The Maine Question

The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 has led to a pandemic that swept the globe, halted economies and upended life as we know it. How and why infections like this occur is something that Melissa Maginnis, an assistant professor of microbiology at UMaine, thinks about every day. How do viruses work? How and why do […]

The word fat evokes a certain reaction in our culture. For associate professor of neurobiology Kristy Townsend and her students it’s the subject of research on many levels. Fat communicates with the brain, it battles disease, it plays a role in the aging process. It also comes in a variety of colors with differing functions. […]

Maine marks its 200th birthday March 15, 2020. So for this episode of “The Maine Question,” host Ron Lisnet talks with University of Maine history professor Liam Riordan about some of the key people involved in the drive to statehood, what life was like 200 years ago, and what themes from those early days are […]

We visit with paleoecologist Jacquelyn Gill. She studies plants and animals that have been gone a long time- sometimes millions of years. She also studies our natural world today with the goal of trying to understand how and why some species have gone extinct while others have survived and what it means for how we […]

The latest episode of “The Maine Question” asks, what does the future hold for Maine’s forests? Forests play a central role in defining the state — from its geography to the economy to just about any aspect of Maine’s way of life that you can think of. But the way forestry is practiced and the […]

Every day in the United States, about 10,000 people turn 65. Nowhere is that aging trend more profound than in the state of Maine. But reaching that milestone age is a lot different now than it was for previous generations. Many people 65 and older are active, healthier, continue working, and live longer than ever before. In the second episode of the second season, Len Kaye, […]

The latest episode of “The Maine Question” asks, what changes affect how news is delivered and consumed in the 21st century? Fake news, paywalls, Twitterbots, artificial intelligence, Russian trolls, TikTok, and confirmation bias are fundamentally changing the media landscape. It’s a far cry from when Walter Cronkite was America’s most trusted television newsman and people […]

In this episode we continue our conversation with Paul Mayewski, director of the University of Maine Climate Change Institute. In Part 2, Mayewski recalls drilling ice cores on glaciers and living in a tent for weeks while it’s minus 50 degrees C. In addition to sharing exciting adventures, Mayewski talks about the tremendous power and […]

In Part 1 of this two-part podcast, “The Maine Question” asks what it’s like in the most remote, harsh and spectacular locations on Earth? Anyone with a thirst for adventure has likely dreamed of seeing the South Pole, Mount Everest, or the massive ice sheets of Greenland. Paul Mayewski has done all of that and […]

In this episode we’ll look at the challenges and opportunities of starting and running a food or beverage business in Maine. Is Maine a good place to create businesses such as these? What is the Maine brand? It’s one thing to have a great idea for a delicious food product or a unique beverage but […]