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b'Meet The Blind Birder Reimagining Accessibility In The Outdoors\\nFor many blind and low vision people, accessing outdoor spaces like parks can be challenging. Trails are often unsafe or difficult to navigate, signs don\\u2019t usually have Braille, guides generally aren\\u2019t trained to help disabled visitors, and so on.\\nBut nature recordist Juan Pablo Culasso, based in Bogata, Colombia, is changing that. He\\u2019s designed a system of fully accessible trails in the cloud forests of southwest Colombia that are specifically tailored to help visually disabled people connect with nature. The trails are the first of their kind in the Americas, and Culasso drew on his own experiences as a blind person and a professional birder to design the system.\\nHe talks with Maddie Sofia about how he designed the trail system and takes listeners on an adventure through the cloud forest he works in.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nHow Many Glasses Of Water A Day Do You Actually Need?\\nIf you follow health or fitness influencers, at some point you\\u2019ve probably heard something about people needing six to eight ounces glasses of water a day to be healthy. The question of the right amount of water needed for health and happiness is still an open one, and varies from person to person. But a recent study in the journal Science looked at just how much water people actually do consume each day.\\nThe study didn\\u2019t just ask people how many sips they had taken. Instead, it tracked the amount of water that flowed through the bodies of over 5,000 people around the world, using labeled isotopes to get data on \\u201cwater turnover\\u201d\\u2014how much water was consumed and excreted. The researchers found a large range of water use, driven in part by differences in body size and socioeconomic status. A small, not very active woman might drink less than two liters per day, while a large, very active woman might gulp almost eight liters a day, a four-fold difference.\\nDr. Dale Schoeller, a professor emeritus in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and the Biotechnology Institute at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, joins SciFri producer Kathleen Davis to talk about the study, the importance of water consumption, and how people can do better at estimating the amount of water they need.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nRoad Salt Is Washing Into The Mississippi River\\u2026And It\\u2019s Not Washing Out\\nThis winter has already brought significant snowfall to much of the U.S. Historically, more snow has meant more road salt. It\\u2019s an effective way to clear roads \\u2014 but also brings cascading environmental impacts as it washes into rivers and streams.\\nBut amid one powerful winter storm that walloped the Midwest in December, employees from the La Crosse County Facilities Department did something a little different.\\nAs usual, they clocked into work well before dawn to plow the county\\u2019s downtown parking lots. They were followed by facilities director Ryan Westphal, who walked each of the lots, checking for slick spots. Finding none, he didn\\u2019t lay any salt down on top.\\nThat\\u2019s a major departure from how he would have handled the situation a few years ago \\u2013 before their department made the decision to dramatically cut back on salt use to prevent it from flowing into waters like the nearby Mississippi River, which new data show has been growing saltier for decades.\\nUnder the previous protocol, in Westphal\\u2019s words, his crew would have \\u201csalted the crap\\u201d out of the lots after a snowfall like this, without giving deference to whether they actually needed it. Today, there\\u2019s a careful calculation after each time it snows to ensure they\\u2019re using just the right amount of salt.\\nTo read the rest, visit www.sciencefriday.com.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nIn \\u2018The Terraformers,\\u2019 Science Fiction Reveals Real-World Challenges\\nIn her novel The Terraformers, author Annalee Newitz takes readers thousands of years into the future to a far-away planet that\\u2019s under construction. It\\u2019s in the process of being terraformed, or transformed into a more Earth-like world that can support human life.\\nThe main character Destry, a ranger for the Environmental Rescue Team, and her partner, Whistle the flying moose, are working on the corporate-owned planet when they encounter an underground society. The Terraformers explores themes of resilience, colonization, conservation, equity, and capitalism through a sci-fi lens as Newitz invites readers to reimagine a new future.\\nGuest host Maddie Sofia talks Newitz about the inspiration behind the book and how real-world problems made their way into sci-fi.\\n\\n\\xa0\\nTranscripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on\\xa0sciencefriday.com.'