America’s Nuclear Future | C4E Presents: National Special #001

America’s Nuclear Future | C4E Presents: National Special #001

This special episode of Collaborative for the Earth (C4E) [stonybrook.edu/c4e]examines how U.S. efforts to move away from fossil fuels collide with surging electricity demand from AI and data centers, prompting companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google to pursue nuclear power.  Distributed by American Public Media from January through April 2026, C4E presents in its first national radio broadcast the history of nuclear energy in the United States, from Eisenhower’s 1953 “Atoms for Peace” through Three Mile Island, and changing public opinion under the Trump administration. Today, approximately 94 reactors supply just over 18% of U.S. utility-scale electricity. The narrative episode explores the restarting of shuttered plants, the promise and skepticism around small modular reactors, and shifts in energy policy as climate solutions that were discussed during an April 2025 Governor’s Island forum debate, in partnership with The New York Climate Exchange. Learn more with:  SBU’s Collaborative for the Earth Debuts National Broadcast Special on Nuclear Energy [https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/sbus-collaborative-for-the-earth-debuts-national-broadcast-special-on-nuclear-energy/] SBU Hosts 2nd Annual Environmental Forum on Nuclear Energy’s Role in Climate Solutions [https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/sbu-hosts-2nd-annual-environmental-forum-on-nuclear-energys-role-in-climate-solutions/] Understanding Nuclear Energy with C4E’s ‘Nuclear 101’ Conversation [https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/understanding-nuclear-energy-with-c4es-nuclear-101-conversation/] Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you: 01:25 Three Mile Island Shock 04:05 Nuclear Numbers Shift 05:54 Why This Podcast 07:21 AI Power Hunger 11:13 Restarting Old Reactors 13:47 Debating Nuclear Role 20:47 Safety After Fukushima 25:34 Regulation Lessons Learned 27:01 Nuclear Waste Dilemma 31:31 Do We Need Nuclear 32:50 Long Island Case Study 35:28 Build Times and Costs 37:23 Safety Versus Speed 41:10 Geopolitics and Supply Chains 45:43 Four Paths to Expand 47:43 Small Modular Reactor Hype 51:55 Financing the Nuclear Bet Tell a friend and share a link to this episode. You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e [http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e] or wherever you stream audio. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php] For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth. Special thanks to The New York Climate Exchange and Stony Brook’s Office of the Provost, Office of Marketing and Communications and the MS in Journalism program for their support. Host: Heather Lynch Writer: J.D. Allen Editors: Terry Sheridan, Lori Kie Producers: Jordan Vallone, Melanie Formosa Post Production: Denis Murray  Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday

Passenger Pigeon Comeback | C4E Presents #044

Ben Novak [http://linkedin.com/in/ben-novak-b3235023] is bringing back the extinct passenger pigeon. Host Heather Lynch and Novak, program manager for the Biotechnology for Bird Conservation Program for Revive & Restore [https://reviverestore.org/], discuss de-extinction, restoring ecosystem function by using gene editing or selective breeding to give living relatives traits needed to fill extinct species’ ecological roles, and correcting Jurassic Park misconceptions about using ancient DNA directly. Novak explains how museum specimens provide fragmented DNA for sequencing and the limits of mapping genomes, emphasizing goal-oriented trait recovery over perfect genetic identity.  Learn more with:  * “Could Extinct Species Save Today’s Forests? Scientist Makes the Case for Darwin Day [https://news.stonybrook.edu/university/could-extinct-species-save-todays-forests-scientist-makes-the-case-for-darwin-day/]” * “De-Extinction [https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/9/11/548]” by Ben Novak * “Towards Practical Conservation Cloning: Understanding the Dichotomy Between the Histories of Commercial and Conservation Cloning [https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/15/7/989?utm_source=researchgate.net&utm_medium=article]” by Ben J. Novak, Stewart Brand, Ryan Phelan, Sasha Plichta, Oliver A. Ryder and Robert J. Wiese * “First endangered black-footed ferrets, Mustela nigripes, cloned for genetic rescue [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.17.589896v1]” by Ben Novak, et al. * “Natural Selection Shaped the Rise and Fall of Passenger Pigeon Genomic Diversity [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aao0960]” by Ben Novak, et al. Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you: * 01:40 Defining De-Extinction * 02:44 Jurassic Park Myths * 05:32 Where The DNA Comes From * 08:41 Sample Quality And Tissues * 11:44 Mapping Ancient Genomes * 14:16 How Close Is Close Enough * 23:04 Naming De-Extinct Species * 25:30 Tiny Mutations Big Traits * 28:12 Building Diversity In * 30:56 Passenger Pigeon Progress * 31:33 Ferret Genetic Rescue * 33:55 Why Birds Are Hard * 35:52 Germ Cell Workaround * 37:55 Mitochondria Purity Myth * 44:16 Policy And Release * 46:46 Stem Cells Future Tools Tell a friend and share a link to this episode. You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e [http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e] or wherever you stream audio. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php] For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth. Host: Heather Lynch Editor: J.D. Allen Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday

Energy Economics | C4E Presents #043

Dana Golden [https://www.linkedin.com/in/dana-golden-factor/] studies energy markets and electricity transmission. Host Heather Lynch and Golden, graduate research assistant in the Graduate School [https://www.stonybrook.edu/grad/] at Stony Brook University, speak about why Suffolk County electricity averages much higher than the national average and how prices are set through generators, transmission constraints, and utilities. Golden explains how data-center-driven load growth raises prices and strains reliability, and supports an “all of the above” mix including nuclear and emerging geothermal. Learn more with:  * "Offshore Horizons: HVDC Wind Farms-Exploring Techno-Economic Dimensions [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/10990264]" by D. Singh, D. Golden, et al. * “Investment and the Transfer of Power: Dynamic Effects of Transmission in Electricity Markets. [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1e_ly2-uOG1pENd8s0fqi5woUS2_bSW_0/view?usp=sharing]” by Dana Golden * ⁠Hear Dana’s lecture on environmental and natural resources economics⁠ [https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAZiKZI16fdJxWz-6qWhSJ3FN1l8XsSl-&si=aMDsGG_leER1Efda] * Breakneck [https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324106036] by Dan Wang Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you: * 00:32 Why Does Suffolk Power Cost More * 01:49 What Is HVDC * 05:20 Where HVDC Is Used * 07:45 Renewables Drive HVDC * 12:44 Preventing Cascade Failures * 15:50 ISOs and Market Design * 20:54 Renewables Forecasting Risk * 27:07 Do Data Centers Raise Prices * 28:52 Nuclear and Energy Crisis * 37:56 China vs US Building * 42:48 Transmission Costs and Permitting Tell a friend and share a link to this episode. You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e [http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e] or wherever you stream audio. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php] For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth. Host: Heather Lynch Editor: J.D. Allen Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday

Fires From Afar | C4E Presents #042

Health experts Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi [https://publichealth.stonybrookmedicine.edu/faculty/Mahdieh%20Danesh%20Yazdi] and Nozomi Sasaki [https://publichealth.stonybrookmedicine.edu/faculty/NozomiSasaki] look at how climate change is increasing wildfire smoke exposure and related health risks. Host Heather Lynch, as well as Danesh Yazdi and Sasaki from Program in Public Health [https://publichealth.stonybrookmedicine.edu/home] at Stony Brook University, discuss evidence linking airborne particles to increased mortality and cardiopulmonary impacts. They point to growing research, using large administrative datasets and local hospital data to assess impacts, that suggests wildfire smoke is more harmful than other pollution sources. Learn more with:  * “Long-term Effect of Exposure to Lower Concentrations of Air Pollution on Mortality among Medicare Participants and Vulnerable Subgroups [https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2542519621002047],” by Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi, Yan Wang, Qian Di, Weeber J. Requia, Yaguang Wei, and Liuhua Shi * “Associations between air pollution and psychiatric symptoms in the normative aging study [https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ac47c5],” by Xinye Qiu, Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi, Marc Weisskopf, Anna Kosheleva, Avron Spiro, Cuicui Wang, Brent A. Coull, Petros Koutrakis and Joel D. Schwartz * “Emulating causal doseresponse relations between air pollutants and mortality in the Medicare population [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12940-021-00742-x],” by Yaguang Wei, Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi, Qian Di, Weeberb J. Requia, Francesca Dominici, Antonella Zanobetti and Joel Schwartz * “Fish consumption and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from diet are positively associated with cognitive function in older adults even in the presence of exposure to lead, cadmium, selenium, and methylmercury: a cross-sectional study using NHANES 2011–2014 data [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002916523663038?via%3Dihub],” by Nozomi Sasaki, Laura E. Jones and David O. Carpenter Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you: * 01:34 Air Pollution and Mortality * 10:56 Environmental Justice and Work * 22:01 Who Is Most Vulnerable * 28:57 Short vs Long Effects * 30:12 Heavy Metals in Smoke * 35:56 Fish Mercury Tradeoffs * 41:28 Practical Air Tips * 44:33 EVs and Hidden Costs Tell a friend and share a link to this episode. You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e [http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e] or wherever you stream audio. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php] For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth. Host: Heather Lynch Editor: J.D. Allen Producer: Jordan Vallone Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday

Concrete Facts | C4E Presents #041

Marija Krstić [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/civileng/people/individual_faculty_pages/krstic], assistant professor of practice in the Department of Civil Engineering [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/civileng/] at Stony Brook University, is interested in cement production, which is a major source of global carbon emissions. Host Heather Lynch and Krstić explore the difference between cement and concrete, why steel reinforcements are essential for structural concrete, and how Portland cement – the binder, or glue in concrete production – requires high kiln temperatures, which releases CO2. Krstić explains why it is still unlikely that concrete is to be fully replaced with sustainable alternatives and changed methods in the near future.  Learn more with: * “Field-Application-of-Recycled-Glass-Pozzolan-for-Concrete [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marija-Krstic/publication/333836903_Field_Application_of_Recycled_Glass_Pozzolan_for_Concrete/links/5df0188e92851c83647380c4/Field-Application-of-Recycled-Glass-Pozzolan-for-Concrete.pdf],” by Marija Krstić and Julio F. Davalos * “Macro - and Microstructure Evaluation and Field Applications of Concrete with Recycled Glass Pozzolan [https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1927&context=cc_etds_theses],” by Marija Krstić * “Freeze–Thaw Resistance and Air-Void Analysis of Concrete with Recycled Glass–Pozzolan Using X-ray Micro-Tomography [https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/14/1/154],” by Marija Krstić , Julio F. Davalos, Emanuele Rossi, Stefan C. Figueiredo, Oguzhan Copuroglu Skip ahead to the chapter that interests you: * 00:39 Why Concrete Matters * 02:49 Krstić’s Path to Concrete  * 05:00 Concrete 101 * 08:54 Steel and Concrete Are A Perfect Couple * 10:09 Why Cement Emits So Much CO2 * 15:20 Lower-Carbon Cement Paths * 22:10 Supply & Safety Challenges * 24:57 Recycling Concrete * 27:11 Can We Replace Concrete? Tell a friend and share a link to this episode. You can find all our episodes at www.stonybrook.edu/c4e [http://www.stonybrook.edu/c4e] or wherever you stream audio. Sign up for our newsletter: https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php [https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/c4e/newsletters.php] For all things Stony Brook on social media: https://gosbu.co/m/social C4E Presents is a production of Stony Brook’s Collaborative for the Earth. Host: Heather Lynch Editor: J.D. Allen Producer: Jordan Vallone Program Manager: Jennifer Gilday