On Demand
Please Explain
A Weekly Feature on The Leonard Lopate Show
Airs every Friday at noon
In our Please Explain feature, we set aside time every Friday afternoon to get to the bottom of one complex issue. Ever wonder how New York City's water system works? Or how the US became so polarized politically? We'll back up and review the basic facts and principles of complicated issues across a broad range of topics — history, politics, science, you name it.
Email us your suggestions for Please Explain!
Please Explain: Dry Cleaning
The Leonard Lopate Show
June 26, 2009
Today’s Please Explain is all about dry cleaning--how it works, what chemicals are used, and how it is becoming more environmentally friendly. We'll be joined by Wayne Edelman, President and CEO of Meurice Garment Care and past President of the National Cleaners Association. He is also the doctor of "Ask The Clothes Doctor" on Garmentcare.com. And Kim Kostka, Professor and Acting Dean of the Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin Rock County.
Please Explain: The Atmosphere
The Leonard Lopate Show
June 19, 2009
On today's edition of Please Explain, we’ll look at the Earth’s atmosphere—what it's made of, how it makes life on the planet possible, determines weather patterns, and how human activity is changing it. We'll be joined by Dr. Joel S. Levine, Senior Research Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center, and Dr. Richard Somerville, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Research Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, and author of The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change.
You find the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change here.
Please Explain: Bees
The Leonard Lopate Show
June 12, 2009
The honeybees is just one species of bee, and they often get the most attention, but there are an estimated 20,000 different species of bees in the world. Bees play an important role in pollinating plants, and many have highly developed methods of socialization and communication. We'll learn all about bees, and the latest on Colony Collapse Disorder, with Bryan Danforth, professor of entomology at Cornell University, and Maryann Frazier, senior extension associate in the Department of Entomology at Penn State University.
Please Explain: Girls
The Leonard Lopate Show
May 22, 2009
Today's Please Explain is about the nature of girls--their minds, bodies, brains, emotional lives, and behaviors.
We’ll be joined by psychotherapist Lisa Machoian and Margaret M. McCarthy, professor of physiology at the University of Maryland.
Listen to last week’s Please Explain: Boys.
Please Explain: Bankruptcy
The Leonard Lopate Show
May 08, 2009
Bankruptcy rates went up 32% in 2008 compared to the previous year. Marie Beaudette, blogger for the Wall Street Journal’s Bankruptcy Beat and Dow Jones Newswire reporter, and Robert Lawless, Galowich-Huizenga Faculty Scholar at the University of Illinois College of Law, explain what filing for bankruptcy means for corporations and consumers and why the rate of bankruptcy filings is expected to go up in the next year.
Please Explain: Jazz Improvisation
The Leonard Lopate Show
May 01, 2009
Improvisation is one of the most important aspects of Jazz, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Jazz pianist Bill Charlap breaks down improvisation and gives a special live performance.
Please Explain: Measuring Climate Change
The Leonard Lopate Show
April 24, 2009
There’s substantial evidence that the earth is undergoing major adjustments as a result of human-made carbon emissions in the atmosphere, but what does climate change really mean? NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt and photographer Joshua Wolfe, editors of Climate Change: Picturing the Science, explain how scientists gather evidence and information about how the earth’s climate is changing—measuring air and ocean temperatures, water levels, glaciers and polar ice caps, and tracking storms—and how that data is interpreted.
Please Explain: Addiction
The Leonard Lopate Show
April 17, 2009
There are more than 20 million substance abuse addict in America today and about 2 million of them turn to residential rehab each year. CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us to explain the science behind addiction and the toll it takes on individual addicts.
Please Explain: Organ Transplants
The Leonard Lopate Show
April 10, 2009
The lives of more than 100,000 patients in the U.S. depend on finding an organ to replace a damaged or diseased one. Only a fraction of people who need a new kidney, liver, or heart actually receive one, but the procedure saves thousands of lives every year. We’ll be joined by Dr. Jean Emond, Thomas S. Zimmer Professor of Surgery and Director of Transplantation at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and by Susan Senk who received a heart transplant in 2007.
Find out more about organ donation in New York at www.donatelifeny.org and at www.savelivesnewyork.org.
Please Explain: How We Read
The Leonard Lopate Show
April 03, 2009
If it comes to you easily, being able to read is easy to take for granted. But reading is an extraordinarily complex process, one that researchers are still working to understand fully. On today's Please Explain we look at the science of reading. Dr. Sally E. Shaywitz and Dr. Bennett A. Shaywitz are professors in Learning Development at the Yale University School of Medicine and Co-Directors of the Yale Center for Learning.
- About This Program »
- Staff Bios »
- Contact Us »
- Guest Hosts »
- Guest Picks »
- Latest Show »
- Tapes & Transcripts »
- Show Archive »
Features & Series
Podcast
Stay up to date.
Subscribe to the Podcast
