Thanks to falling equipment costs, solar power is heating up. Join Ira and guests in this hour of Science Friday for a look at new technologies that are making solar power a more economical choice for meeting our energy needs.

Plus, spinach tainted with E.coli 0157 has made more than 140 people sick and caused at least one death. In this hour, we'll look at how epidemiologists were able to trace the source of the contamination to spinach. Is the FDA doing enough to ensure that our food is safe?

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:
William Keene
Senior Epidemiologist
Oregon Public Health Division
Acute and Communicable Disease Program
Portland, Oregon

Caroline Smith de Waal
Food Safety Director
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Washington, DC

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Travis Bradford
President and Founder, Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development
Author, "Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry"
Cambridge, Massachusetts

Jeffrey S. Nelson
Solar Technologies Manager
Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry," by Travis Bradford. MIT Press, 2006.

(find books discussed on previous broadcasts)

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This segment produced by Annette Heist