May 2, 1979 - Dr. Ray Sterling, director of the University of Minnesota's Underground Space Center, and Kathleen Vadnais, editor of "Earth Shelter Digest", talk with MPR’s Dale Connelly about earth sheltering. Sterling and Vadnais give insight into structures and their energy benefits. They also answer listener questions.
June 21, 1979 - Dr. Robert Bonner, University of Minnesota Department of Medicine; and Dawn Laine, president of the Minnesota Dietetic Association, talk with Dan Olson about the effects of sugar on human bodies. Bonner takes Dan Olson on a tour of the University's Clinical Research Center. He and other scientists at the center have performed several studies in recent years on sugar.
June 23, 1979 - On this regional public affairs program, John Welckle and Craig Stoneberg, social studies teachers from Burnsville High School, discuss a future studies course at their school. They are joined by students Mark Thompson and Eric Thompson, who have completed the course.
June 29, 1979 - MPR’s Tom Meersman interviews Lee Botts, chairman of the Great Lakes Basin Commission. She discusses the present and future status of the Great Lakes. Topics include phosphorus and algae problems, the definition of “dead lakes,” and pollution.
July 11, 1979 - Richard Buckminster Fuller, American architect, speaks to the Women's National Democratic Club. Topics include architecture, economy, and inflation. Following his speech, Fuller answers audience questions. Fuller was also a systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist.
July 20, 1979 - MPR’s Rich Dietman interviews Dr. Frank Busta, member of the Food Science Department at the University of Minnesota. Busta discusses controversy that has arisen in a related sorbate study and about whose side food scientists are on...consumers or big business?
July 25, 1979 - MPR’s Lee Axdahl provides a report on pollution concerns of PCBs (aka - polychlorinated biphenyls) in the Great Lakes. Axdahl tours the Environmental Protection Agency's research ship Crockett as it traverses Lake Superior. Scientists on the vessel are examining the health of the water.
August 17, 1979 - Professor Robert McKinnell, of the Department of Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Minnesota, talks with MPR’s science reporter Rich Dietman about the controversy and research concerning cloning.
August 24, 1979 - MPR’s Dan Olson and Rich Dietman visit the National Weather Service office. They talk to meteorologist John Graff and others who explain their forecasting equipment, the costs of the operations, trends in weather, and other aspects of their work.
October 4, 1979 - MPR’s Dan Olson interviews experts on what organic farming is and what its value is. The group includes Margery Peterson, principal author of a Minnesota Department of Agriculture publication on organic farming; Marilyn Larson of the Organic Growers and Buyers association; Lester Frohip, an organic farmer from Southwestern Minnesota; and Russell Adams, Jr., a soil biochemist at the University of Minnesota.