meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Science Magazine Podcast

Storing wind as gravity, and well-digging donkeys

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News, News Commentary, Science

4.3842 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a company that stores renewable energy by hoisting large objects in massive “gravity batteries.” Also on this week’s show, Erick Lundgren, a postdoctoral researcher at Aarhus University, talks about how water from wells dug by wild horses and feral donkeys provides a buffer to all different kinds of animals and plants during the driest times in the Sonora and Mojave deserts. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast Download a transcript (PDF). [Image: Tracy Hall/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook] Authors: Cathleen O’Grady; Sarah Crespi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Introducing Peak Scientific. With over 25 years of expertise, Peak leads the industry in providing

0:06.8

reliable, high purity gas generators for LCMS and GCMS. Whether you're in the lab conducting

0:13.2

groundbreaking research or pushing the boundaries of science, trust Peak Scientific to supply

0:18.7

gas for undisrupted workflows.

0:24.4

When it comes to your LC or GSI, don't settle for less. Choose the solution that is tested, validated, and approved by leading instrument manufacturers globally.

0:31.4

Visit peak scientific.com and quote science podcast to receive special offers.

0:37.0

Do we really need another computer?

0:39.0

One that's faster.

0:40.2

More powerful.

0:41.2

Not everyone does.

0:42.3

But to reinvent music using a neural processor,

0:45.1

work off the grid with all-day battery,

0:47.0

or bring your vision to life with AI-powered co-creator,

0:49.8

then a co-pilot plus PC can make a difference.

0:52.6

A powerful AI computer is not for everyone. But if you're trying to change the world, even if just your own, we built one for you. Microsoft Copilot Plus PCs powered byby. Each week, we feature the most interesting news and research published in science and the sister journals. First up, we talk gravity batteries, which are basically a way to store renewable energy from sun and wind in heavy things held high off the ground.

1:33.0

For that story, we talk with contributing correspondent Kathleen O'Grady.

1:36.9

Then we talk with researcher Eric Lundgren about how feral donkeys and wild horses can engineer the desert by digging wells and supplying water to the ecosystem.

1:51.6

Now we have contributing correspondent Kathleen O'Grady.

1:54.7

She visited a demonstration facility in Edinburgh where a company is testing storing renewable energy, like from wind or from solar,

2:03.5

in gravity batteries.

2:06.2

Hi, Kathleen.

2:07.1

Hi.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

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

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

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.