Should there be camels in Kansas? Elephants roaming Illinois? This week, a paper published in the journal Nature proposed 're-wilding' North America, by introducing populations of large animals related to ones that roamed the Great Plains during the Pleistocene era (1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago). The researchers call it a proactive approach to conservation, arguing that it is silly to base the entire planet's hopes for conservation of megafauna mainly on the success of species in Africa. We'll talk with one of the authors of the paper about the idea.

Then, we'll speak with chemist George Whitesides about his work in the fields of organic chemistry and nanotechnology. Whitesides is one of the authors of a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that describes a way to use tiny algae as beasts of burden, hitching tiny beads to them like loads attached to a team of 'micro-oxen.' His work goes far beyond that, however, including groundbreaking work on 'soft lithography' and in the study of nanoscale surfaces. We'll find out more. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (3-4 Eastern). Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests:
Josh Donlan
PhD Candidate, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York

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George Whitesides
Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Re-wilding North America," by Josh Donlan et al. Nature, vol 436, pp 913-914, 18 August 2005.

"Microoxen: Microorganisms to move microscale loads, " by Douglas B. Weibel et al. PNAS Early Edition, published online 15 Aug 2005, doi: 10.1073/pnas.0505481102.

"On the Surface of Things: Images of the Extraordinary in Science " by Felice Frankel and George M Whitesides. Chronicle Books, 1997.

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This segment produced by Charles Bergquist