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Perpetual Notion Machine

Perpetual Notion Machine is a look at contemporary scientific issues and discoveries in a way that is accessible, understandable and entertaining to the non-scientists of the listening community. Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Gene Editing and Pompe Disease

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Tonight, the Perpetual Notion Machine again explores the realm of gene editing. Five years ago this month, PNM talked with biomedical engineer Kris Saha about the process and techniques of gene editing. Borrowing an innate immunity mechanism in bacteria called CRISPR, and its Cas9 protein, scientists have been learning how to use, or essentially program, […]

PNM 2020 Year in Review

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Tonight, the Perpetual Notion Machine looks back on some of our best shows for the year 2020. We don’t usually do this for our last show of the year, but this year has been so debilitating, caustic, and just plain pathetic. Maybe, starting tomorrow, things can change, even for just a little bit. During this […]

COVID + Vaccines (Edited from “A Public Affair” Dec. 1, 20...

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Tonight, the Perpetual Notion Machine has aired an edited version from a previous episode of the WORT daily afternoon program A Public Affair. PNM has done a fair number of its own episodes concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. But on Dec. 1, 2020, host Carousel Bayrd talked with Dave O’Connor about what we have learned about […]

Violence (Rebroadcast From Feb. 2, 2006)

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Tonight the Perpetual Notion Machine rebroadcasts a show that originally aired on Feb. 2, 2006. Distinguished professor of anthropology Neil Whitehead was our guest. Generally, Neil studied indigenous peoples in the isolated regions of the Amazon rainforest, and their often brutal tribal practices. Thus, he was interested in the human nature of violence, and wrote […]

No More Landfill! Complex Plastic Recycling in Post-Industrial Waste

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Tonight the Perpetual Notion Machine talks with Professor George Huber and Professor Reid van Lehn of the University of Wisconsin – Madison Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and the Department of Energy’s Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. They are the co-authors of the paper ‘Recycling of multilayer plastic packaging materials by solvent-targeted recovery and […]

The Wild Turkey Show!

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On this Thanksgiving special, new Perpetual Notion Machine host Robert W Monthey explores the restocking of wild turkeys in Wisconsin–with some special guests from the field. His guest is Patrick Kaiser, a retired biologist and former Wildlife Manager with the Wisconsin DNR. Robert says the idea for the interview was sparked by his family farm […]

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