Host brings science talk to nonscientists

CARRBORO -- Ernie Hood is a low-watt journalist with a high-brow niche.

For nearly a year, he has squeezed some of the Triangle's leading scientific minds into a cramped radio studio to explain their work and speculate on North Carolina's future.

Hood, 53, is host of "Radio in Vivo," a science-based talk show on Carrboro's scrappy, all-volunteer WCOM 103.5 FM station. The Jan. 17 show will mark Hood's first anniversary.

In one year, he has interviewed experts in infant cognition and mice genetics, acupuncture and biotechnology.

His guests have included Gov. Mike Easley's science adviser, the state medical examiner and the founder of Chapel Hill's world-renowned TEACCH autism treatment center.

"I try to gear it towards the educated lay person," said Hood, who has cultivated a tone that's headier than casual listening but more accessible than a science journal.

His mission: to translate complex concepts into language any reasonably smart person could understand.

"It's an ongoing need," Hood said. "Science is so misunderstood."

Still, Hood's challenges are considerable.

The station's signal reaches Carrboro but not all of neighboring Chapel Hill. He has no budget. No assistants. By trade, he's a freelance science writer, not a trained scientist.

"I must admit," Hood said, "I only took one science class in college: astronomy."

None of that has stopped him from amassing an impressive archive of ideas and visions from North Carolina's science community.

Each broadcast is posted on Hood's little-trafficked Web site as an Apple iTunes podcast. That way, listeners anywhere in the world can access his interviews at their leisure.

But Hood isn't really sure who his fans are. His Web site has only ticked off about 550 page views since November.

"If more people knew about it, they'd listen," said Linda Birnbaum, a director with the Environmental Protection Agency's experimental toxicology division.

Birnbaum, a recent guest, had never heard of Hood's show until she got the invitation. She now recognizes that Hood is doing precious work, she said.

"So many scientists think what they do is so esoteric that they can't possibly explain it to people who aren't experts," she said. "But we really need to be able to explain our work to the educated lay public."

Hood caught the science bug late in life, as a commercial video producer in the 1990s.

With a partner, he produced in-house videos with Research Triangle Park firms like GlaxoSmithKline. "Over hundreds of projects," he said, "I received a layman's education."

He later spun his newfound interest into an innovation-focused PBS series called "Breakthrough," which foreshadowed "Radio in Vivo."

("In Vivo," by the way, refers to experiments on living subjects. Hood chose it because it's a term well known to researchers and his program is broadcast live.)

For now, Hood's show is a labor of love. He's interested in syndication and making a living off radio.

Chris Frank, the station manager who picked up "Radio in Vivo," is convinced that Hood will move on.

"As a science writer, he's got the expertise to hang with the science heavyweights -- people with national significance," Frank said.

"It's a really high-quality show. Just as good as anything produced at WUNC. I'm sure he'll get wider distribution."