Fast Food Moratorium
The Los Angeles City Council has adopted a
moratorium for new fast food restaurants in
South Los Angeles. IN the upcoming year, the
Council hopes instead to attract new sit-down
restaurants and grocery stores to this inner-
city neighboorhood:


Scientific Detective Work
Fifteen years ago, hexavalent chromium was found
in the groundwater in Hinkley, California. Chrome-6
is a known toxic and cancinogenic, and the discovery
lead to the largest settlement ever paid in a direct
action lawsuit in U.S. history. Erin Brockovich, who
was instrumental in constructing the case, was also
the lead character in Steven Soderbergh's 2000 film
by the same name.
Last year, the Soutch Coast Air Quality Management
District in Diamond Bar, California discovered elevated
levels of the same toxic in Rubidoux, not very far from
Hinkley. More than four months of scientific detective
work, lead the AQMD to the source of the dangerous
emission.




Jadis
Join us for a visit at Susan Liebernman's and
Parke Meek's legendary prop house Jadis
in Santa Monica. Between the Tsla coils,
MacIntosh Medical Machine and unuqely big
knife switch - it's like stepping into
Frankenstein's laboratory.


The Big Break
In February 1964, Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill got
a chance for the BIG BREAK - appearing on the
Ed Sullivan Show. But things didn't quite go their
way - were four lads from Liverpool were to blame?

The Status of Moviestars
In Hollywood, movie stars are still hard currency.
They can be somewhat of an insurance a movie will succeed at the
box office. But the glitz and glamour seemsto have faded. And there
are several examples of movies that are both successful and profitable -
although the posters lack the really big names. One recent example is "Juno:"
Aired on Swedish National Public Radio in January, 2008


Rocketry
Fifty years ago (on October 4, 2007) the very first artificial satellite - Sputnik -
was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. And the race to explore outer space
had started. Sputnik sparked an interest in space exploration, as well as in amateur rocketry.
And perhaps this is one reason why thousands of Americans of all ages still gather to launch
their own model rockets, ranging anywhere from a couple of inches to several feet. The high
powered rockets can stand 14-15 feet tall, and many reach altitudes of up to 30,000 feet.
Once a month - and today is not an exception - the amateur rocketeers in Southern California,
gather at a dry lake bed, at 2,700 feet in the Mojave Desert to watch while the rockets they've
spent weeks and months building - in just a few seconds, blast into the sky>
Aired on APM's Weekend America in April, 2007


Your Brain on Music
How the brain listens, and is
affected by the sounds it hears.
Featuring music therapist Holly Miller
and neuro scientist Daniel Levitin
Aired on Swedish National Public Radio.
March, 2007

Click here for translation

 

The Singing Yeast Cell
You can hear your heart beat. It makes a sound.
And so do other cells. By using the tiny, soft "finger"
of an Atomic Force Microscope, scientists at the
Univ. of California Los Angeles, were able to
feel the week, mechanical motions inside a cell.
When these motions were transformed into sound,
you can hear the cell sing.
Featuring graduate student Andrew Pelling and
professor James Gimzewski.
The story will air on the experimental Internet
and DAB SRc broadcast on
Swedish National Public Radio in the Spring of 2004,
and has also aired on WZBC, WYSO, WJFF, WCAI and East Village Radio.


Bucky Balls and Butterflies
The thickness of a human hair is between 60 and 90 millionth of a meter.
And that is considered pretty big to a nano scientist, who normally deals with matter that is
just a fraction of that size. Inspired by an abstract image of one such small object, the
carbon molecule, architect Buckminster Fuller designed the geodesic dome that housed
the American Pavilion at the World's Fair in Montreal in 1967. Fuller's work, in turn, incited
two professors at the University of California, Los Angeles - one in nano technology and
one in media arts - to begin a very close and intense collaboration - using an atomic force
microscope to create images, and sounds, of the very tiniest objects. A few years ago,
media arts professor Victoria Vesna and professor of chemistry James Gimzewski built
an exhibit around sounds and sights of "singing" yeast cells. In their latest installation,
a metallic blue butterfly is the center of attention.
Aired on WNYC's Studio 360 in December, 2007


Grupo Beta
Illegal immigration isn't going away as a presidential campaign issue.
Two Democratic front-runners have stumbled on whether to grant driver's licenses
to undocumented immigrants. And leading Republicans are talking tough on the subject.
The candidates have their differences. But this much is clear -- there aren't many
votes to be won in handing out goodies to illegal immigrants. You get a different
perspective SOUTH of the border. There, a Mexican government agency PROTECTS
migrants and, yes, even hands out food and water.
The agency is called Grupo Beta. Claes Andreasson sent us this report.
Aired on NPR's Weekend Edition December, 2007


NAFTA turns 14
This fall, the U.S. Congress is expected to ratify new bilateral free trade agreements
with Peru, Panama and Colombia. In many ways these new treaties are based on NAFTA
- the North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico -
in spite of the mixed reviews of this 14 years old treaty:

 


Dirty Harry is a one hour
documentary about the
people working at, and
living nearby the Nevada
test site where more than
900 nuclear weapons tests
were conducted between
1951 and 1992.
   Please visit the show's
own web site at:
www.amberpinestudios.com/dirtyharry.htm