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"It's Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry in Everything"

Aired on Wednesday, July 14th.

Our guest is Kate Biberdorf, a scientist and chemistry professor at The University of Texas who -- as "Kate the Chemist" -- has written a series of very popular books on science for young readers. Now comes her first book for adults, which she tells us about -- it's a fun, wide-ranging, easy-to-read work called "It's Elemental: The Hidden Chemistry in Everything." Ever wondered what makes dough rise? Or how exactly coffee gives us that all-important energy boost? Or why shampoo can sometimes make hair look greasy? Or why we're supposed to store wine bottles on their side (and not standing upright)? The answer to all of these -- in other words, the chemistry of all of these -- can be found here. Per Publishers Weekly: "Readers will come away with an appreciation of how crucial -- and how cool -- chemistry actually is."

Rich Fisher passed through KWGS about thirty years ago, and just never left. Today, he is the general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, and the host of KWGS’s public affairs program, StudioTulsa, which celebrated its twentieth anniversary in August 2012 . As host of StudioTulsa, Rich has conducted roughly four thousand long-form interviews with local, national, and international figures in the arts, humanities, sciences, and government. Very few interviews have gone smoothly. Despite this, he has been honored for his work by several organizations including the Governor's Arts Award for Media by the State Arts Council, a Harwelden Award from the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, and was named one of the “99 Great Things About Oklahoma” in 2000 by Oklahoma Today magazine.
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