Biodiversity Report And The Science Of Parenting. May 10, 2019, Part 2

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science, Life Sciences, Wnyc, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.4 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2019

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

According to a new UN report on global biodiversity, as many as one million species—both plants and animals—are now at risk of extinction, according to a new UN report on global biodiversity. That number includes 40% of all amphibian species, 33% of corals, and around 10% of insects. One might assume that this type of devastating species loss could only come as a result of one thing—climate change. But in fact, as the report highlights illustrate, it’s deforestation, changes in land and sea use, hunting, poaching, pollution, invasive species—in short, human interventions—that are causing species to disappear at a rate tens to hundreds of times higher than what has been seen over the last 10 million years. Walter Jetz, professor in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, joins Ira to discuss why the damage we do to biodiversity in our lifetimes may never be undone. Plus, if you're a new parent, you’ve probably had one of these nights. You’re up at 3 a.m., baby screaming, searching the internet for an answer to a question you’ve never thought to ask before: Are pacifiers bad for your baby? What about that weird breathing? Is that normal? Or is it time to head to the emergency room? Emily Oster is a health economist and mother of two who had a lot of those same questions as she raised her kids. She dove into the data to find out what the science actually says about sleep training, breastfeeding, introducing solid foods, and lots more in her new book, Cribsheet: A Data-Driven Guide to Better, More Relaxed Parenting, from Birth to Preschool. Ira chats with Oster and Nikita Sood of Cohen Children’s Medical Center, who monitors the underground market for breastmilk and explains why parents should be cautious.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Science Friday. I'm Irafledo. Coming up in a little bit, Emily Oster, author of CribSheet, is here to answer your parenting questions with research, what the evidence says about long-term benefits of breastfeeding, the effects of daycare on development. What would you like to know? You make the call, but only if you make the call. 844-724-8255, 844-Sy-Talk,
0:25.4	or tweet us at SciFRI. First, you might have heard the news this week that as many as one million species,
0:31.7	both plants and animals, are now at risk of extinction, according to a new UN report on global biodiversity.
0:40.4	That number includes 40% of all amphibian species, 33% of corals, and around 10% of insects.
0:49.5	Now, you might assume that this type of devastating species loss could only come as a result of one thing,
0:54.8	climate change. But as the report highlights, it's a perfect storm of deforestation,
1:00.2	changes in land and sea use, hunting and poaching, pollution, the introduction of invasive species.
1:07.1	In short, a whole bunch of human activities that in addition to rising global temperatures
1:12.0	are causing species to disappear at a rate, quote, tens to hundreds times higher than what
1:19.3	we've seen over the last 10 million years.
1:22.2	For example, over a thousand amphibian species, sometimes thought of as the canary in the coal mine of biodiversity
1:28.8	crisis, have been newly assessed as threatened or endangered, according to a new study out this
1:35.3	week in current biology. Walter Yetz, who is the lead author on that study, and also one of the
1:40.6	authors on the recent UN biodiversity report joins me to talk about them both. He is director of the Center UN Biodiversity Report joins me to talk about them both.
1:45.3	He is Director of the Center for Biodiversity and Global Change at Yale University.
1:50.3	Welcome to Science Friday.
1:52.1	Thank you.
1:53.2	Now, the report highlights say 1 million species are threatened with extinction.
1:58.2	What proportion of species on Earth is that?
2:02.8	The report assumed that about 8 million species are on Earth, and that's obviously very highly
2:08.5	debated number. We could have a whole separate program on the scientific debate on that. However,
2:14.8	I think it's fair enough to use it as an initial ballpark.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Science Friday and WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Science Friday and WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.