EarthSky en Español video segments – featuring scientists from across the U.S. – premiere this week (February 6, 2012) on Galavisión (USA), an American Spanish-language television channel owned by Univision Communications, Inc. The two- to three-minute EarthSky en Español videos are being broadcast on the popular program Detrás del Saber, with each program having its premiere Monday-Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, and with multiple broadcast times thereafter in 2012.

These videos are made possible by a grant to EarthSky from the National Science Foundation (NSF). As part of the work of the grant, EarthSky will be having the videos evaluated by professional media evaluators, with the goal of learning to reach Spanish-preferring Hispanic audiences with more science.

Galavision is a premium cable offering, and it’s also available on satellite: DirecTV channel 404 and Dish Network channel 273 and 833.

Visit EarthSky en Español online

If you want to see specific segments, their release dates are as follows:

Monday, February 6
Everglades
Piero Gardinali is developing better ways to clean human waste water as a way to save the Florida Everglades from drying up

Tuesday, February 7
Aztec Turquoise
Joaquin Ruiz studied isotopes in Aztec turquoise to determine their origin, hundreds of miles away

Wednesday, February 8
Dark Matter
Graciela Gelmini explains the composition of our universe

Thursday, February 9
Caribbean Reefs
Ligia Collado Vides talks about threats to Caribbean reefs

Monday, February 13
Disabilities and Computers
Armando Barreto designs computers for people who lack the use of their hands

Tuesday, February 14
Nanotechnology and Disease Detection
Vladimiro Mujica designs a new device that quickly and effectively detects malaria and dengue fever

Wednesday, February 15
JUNO Mission to Saturn
Michela Muñoz on the JUNO mission to Saturn

Thursday, February 16
Mars Science Laboratory
Alejandro Miguel San Martin on the new Mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory

Monday, February 20
Nopales and Diabetes
Eloy Rodriguez says eating Nopales benefits people with Diabetes

Tuesday, February 21
Nutrition and the Brain
Fernando Gomez-Pinilla explains how you are what you eat, especially your brain

Wednesday, February 22
Amazon Fires
Katia Fernandes is designing better weather forecasting for the Amazons in an effort to minimize damage from agricultural slash-and-burn fires

Thursday, February 23
Cattle Ticks
Patricia Pietrantonio explains the threats cattle ticks pose

Monday, February 27
Paramos
Daniel Ruiz Carrascal on the threats climate change poses to paramos, an important South American water source

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

ImpactRadio – 103 AM in Johannesburg, South Africa – has chosen EarthSky space blogger Laura Dattaro for a monthly on-air spot, chatting with Impact’s Laura van Niekerk about space news.

The next chat will be Thursday, February 2, 2012 at 12:30 EST (17:30 UTC or 19:30 p.m. Johannesburg time). You can listen in here. Ms. Dattaro will return to ImpactRadio at that time on the first Thursday of each month afterwards.

Impact Radio chose her after reading Dattaro’s space blogs at EarthSky.

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

Alex Reshanov

Her selection – selected from 721 entries in the 2012 competition – is titled Shakes on a Plane: Can Turbulence Kill You?. You can read it here.

It’s one of 50 articles (and one poem) to be included in the anthology.

Read Lifeform of the Week from Alex Reshanov at EarthSky.org

Open Laboratory is an annual anthology of the “some of the best science writing online.” In past years, it has been self-published on Lulu.com by its creator, Bora Zivkovic, who said:

The aim of the book is twofold: first, to showcase the quality of science blogging to the audience that does not read blogs and perhaps has a negative opinion of blogs due to the anti-blog propaganda in the mainstream media, and second, to build and strengthen the science blogging community.

This year, the anthology has been picked up by Scientific American and will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in fall 2012 as The Best of Science Writing Online 2012.

Congratulations, Alex! We are proud of you.

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

Gavin Schmidt

EarthSky interviewed Dr. Schmidt from his offices at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York in late 2011. You can read or listen to Gavin Schmidt’s interview here.

EarthSky Global Science Advisors particularly mentioned Dr. Schmidt’s outreach work including co-founding and contributing to the RealClimate blog.

Gavin A. Schmidt is a climatologist and climate modeler at the NASA GISS. He is co-author, with Joshua Wolfe, of Climate Change: Picturing the Science (2009), which combines images of the effects of climate change with scientific explanations. In 2011, he received the inaugural Climate Communications Prize from the American Geophysical Union for his work on communicating climate-change issues to the public.

EarthSky – producer of the internationally syndicated science podcasts in English and Spanish – serves as a platform for scientists to speak on important issues facing the 21st century. Through its global broadcast network and online outlets, EarthSky creates 4 million media impressions for science and scientists each day in the United States, and millions more around the world. In other words, people hear, watch or read the words of scientists – via EarthSky – that often every day.

The EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year award was established in 2008.  Previous winners include James Hansen (2008), Neil de Grasse Tyson (2009), and E.O. Wilson (2010).

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

The EarthSky team joins the PBS NewsHour and other winners today (January 12, 2012) in receiving an award for excellence in population at the 32nd Annual Global Media Awards. The award, from the Population Institute, is for Best Radio Show. EarthSky’s Managing Partner Ryan Britton is in New York City today to receive the award on behalf of EarthSky.

EarthSky Managing Partner Ryan Britton

Britton will participate in a round table event at noon today at New York’s InterContinental Times Square, where the winners will discuss their winning work. The award ceremony will come tonight at the InterContinental Times Square Gotham Park Ballroom.

This awards marks EarthSky’s second award in recent years from the Population Institute. EarthSky was also awarded the Best Radio Show prize in 2009.

Since its founding in 1991, EarthSky – a clear voice for science on 1,200+ broadcast outlets globally – has featured population experts speaking on the challenges to human society created by our still-growing numbers, for example, growing urbanization, climate-related human migration, how to feed an expected human population of 9 billion by 2050, and the economic challenges of the world’s aging population. Each EarthSky podcast is heard in English and Spanish – 4 million times in the U.S. – with millions more listeners overseas on outlets including World Radio Network and Voice of America’s Daybreak Asia/International Edition.

Listen to EarthSky’s award-winning radio shows on population:

Andrew Revkin:Earth in the year of 7 billion humans
Revkin said, “A new way of thinking is required. The old messages of ‘woe is me’ and ‘shame on you’ are so 20th century.”

Hans Rosling, global statistics expert, on numbers and hope.
Rosling says that while some numbers about Earth today reflect an overwhelming reality, some reveal a hopeful future.

Hania Zlotnik on the newest UN population numbers, According to the United Nations, Earth’s human population will cross the seven billion mark on October 31 of 2011. Zlotnik discusses the numbers with EarthSky.

Nina Fedoroff on science for global agricultural challenges, Fedoroff, a geneticist and former science advisor to Secretary of State Clinton, said, “One of the biggest challenges is how to raise the grain crops, the soybeans, the corn, the wheat that will thrive in a much harsher climate.”

More interviews, radio shows, and articles from EarthSky on Earth’s population challenge

United Nations projections suggest the world has 7 billion inhabitants as of October, 2011

Visit EarthSky at EarthSky.org, and on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The EarthSky Promise: To bring the ideas, strategies and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.

Read more about EarthSky’s Spanish Facebook page here.

EarthSky founder and president Deborah Byrd, who is an active and enthusiastic host on the English-language Facebook page, said:

EarthSky’s Facebook page is an amazing place for people who love nature and the night sky. People from all around the world post their photos of animals and landscapes, sunrises and sunsets, the moon and planets, and other objects and events in the night sky. Sometimes we’re able to gather people’s images together on a post at earthsky.org, as we did in the couple of days after Christmas 2011, when the bright planet Venus was near the moon. It has been an absolutely mind-blowing experience to see sky photos come in – in real-time – from around the world. It’s fun!

Join EarthSky on Facebook

Join EarthSky en Español on Facebook

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

As of early January 2012, EarthSky en Español had earned 18,000 friends on Facebook … and counting!

EarthSky en Español’s Facebook friends hail from all over the Spanish speaking world, including the United States, Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay.

Join EarthSky en Español on Facebook

EarthSky en Español Lead Producer Luis Castilla said:

The level of engagement of our Facebook friends is at an all time high. We have 7,000 people actively interacting with us every week, and almost 4,000 are doing so daily. Since we launched our Facebook efforts almost one year ago, our posts have been viewed more than 2.1 million times.

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

In November 2011, EarthSky earned its 12,000th follower, on Twitter. EarthSky lead producer Jorge Salazar said

We’re grateful to be able to keep our Twitter fans posted with up-to-the-minute science information. Our tweets don’t just bring our fans science news, they lead our Twitter followers to posts featuring the voices of scientists themselves. Even in the busy Twitterverse, it’s a unique communication.

Check out EarthSky on Twitter.

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”

The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) has recognized Deborah Byrd, founder and president of EarthSky: A Clear Voice for Science, with its 2011 Arts & Sciences Advocacy Award. The announcement was made November 4, 2011 at the 46th Annual Meeting in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

Deborah Byrd (left) accepts CCAS Arts and Sciences Advocacy Award from CCAS President Valerie Gray Hardcastle, dean of the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati

The CCAS Arts & Sciences Advocacy Award honors an individual or organization demonstrating exemplary advocacy for the arts and sciences, flowing from a deep commitment to the intrinsic worth of liberal arts education.

In presenting the award to Ms. Byrd, CCAS President Valerie Gray Hardcastle, dean of the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Cincinnati (on the right in photo), announced that CCAS was honoring her for creating and sustaining a digital media company that interviews scientists and brings their research and insights to the attention of millions of people worldwide, through radio, podcast, Internet, and other social media. Hardcastle said further

Deborah is an ideal example of what a liberal education can do for a person. She was an English major who discovered science as a senior, when she finally enrolled in a required general education course. She fell in love with science and then went on to merge both areas into a productive and important career.

In accepting the award, Byrd thanked the Council and noted:

We at EarthSky are thrilled and honored to accept this award. In today’s world, with a human population of 7 billion, science is more than ever vital to the well-being and sustainability of human society. EarthSky advocates for science and brings the voices of scientists to millions of people, with the goal of enabling them to understand and support scientific insights and discoveries.

She told the assembled deans:

We are grateful to the members of CCAS for their work in supporting an environment conducive to scientific research.

Since its founding in 1991, EarthSky – a clear voice for science on 1,200+ broadcast outlets globally – has featured scientific experts speaking on topics ranging from space to earth to the human world. Each EarthSky podcast is heard in English and Spanish – 4 million times in the U.S. – with millions more listeners overseas on outlets including World Radio Network and Voice of America’s Daybreak Asia/International Edition.

The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, whose Board unanimously chose Deborah Byrd as its 2011 CCAS Arts and Sciences Advocacy Award winner, is based at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. CCAS is the largest national association of Colleges of Arts and Sciences with approximately 1,600 members at nearly 500 institutions of higher education. Taken together, their member institutions educate more than four million students per year.

Previous winners of the CCAS Arts and Sciences Advocacy Award have included the Phi Beta Kappa Society (2008); philosopher Dr. Martha Nussbaum (2009); and the American Council of Learned Societies (2010).

The EarthSky Promise: To bring the ideas, strategies and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.

EarthSky 22 – 22 minutes of science and music weekly from Austin, Texas, brought to you by the producers of the daily 90-second EarthSky science series – is now airing on 35 broadcast and internet radio stations across the U.S.

Check out this week’s EarthSky 22 – August 7, 2011 – here

EarthSky managing partner Ryan Britton said:

Our daily EarthSky series reaches millions daily, and – by adding a 22-minute weekly show – we aim to reach millions more with the message of science. EarthSky 22 is the best blend of science and music you’ll find anywhere. It’s especially aimed toward a youth audience, but people of all ages have told us how much they enjoy it.

EarthSky 22 host Jorge Salazar and lead producer Mike Brennan chillaxin on a Friday afternoon after releasing the latest EarthSky 22 to stations and fans.

Ed Hewitt of internet radio station IPR365.com said:

Thank you very much for making the 22-minute version of EarthSky available.

Online listeners check out EarthSky 22 here.

New programs – which include a science-news-of-the-week segment – are made available to radio stations by 3 p.m. every Friday. Online listeners can listen to the shows here.

Broadcasters download the show from here – available 3 p.m. every Friday.

The EarthSky promise: “To bring the ideas, strategies, and research results of scientists to people around the world, with the goal of illuminating pathways to a sustainable future.”