Perpetual Notion Machine

The Perpetual Notion Machine speaks with USDA Forester Karl Welch about his work in the Chequamegon National Forest. We talk about Wisconsin’s evergreen trees, among them pines, spruce, tamarack, and cedars.
This show is part of WORT’s two-day drive to inform our listeners about easy ways to provide financial support to WORT! We talk about both Evergreen donations (get it?) and how qualified listeners can give via IRA distributions if they choose. To find out more about how to donate to WORT, please visit out website at www.wortfm.org and click on the orange donate button.
Other websites for this show:
Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest – Home
Wisconsin’s evergreens–exploration for kids!
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The Perpetual Notion Machine speaks with UW Professor Francisco Pelegri about his research and how it is advancing work within the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Great Lakes Biobank. Pelegri is a professor and genetics researcher who is department chair at the UW-Madison Departments of Genetics and Medical Genetics. His work includes finding ways to preserve the DNA of threatened animal species before they lose biodiversity within their populations, similar to the seed banks currently preserving biodiversity among plants. We discuss the science behind this work, the land ethic that informs it, and the global impact of the technology.
Photo: Francisco Pelegri with dwarf danio fish. Bryce Richter/University of Wisconsin-Madison. Courtesy of On Wisconsin Magazine. 
 
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The Perpetual Notion Machine speaks with geologist Eric Carson about the geological history of Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, where the lack of glacial deposits and glacial landforms indicate that this portion of the midwest has apparently never been covered by glaciers (source: Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey publication). Research is still underway to further understand the geological forces that contributed to the unique landscape.
Map courtesy of Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey
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You may have seen trendy temperature blankets on social media where crocheters around the world record their temperature each day or week using different colors for different temperatures. This results in a colorful array, and a crafty way to visualize trends over time.
Our guest on this episode of Perpetual Notion Machine is Andrew Hahn, a Newsroom Developer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who crocheted a beautiful bathymetric map of Lake Mendota using worsted weight wool and acrylic.
He and host Lauren Hicks discuss the untraditional ways of data visualization and how journalists are turning to crochet to tell data stories.  They also weave into conversation how data is becoming more intertwined with art and the importance of data visualization.
About the guest:
Andrew Hahn is a Newsroom Developer at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a UW-Madison Alum, and a map fanatic who used crochet to illustrate Wisconsin lakes.
You can find more of Andrew’s work on his Twitter. You can also read his most recent article titled “Actors, athletes, and spies: These 72 people are the most ‘famous’ from each county in Wisconsin.”
Photo by Andrew Hahn. 
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On this edition of the Perpetual Notion Machine, we speak with University of California-Berkeley professor and author David Sedlak about his latest book Water for All: Global Solutions for a Changing Climate, published in 2023 by Yale University Press. In it, he identifies six water crises and sites ways these could be mitigated to meet water needs across the globe–not only for people, but for ecosystems.
David Sedlak is the Plato Malozemoff Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and director of the Berkeley Water Center. He earned his Ph.D. in Water Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1992 and B.S. in Environmental Science from Cornell University in 1986.  He is the author of the award-winning book Water 4.0: The Past, Present, and Future of the World’s Most Vital Resource. David’s Ted Talk, Four ways we can avoid catastrophic drought has over a million views.
This interview originally aired in two parts on February 8 and 15, 2024.
Author photo: Shira Bezalel
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The Perpetual Notion Machine speaks with ecologist Carl Safina about his latest book Alfie & Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe. The book tells the story of Alfie, a near-death baby Eastern Screech Owl that Safina and his wife Patricia rehabilitated. Alfie had a remarkable impact on their lives as she thrived and raised her own family. Carl’s relationship with Alfie led him to ask questions about how humans relate to the natural world “across cultures and throughout history.”
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