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Autism in the workplace
A push to move people with autism into the workforce means people on the spectrum and employers need to hone social skills

A lot has changed about how we view people with autism since the term first emerged a generation ago.  Acceptance and inclusion are improving, and people like animal behaviorist Temple Grandin have shown that being on the autism spectrum doesn’t preclude a rewarding career. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair sits down with Grandin to talk about autism in the workplace and looks at a local effort to help autistic kids transition to independent adulthood.
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How to find the dinosaur lurking inside your chicken
The real-life science behind the Jurassic Park franchise is forging new paths for paleontology

Not all dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago.  In fact, they’re still all around us. Birds are dinosaurs, and evidence for that toothy ancestry is growing. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair explores local efforts to understand the dino/avian connection, and a plan to engineer a very early bird.
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The low-tech side of genetic testing
While great strides have been made in mapping our genome, a Cleveland researcher says the best genetic screening is a thorough family medical history

Finding the genetic underpinnings of diseases is a big part of modern medicine, but the head of the Cleveland Clinic’s genomic institute says the key to identifying your personal risk factors is less genetics and more genealogy. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair looks at how knowing your family history is the best way to know which genes to watch out for.  
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Cleveland's Devonian motherlode
Scientists scrambled to save a treasure trove of specimens as construction crews dug a path for I-71 through one of the world's richest fossil beds

Cleveland is known for many things: the Rock Hall, LeBron James, Playhouse Square. But it’s also known worldwide for its fish, and we’re not talking walleye and perch.

The shale layers below Cleveland contain the world’s best preserved fossils of a monster fish that once terrorized the shallow sea covering ancient Ohio.

In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair marks the 50th anniversary of the effort to save these fossils from being buried under acres of concrete.
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Think[box] is Cleveland's free-flowing makerspace
Inventors, artists, and tinkerers have a new seven-story playground in the expanded think[box] at Case Western Reserve University

It’s being called an inventor’s paradise.  ThinkBox is a fully outfitted makerspace on the Case Western Reserve University campus with millions of dollars’ worth of equipment free for students and the public to use. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St. Clair tours the place that’s providing tools for Northeast Ohio’s newest entrepreneurs.  
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Stand up desks help kids learn on their feet
An Akron start-up has developed an easy to use standing desk that is being tested by a school specializing in teaching kids with ADHD

Recent studies have shown that sitting too much is hard on your body. One way to combat the hazards of a sedentary lifestyle is to work standing up.  In this Week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair looks at an Akron start-up that helps to get kids learning on their feet.
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The power of NO
Researchers in Cleveland say its time to rewrite the textbooks and introduce the third member of the respiratory cycle, nitric oxide

People breathe in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide - that’s the respiratory cycle as it’s long been known.  But researchers in Cleveland say there’s more to the story, and it may be time to rewrite the text books. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair reports that one other gas is necessary for life.
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Archaic Ohio uncovered in Lorain County
Researchers this summer discovered a one-of-a-kind site that is adding to our understanding of a mysterious period of prehistory

Around the time Stonehenge was being built in England, native peoples here in Ohio were building more humble structures. But an excavation this summer of an ancient settlement in Sheffield Village shows that early Ohioans lived pretty comfortably here 4,000 years ago. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair looks at how a first-of-its-kind discovery is shedding new light on archaic Ohio.
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The promise and the hype of graphene
Graphene is a wonder material that might someday live up to its hype, but it's not there yet

It’s been called the miracle material -- strong, lightweight, flexible, bendable, super-conducting, transparent -  graphene is also among the most hyped materials known. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair looks at local research in graphene, and tries to separate the promise from the fluff surrounding the world’s newest wonder material.
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Inside the battered brain
Experts in Cleveland look at the challenges of diagnosing, treating, and preventing concussions in athletes and soldiers

A new awareness on the effects of brain injuries in sports and the military brought top experts to Cleveland last week for a national concussion conference. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair reports on the challenges of diagnosing trauma in the brains of soldiers and athletes.
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From factory to fish farm at the Foundry Project
A Cleveland entrepreneur plans to transform a former factory into a self-sustaining urban oasis anchored by a high-tech fish farm

Empty factories dot the landscape as symbols of Ohio’s faded industrial past.  But in one Cleveland neighborhood, a visionary entrepreneur is working to transform an empty factory into a self-sustainable urban oasis. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair meets the man behind the Foundry Project.
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A deeper look at anger at God
Researchers in Cleveland say anger at God is a common emotion that mirrors normal human relationships

Science and religion are often seen as mutually exclusive, but for researchers in Cleveland, a scientific approach is helping to shed light on one of religion’s most indelible questions. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair meets psychologists who study the phenomenon of anger at God.  
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Restoring touch to a lost limb
Researchers in Cleveland are adding a sense of touch to prosthetics that will allow amputees to feel again

A team of researchers at the Cleveland VA Medical Center are working on a breakthrough technology that will return the sense of touch to those who have lost a hand. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair reports on the challenges of creating an artificial limb that both moves and feels.
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The challenge of finding a healthy balance with technology
As the use of mobile technology grows, so do the physical, mental, and societal drawbacks of non-stop distractions

Finding a healthy balance with online technology is one of the biggest challenges facing today’s kids. Even college students struggle with the distractions of cell phones, and according to recent research, their grades are suffering. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair looks at growing evidence of the need to resist the siren’s call of technology.
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Retraining the brain to swallow better
From preemies with nerve damage to Alzheimer's patients, swallowing problems can have serious consequences. But brain training can help

It’s one of those things that you don’t pay attention to until something goes wrong. Swallowing is a basic human function that can have serious complications for some people, from preemie babies to elderly adults.  In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair meets a researcher at the Northeast Ohio Medical University who’s studying how to retrain the brain to overcome problems with swallowing.
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Boxing and the brain
The Cleveland Clinic has linked repeated blows to the head to shrinkage in parts of the brain and reduced brain function in fighters

The Cleveland Clinic is expanding a study that’s looking at the effects of boxing on the brain. Most of the research is taking place at the Clinic’s Las Vegas facility, but now fighters from the Midwest and East Coast are coming to Cleveland to be tested. In this week’s Exploradio, WKSU’s Jeff St.Clair reports that the findings extend beyond the world of professional fighting.  
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