Saving Lebanon’s Legendary Cedars: Cedars have been an important part of life in Lebanon for at least 8,000 years, but they’re vanishing from the landscape. Ari Daniel Shapiro reports on efforts to preserve Lebanon’s legendary cedar trees.
Report by: Ari Daniel Shapiro
See a slide show of Ari’s trip to see Lebanon’s Cedars.

Elsa’s Favorite Science Stories:

• More on Urban Bird Songs: Some male songbirds sing higher-pitched tunes in the noisy city environment than in the quiet countryside. Researchers thought that the new pitch might help the songs to be heard over the urban racket. But two new studies suggest that high-pitched songs don’t help city birds very much after all.
  There are two new studies, here and here.
  Listen to our recent story about finch songs in Mexico city.
  More on urban birdsong from the BBC.
• Water Striders Coerce Females to Mate: Talk about pressuring a girl for sex! Male water striders (Gerris gracilicornis) climb on a female’s back and start tapping the water to draw in hungry predators. They don’t stop tapping until the female, under threat of death, consents to mate.
  The study.
  Here’s a video that shows what happens when the female doesn’t consent quickly enough.
  
• Romanians Make Butterfly DNA Library: Romania is now the first country to have barcoded its entire butterfly fauna–all 180 species. The project fits in with a global effort to generate DNA barcodes for every plant and animal. The barcodes provide an easy way to identify species for biodiversity monitoring, regulatory enforcement, and a host of other uses.
  The study.
  What is DNA barcoding?
  More about the international barcode of life project.
  Barcoding bushmeat.
• The Science of Pouring Champagne: Pouring Champagne straight into the bottom of the flute may look festive and fizzy, but it flattens the drink and could change its flavor. For a more sparkling toast, pour the bubbly down the side of the glass like beer. That’s the verdict of a new study, which shows that the traditional pour can rob Champagne of more than a quarter of its carbonation.
  The study.
  Here’s our previous story about Champagne bubbles (in which Elsa manages to spill alcohol all over her office).
  The chemistry of Champagne.
  More about Champagne bubbles.

Black Carbon from Cook Stoves: The leading pollutant blamed for climate change is carbon dioxide, but a new study says another form of carbon ranks a close second. So-called black carbon is a kind of soot produced by diesel engines, power plants, and the burning of wood. A major source of black carbon is cook stoves in the developing world, and scientists are now trying to clean those stoves up.
Report by: Rhitu Chatterjee
See a slide show of my pictures from rural India.
Controlling Soot Emissions Can Help Slow Climate Change, Wired
Black Carbon’s grey areas, by the Yale Forum on Climate Change & The Media.
Black carbon and atmospheric warming, a recent paper by V. Ramanathan.
More about Ramanathan’s latest black carbon studies.

New Magnetar Discovered: Scientists have discovered a rare magnetic star, or magnetar. It’s about 16,000 light years away in a star cluster called Westerlund 1, in the Ara constellation. Magnetars, a type of neutron star, form when stars collapse following a supernova explosion. This magnetar was formed from a star 40 times the size the Sun. Stars that big typically form black holes. The new discovery has led scientists to re-evaluate their theories about what happens to stars when they die.
Read more on the BBC’s website.
More about the new discovery here.

Fly through the Westerland 1 star cluster to see an artist’s illustration of the newly found magnetar. Credit: ESO/L. Calçada.
Scientists recently discovered another kind of neutron star last week – a pulsar. Check out that story in last week’s podcast.

This week: Ordinary citizens and their computers helped astronomers discover a new celestial body – the rotating remains of a dead star. We’re starting a new Science Forum discussion related to this discovery. If you’ve ever volunteered to help scientists, we want to hear your story. Or if you want to learn more about such citizen science projects, come join the conversation with our Forum guests. You’ll find the discussion here. Also in this week’s show, scientists go looking for lost frogs, and China emerges as a new player in stem cell research.
Einstein@Home Discovers Pulsar: An international astronomy project, which uses the computing power of 250,000 home computers, has made its first discovery. The Einstein@Home project has found a rare type of pulsar — a dense star that emits pulses of radiation.
Report by: Rhitu Chatterjee
Bring your questions about Einstein@Home project in our Science Forum.
Einstein@Home Project
Interested in volunteering? Take your pick from a range of volunteer computing project.

Searching for Lost Frogs: A major scientific effort to search out frogs around the world is getting underway. As part of the U.N. summit on biodiversity, researchers will fan out across 14 countries looking for rare frog and toad species that may be on the brink of extinction, including the gastric brooding frog. Anchor Katy Clark interviews Conservation International’s Robin Moore about the search for lost frogs. (Photo: David Crosse/Conservation Int.).
Guest: Robin Moore
Video:  Conservation International’s Robin Moore and Don Church talk about frogs.
A lifelong passion for frogs.
Worldwide Amphibian Decline
Global lizard decline in The World Science Podcast no. 66.

Iceberg Breaks off Greenland: A massive iceberg broke off Greenland this week. It’s the largest calving event in Greenland in 50 years, setting off alarm bells among climate watchers.
Guest: Dr. Robert Bindschadler.

Extreme Weather in Europe and Asia: Monsoon rains are frustrating attempts to get aid to millions of people in a flooded region in Pakistan. China too is struggling with its worst flooding in years. In Russia, it’s the opposite problem – too little rain. Heidi Cullen is a research scientist and correspondent at Climate Central. She’s also author of the new book The Weather of the Future: Heat Waves, Extreme Storms, and Other Scenes from a Climate-Changed Planet. Guest: Heidi Cullen.

Cloned Cow Sparks Food Fears in the U.K: Cloned cows have sparked food fears in Europe. Food safety officials in Britain are investigating how meat and possibly milk from the offspring of cloned cattle entered the food supply there. Listen to my conversation with The World’s David Baron about the ongoing controversy in the U.K.
E.U leaders are trying to ban food from cloned animals and their offspring.

China, a New Force in Stem Cell Research: Europe and the United States are where most advances in cloning and stem cells have taken place, but another country is quickly becoming a major player in the field. That’s China. As reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro explains, China’s efforts are starting to get some attention.
Report by: Ari Daniel Shapiro.

This week: I’m devoting the entire episode to population. Is overpopulation still a threat to our planet? I talk to veteran environmental journalist Fred Pearce, author of the new book The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet’s Surprising Future. (See book cover on the left.) Pearce argues that consumption, not population, is the biggest environmental threat we face. Pearce is also the guest in our latest Science Forum discussion. So don’t forget to stop by and join the conversation.

Population or Consumption? Many environmentalists blame environmental problems on overpopulation. There are 7 billion of us on the planet today, and that number keeps rising. But population is no longer a serious threat says environmental journalist Fred Pearce. In The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet’s Surprising Future, Pearce argues that birth rates are falling all over the world and that total population is likely to decline after the next few decades.  Pearce also contends that focusing on population can distract us from the real environmental threat – consumption. Listen to the podcast, then come join our online conversation with Pearce in our latest Science Forum.
Guest: Fred Pearce
Read Fred’s essay on population in Grist.
And here’s the rebuttal to Pearce’s arguments by Robert Walker of the Population Institute.
The U.N’s Population Division.

Listen to our interview with environmental journalist Fred Pearce. He’s our guest in the latest Science Forum discussion.

There are almost 7 billion human beings on the planet today, and that number will likely rise to 9 billion by 2050. What will that mean for the earth’s environment?

Not much, according to Pearce.

Pearce rebuts fears about population growth in his new book, The Coming Population Crash: and Our Planet’s Surprising Future.

Pearce says birth rates today are much lower than in the last century, and after a few decades, our numbers will likely fall and then stabilize. He documents how women from all over the world – rich and poor alike – are choosing to have fewer children.

Pearce also contends that population growth isn’t the root cause of today’s environmental ills. The current growth in population is occurring in poorer countries, which consume relatively little of the earth’s resources.

The biggest environmental threat, Pearce argues, is consumption in rich countries.

“We’re defusing the population bomb,” says Pearce. “But we haven’t begun to defuse the consumption bomb.”

Do you agree? Come share your thoughts with Pearce in this online discussion. The conversation is just to the right.

• Which is easier to defuse – a population bomb, or a consumption bomb?
• Would you be willing to limit the size of your family for the good of the earth?
• What do you think is the “right” population for our planet? Seven billion people? Seven million?

Additional Resources:

• Watch Fred Pearce on The Daily Show.
• Check out Princeton University’s Population Clock.
• The U.N’s world population database.

This week:  We launched a new discussion on The World Science Forum on Tuesday. So, in today’s show, you’ll hear a story about a controversy over whether or not to legalize commercial whaling. That’s followed by an interview with one of the best known experts on whale populations, marine biologist Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University. And then you can ask Palumbi your own questions and share your thoughts in The World Science Forum. Also in today’s show: unconscious racial bias, the brains of locusts, and emissions from air traffic.

The Science and Ethics of Whaling: Should commercial whaling be legalized? The debate over that question continues to roil international waters. Whaling has largely been banned for nearly 25 years by the International Whaling Commission (IWC). But that moratorium is riddled with contradictions and loopholes. The IWC meets this month in Morocco to consider a new proposal to legalize small-scale whaling by some countries. You’ll hear a story about this proposal, followed by an interview with marine biologist Stephen Palumbi about the science and ethics of whaling. Palumbi is also the guest in our latest Science Forum discussion, so you’ll have a chance to ask him your questions and share your thoughts on the issue.

Report by: Eric Niiler
Guest: Stephen Palumbi
Join the online conversation with Palumbi in our latest Science Forum discussion.
Palumbi is also a musician. We featured him in our Music in Science segment in Podcast no. 48.

Watch a video about Palumbi’s work on the Antarctic minke whales. Credit: Gathwait & Griffin Films.

Elsa’s Favorite Stories:

• CO₂ Emissions from Air Traffic: Air traffic currently contributes just 2-3% of anthropogenic CO₂ emissions, but that could soon change. Improvements in airplane fuel efficiency are not keeping pace with growing demand for air travel. Emissions from aircraft are set to become a significant contributor to climate change by 2050.
  The study.

Watch a video of air traffic over the US in a single day. Credit: Aaron Koblin.

For a video of international air travel, click here.

• Unconscious Racial Bias & Empathy: Racial bias hinders your ability to empathize with a person from a different ethnic group, according to a new study. Normally, when we see someone in pain, our brains react as though we were feeling the pain ourselves. Racial bias, however, can shut down that empathic response.
  The study.
  Science Forum discussion with Shankar Vedantam about the hidden brain.
• Swarming Locusts Have Bigger Brains: Locusts come in two forms: the solitary and the swarming. When conditions are crowded, the insects develop into the gregarious swarming version and can devour crop fields in minutes. The swarming locusts’ brains are about one-third larger than those of the solitary locusts. It may take extra brain power to filter useful information out of the crowd of surrounding insects.
  The study.
  Keep tabs on locust outbreaks with the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Locust Watch page.
  Video of a locust swarm, from the BBC.

Our guest in the Science Forum is marine biologist Stephen Palumbi of Stanford University. He uses genetics to study whale populations.

The International Whaling Commission is considering legalizing commercial whaling by some countries, but at a very limited scale. Palumbi says that the current proposal would fail to protect endangered whale species.

You can ask Palumbi your own questions. Join the conversation. It’s just to the right.

• Do you think all whaling should be banned? Why?
• What role can lay citizens play in conserving whales?
• How can modern genetic techniques be used to crack down on whale smuggling?

Additional Resources:

• Read a study by Stephen Palumbi about the antarctic minke whale. A lay summary of that study is here.
• A Must-See: The BBC’s humpback whale page. Includes video excerpts from documentaries.
• The International Whaling Commission.
• Watch this video (below) for the latest about the antarctic minke whale population. (Credit: Garthwait & Griffin Films)

This week:  We’re coming a day late to you this week. But as I promised you’ll hear some breaking news about how global warming is threatening lizard species. Also a scientist on board a research vessel tells us what he’s seeing around the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Elsa has news about evolution of humans and human civilizations. We have some revolutionary music for our Music in Science segment.

Global Warming Threatens Lizard Populations: In recent decades, scientists have documented serious threats to frog species across the globe. Frogs and other amphibians have vanished from many areas. The exact cause is in question. It might be an infectious disease, or pollution, or habitat destruction. A study published by the journal Science suggests the world’s lizards are also in peril, and what’s threatening lizards is climate change.
Report by: Yours Truly, Rhitu Chatterjee.
The study.
Website of study author Barry Sinervo.
Sceloporus lizards in the Encyclopedia of Life.

Spilled Oil in the Deep Ocean: At least 4 million gallons of oil have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico from the damaged Deepwater Horizon well, according to the Associated Press reports, and the desperate efforts to protect the gulf coast’s ecosystem from the slick continue. We hear from oceanographer Vernon Asper of the University of Southern Mississippi. Asper and a team of researchers are aboard a research vessel called the Pelican. They’re analyzing in real time the impact of the oil spill on marine organisms.
Guest: Vernon Asper
Oil spill coverage from Science magazine’s policy blog, ScienceInsider.
BBC coverage.
Fighting the spill with hair and hosiery–from The World’s Technology Podcast.
University of Southern Mississippi’s oil spill response team.
More oil spill photos from the Boston Globe.

Some of the spilled oil has started to sink into the ocean. Note the streaks of red just under the water’s surface.
Credit for above photos and video: Oceanographer Vernon Asper and his colleagues aboard the Pelican kindly shared the images and video with us.

Elsa’s Favorite Stories:

• Mixing with Neanderthals: The Neanderthal genome–newly sequenced from ancient bones–reveals that Neanderthals and early modern humans interbred in the Middle East.
  The study and news coverage from Science magazine.
  More on human evolution from the Smithsonian.
• Climate, Soil, and Economic Inequality: Why is wealth distributed unevenly around the world? It’s not all history and politics. Regional differences in climate and soil go a long way toward predicting whether humans will use land for agriculture or hunting-gathering. Land use, in turn, predicts population density and power.
  The study.
  Website of study author Jan Beck. (His lab usually studies how insects, not people, are distributed on the planet.)
  A review of Jared Diamond’s book Guns, Germs and Steel.
• Mayan Water Pressure: Residents of the ancient Mayan city of Palenque might have enjoyed flush toilets and decorative fountains, thanks to a high-pressure spring-fed aqueduct. A constriction at the end of the aqueduct pressurized the water, which might have spouted up to six meters high. The aqueduct is the first evidence of engineered water pressure in the Americas before the Spanish arrived.
  The study.
  History and photos of Palenque.

Music in Science: When he was in graduate school, Alonso Córdoba’s research addressed the evolutionary relationships among animals. This meant amplifying and sequencing a lot of DNA using PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Find out which little-known Bob Marley song Alonso looped for hours on end in the lab. Alonso now teaches genetics and molecular biology at Ohio Northern University.
Song: Revolution, by Bob Marley
Album: Natty Dread

This week: We have more raptor news in today’s show – Elsa discusses new findings about what bald eagles eat, and what that means for their conservation on California’s Channel Islands. Then a fascinating finding about what elephants think of bees. You’ll also hear how the oil spill on the Gulf coast might affect U.S climate policy. Also some perspective on a non-native fish headed toward the Great Lakes. And we hear how a meteorology professor uses music in his classroom.

Elephants Fear Bees: We’ve all heard the urban myth about how elephants are afraid of mice. But it’s quite a different creature that can make these giant beasts run for cover – the African bee! Not only do elephants flee from bees, but they also make low rumbling alarm calls to warn each other.  This news is being welcomed by farmers in Kenya (where the research was done) who are eager to protect their crops from elephants.

Credit for image above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/exfordy/ / CC BY 2.0
Watch elephants flee after hearing a “bee” alarm call.
The study.
A post about this study was named Blog Pick of the Month by the journal PLoS ONE.

Rename that Fish! American catfish farmers imported Asian carp in the 1970s to control algae on their fish farms. Some fish escaped and are now headed toward the Great Lakes, posing such a threat that the White House even convened an “Asian Carp Summit” earlier in the year. One possible solution to the expanding Asian carp population is to encourage Americans to eat the fish, but the current name doesn’t tempt the palate. Should the fish be renamed to make it more marketable? What should that name be?
Report by: The World’s Alex Gallafent.
Learn more about Asian carp in the Great Lakes.
Ready to try it? Find some Asian carp recipes here.
You can suggest appetizing names on The World’s discussion page.

Stopping Non-native Species: Can getting more Americans to eat the Asian carp stop the fish from taking over the Great Lakes? For an answer to that question, I went to an expert on invasive species. He also told me about some new tools built by scientists to stop the import of potentially invasive non-native species.
Guest: Reuben Keller
More about North America’s invasive species from the Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.

Impact of Oil Spill on US Climate Policy: Up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are thought to be spilling into the water after last month’s rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The slick has begun to reach the Louisiana shore, and the US Navy has been sent to help avert an economic and environmental disaster. Last month, President Barack Obama eased a moratorium on new offshore drilling, but he has now banned oil drilling in new areas off the US coast while the cause of the spill is investigated.  Listen to this story about how the oil slick could affect US energy and climate policy.
Report by: The World’s Katy Clark.
A great graphic for understanding the spill from the Times Picayune.
Satellite images and maps of the oil spill.
Oil spill coverage from Science magazine’s policy blog, ScienceInsider.

Elsa’s Favorite Stories:

• Inbreeding in Darwin’s Family: Three of Charles Darwin’s ten offspring died in childhood, and he fretted that the others weren’t very “robust.” Their health problems may have been due, at least in part, to the fact that Darwin married his first cousin Emma Wedgewood.
  The study.
  More about Darwin’s life on Podcast no. 51.
  Our Science Forum on Darwin’s life and works.
• Genetics of Worm Regeneration: You can chop a planarian flat worm all to bits, and each one regenerates a whole worm–including a new brain. Now researchers have found a gene that is essential to rebuilding the worm’s eyes and brain.
  The study.
  BBC interview with one of the study authors.
• Bald Eagle Diet: Bald eagles lived on California’s Channel Islands from the Pleistocene until DDT wiped them out in the 1960s. Now a small population is getting re-established. But what will they eat? A new study of prehistoric and historic eagle bones suggests that today’s birds may go after food that endangers their own health or other threatened species.
  The study.
  Channel Islands bald eagle webcam.
  More about the Channel Islands Bald Eagle Restoration Program.

Music in Science: Meteorologist John Knox wants his students to know they’re not in for a typical boring science class, and he proves it by playing music before each lecture. Knox teaches meteorology and geography at the University of Georgia in Athens. He told us about the haunting song that started his whole musical curriculum. You’ll also hear a clip from his class band playing the same song!
Song: The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot

Opening Music: Shotgun Wedding, by When Cousins Marry
Album: Shotgun Wedding (You can download some of the songs for free.)

This week: There’s a new discussion on our Science Forum. You can chat with economist Scott Barrett about the science and geo-politics of geoengineering. So come join the discussion! In today’s show, you’ll hear a story about geoengineering and a fascinating tale about a patient with Parkinson’s disease. Also, Kenya’s wildlife officials are busy transporting thousands of herbivores from game reserves in one part of the country to the Amboselli National Park. Our Music in Science segment is back, and a Canadian scientist tells us what he listened to while writing his PhD thesis. Oh, and there’s a little treat at the end of today’s show!

Engineering the Climate: With countries largely stalemated over cuts in greenhouse gas pollution, many are looking to massive technological interventions to help cool the planet. But that raises a huge ethical question: Who gets to decide whether and when to use these? This story is linked to our new Science Forum discussion. Don’t miss it – just click here to participate. The conversation’s live until April 19th.
Report by: The World’s Alex Gallafent.
A report on geoengineering by the U.K’s Royal Society.
Hack the Planet, a new book by science reporter Eli Kintisch.
Get a quick guide to geoengineering technologies with Hack the Planet Safety Cards.
March Geoengineering Confab Draws Praise, Criticism

Cycling with Parkinson’s Disease: A doctor in the Netherlands has discovered that some people who suffer severe symptoms of Parkinson’s disease can ride a bicycle with relative ease.
Guest: Dr. Bastiaan Bloem of the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in Nijmegen.
See a video of this patient cycling.
BBC’s info on Parkinson’s Disease.

Relocating Wildlife in Kenya: Wildlife rangers in Kenya have begun one of the biggest relocations of wild animals in history. They’re hoping to move some seven thousand zebras and wildebeest from private game reserves across the country into the Amboselli National Park.  The park has been devastated by drought and, the authorities say, it needs the animals to help restore the natural balance. Our East Africa correspondent Peter Greste has been following the zebras from capture to release.

Report by: The BBC’s Peter Greste.
Amboselli National Park.

Music in Science: Simon Donner studies the impact of climate change on coastal ecosystems. He spends a lot of his time doing computer modeling, but that can get monotonous. Back when he was a graduate student writing his PhD thesis in Madison, Wisconsin, he made it a point to leave the lab and work outside to the tunes of Calypso music.
Simon Donner’s Blog.
Song: He No Dead Yet, by King Fighter.
Album: Calypso Awakening from the Emory Cook Collection.