Sanden Totten Science Reporter

Sanden Totten
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Sanden Totten is KPCC's Science Reporter. Prior to that, Sanden was a producer for KPCC's Take Two program. He’s been on staff since the launch of the Madeleine Brand Show in 2010.

As a Science Reporter, Sanden covers everything from advances in medical technology to dinosaur fossils and space exploration. Before joining Southern California Public Radio, Sanden worked at Minnesota Public Radio, where he was co-creator of In "The Loop," a program that made the audience part of the show. He was also part of the team behind the Public Insight Network, a crowd-sourcing project designed to bring unique perspectives to news.

Sanden is the winner of several honors, including the Radio and TV News Association’s Golden Mike for “best writing” and the National Entertainment Journalism's award for “best radio news story.” He was a 2011 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. With a BA in Psychology and English from Oberlin College in Ohio.

Sanden also attended school in Japan and Sweden, and speaks both languages.He is a fan of fast music, comics and movies about time travel.


Stories by Sanden Totten

Spam on the decline

If you were checking your e-mail over the holidays, you may have noticed something was missing.Spam.The mass marketing messages were on the decline across the world last month. That's according to data from computer security firm, Symantec.

The street that beat the floods

This week's rainfall has been a real test for Elmer Avenue in Sunland. It's a street notorious for flooding. In years past the water could reach up to resident's front steps.

Time to hang up the Spider-Man tights?

Yesterday, another actor in the Spider-Man musical took a spill (video here).The injured list for the 65 million dollar mess is up to four.

Farewell to the Disney fairy tale?

Disney's princesses are in trouble. They're not trapped in a tower or under a sleeping spell... they're just not reaching the right audiences.

Marines have the skills to call the shots at umpire camp

As the nation celebrates the contributions of the men and women of the armed forces, a group of former and current Marines is looking to make a contribution of a very different sort. They are attending a week-long training camp to learn the art of baseball umpiring.

California's palm trees under attack

California is under attack. There is an alien species invading our borders. These devious creatures are small, crafty and have an insatiable appetite.

Anti-Obama books selling briskly

Negative critiques of President Obama are par for the course right now as election season comes to a head. Most conservative candidates, and even some Democrat ones, have taken swipes at our commander in chief.

"America's Favorite Serial Killer" at Toys-R-Us

For those of you who haven't seen Showtime's series Dexter, it's the story of a compulsive killer who hacks people into bloody messes.

Hotel becomes "death ray" in the sun

Yeah, it is hot today in California. But at least not burning the hair off your head.

Strange Tips For Studying That Actually Work

Students heading back to school, listen up. What you’ve been told about studying is wrong. Camping out in one quiet location, going over material again and again in large undisturbed blocks of time – this may actually be the wrong approach to learning facts and figures. Sanden Totten chats with Madeleine about some unconventional tricks for getting the most out of your cramming sessions. NOTE: In the piece Sanden says Nate Kornell is from Mitchell College. He is actually a professor with Williams College.

Agave Nectar is Sweetly Deceptive

High fructose corn syrup is practically a dirty word in some circles. It's so bad that the Corn Refiners Association has created commercials to combat the sweetener's image problem.

Ready to visit the moon?

It's only a matter of time before some upstart space program makes travel to the moon affordable.

From teleportation to deep sea diving, China rocks the world of science

Turn your back on China for one minute and they go and pull off something like quantum teleportation.

Dinosaurs get weirder, awesomer

Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

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Get ready to be sucked down the rabbit hole in 3... 2... 1.