Make Science Make Sense

About 1 in 9 Americans older than 65 have Alzheimer's Disease, the most common form of dementia. Population health experts predict that the number of people diagnosed with dementia will nearly double by 2050. Medical researchers are urgently seeking solutions and potential therapies to stop the onset of dementia, but its root causes are still not well understood. For decades, researchers have investigated the buildup of two proteins, tau and amyloid-beta, detected in post-mortem brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. Therapies targeting the dysfunction in these proteins have shown minimal benefits to patients suffering cognitive decline.

So Jackson Laboratory scientist Dr. Alaina Reagan started looking elsewhere for answers - specifically in the system she knew best. Alaina studies the cerebrovascular system and how a person's genetics may dictate how blood circulates and flows to the brain. In this episode, she discusses a crucial lab study that established a link between the MTHFR gene variant in 40% of the world's population and blood vessel damage. In a refreshing take on genetic science, Alaina explains how the variant influences the mechanics of blood flow but isn't the singular cause of dementia. She explains how keeping our minds active could help offset the deficiency associated with this one-letter misprint in our genetic code.

For information about the Howell Lab and Jackson Laboratories, visit: https://www.jax.org/research-and-faculty/research-labs/the-howell-lab

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While writing a book on how human civilizations have historically depleted farm soil nutrients with dire consequences, geologist David Montgomery watched his wife, Anne, revive their backyard's “crap” dirt. Through persistence, composting, and trusting natural processes, Anne nourished once hopeless soil back to health, and her garden has flourished ever since.

Combining David's geological knowledge with Anne's biological expertise, the couple launched the Dig2Grow movement and conducted the first national study comparing the nutrient density of crops and livestock raised on side-by-side regenerative and conventional farms. In this episode, Dr. Anne Biklé and Dr. David Montgomery discuss their findings, explain the link between soil health and human well-being, and make the case for why everyone should care about the dirt that grows their food.

To learn more about Dig2Grow, visit: https://www.dig2grow.com/

Order What Your Food Ate, the book that this research was developed for, here: https://bit.ly/4xziF8N

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Dr. Jennifer J. Carroll heard the same story in her interviews with people who overdosed on opioids and were being treated in emergency departments: their supplier was arrested.

In Episode 6, Dr. Jennifer J. Carroll discusses research measuring the relationship between police drug seizures and drug overdoses in the city of Indianapolis. Using police records of overdose and public records of overdose, the researchers predicted the chance of an overdose within mere meters and days of a police raid. Understanding this association and the threat of drug supply disruptions helps us rethink the most effective approaches to drug enforcement and preventing death from drug overdose in communities across the U.S.

Read the paper published in the American Journal of Public Health: https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307291

Read the CDC guidance document, Evidence-Based Strategies for Preventing Opioid Overdose: What’s Working in the United States, co-authored by Jennifer Carroll: https://www.cdc.gov/overdose-prevention/media/pdfs/2018-evidence-based-strategies.pdf

Learn more about evidence-based strategies for overdose prevention here: https://www.naco.org/program/opioid-solutions-center

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and alcohol or drug problems often co-occur, or exist together, and military veterans experience these challenges at higher rates than civilians. For years, research has suggested that veterans don’t always benefit from PTSD treatments in the same way that civilians do, pointing to a need to learn more about the treatments that work for them. Today, we talk with clinical psychologist and mental health researcher Dr. Shannon Blakey, who breaks down new research on what actually works for veterans confronting these dual disorders.

Read Shannon's article in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy: https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0002043

Learn more about different types of therapy for mental health and addiction here:

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/prolonged_exposure.asp

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/cognitive_processing.asp

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/cooccurring/tx_sud_va.asp

https://strongstartraining.org/upcoming-events/

For healthcare providers: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/consult/index.asp

For patients/families: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/

In our media-saturated world, our kids are impressionable targets for advertisements for foods that are “high in” ingredients linked to obesity and nutrition-related disease: saturated fats, sodium, sugar, and calories. Children who see these ads have poorer health trajectories and higher rates of obesity. Unhealthy food ads contradict every parent’s best intentions to provide their child with a nutritionally balanced diet, turning daily choices into hair-pulling battles and grocery aisle meltdowns.

In this episode, we are joined by nutritional epidemiologist Dr. Lindsey Smith Taillie and media effects researcher Dr. Francesca Dillman Carpentier, who teamed up to understand the impact of global food policies that restrict advertising of unhealthy foods toward children. The study examines a case study of new regulations that rolled out in Chile, and how the country took a stand against food advertising for the sake of preserving the health of children. Lessons from Chile are spreading across the world and could serve as a model for reducing the influence of advertising on poor dietary choices for kids in the United States, where one in five children are obese. 

Learn more about the UNC Global Food Research Program here: https://www.globalfoodresearchprogram.org/

Read the paper published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12966-023-01454-w

In today’s world, children are surrounded by stressors that can jeopardize their mental health. National statistics show a troubling increase in mental health disorders and a growing incidence of suicide among younger populations over the past decade. Many parents and caretakers hesitate to discuss critical topics like death and suicide, fearing that such conversations may do more harm than good. But what does the science say about having talks about suicide with young kids? 

In this episode, we tackle this important issue and highlight a research project focused on suicide prevention among children under 10 with experiences that put them at risk of mental health problems. Child psychologists Dr. Adam Bryant Miller of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dr. Caroline Oppenheimer of RTI International discuss their study adapting a suicide risk assessment for young children and examining its impact on children and parents. They provide insights from their research and offer actionable guidance for families seeking to support their children’s mental health and prevent suicide.

Read the article in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

#childadversity #youthmentalhealth #suiciderisk #suicideprevention #youthsuicide #stopyouthsuicide #988helpline #sciencetranslation #sciencecommunication

This episode addresses a sensitive yet important topic and may not be suitable for all listeners. Anyone struggling with thoughts of suicide should dial 988 for immediate support. 

It’s easy to think of climate change as a simple story: rising temperatures and sea levels driven by human activity. But the reality is far more complex. Changes in the natural world are often uneven, unpredictable, and difficult to forecast.

As oceanographer Nick Record explains in this episode, climate change unfolds in “fits and spurts” rather than in a smooth, linear trend. That complexity is part of what makes it so challenging to fully understand.

In this episode, we make sense of that complexity through a case study in the Gulf of Maine. Nick, alongside his longtime friend and industry collaborator, lobsterman and marine biologist Curt Brown, shows how signals of a shifting climate appear in unexpected ways: in the feeding grounds of endangered right whales, in sudden changes in water salinity, in the loss of cold-water kelp forests, and in the lobster traps that Curt and other harvesters pull from the depths of the ocean.

Together, their perspectives highlight how science and on-the-water experience work hand in hand to better understand a changing ocean.

Links:

Make Science Make Sense Podcast

Paper Discussed: Early Warning of a Cold Wave in the Gulf of Maine

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

NERACOOS Mariners Dashboard

Air pollution isn’t just about what you breathe in today. It’s about how our bodies process toxins and the invisible changes that lead to diseases over time. 

In this episode, we talk to molecular and cell biologist Dr. Shaun McCullough to unpack how repeated exposure to pollutants can change how our cells respond, and why those effects aren’t the same for everyone. His laboratory group is developing methods to test the effects of chemical pollutants on airway cells by observing cellular activity and reactions in the laboratory. In this episode, he discusses evidence from a study using new approach methodologies (a.k.a. “NAMs”) to test different amounts of exposure to pollutants on human cells in a controlled laboratory setting, but using real human tissue samples. 

From gene expression to personalized risk, this conversation breaks down how modern toxicology is evolving and what it could mean for public health, policy, and your everyday environment.

The views we share are our own and don’t represent our employers or affiliated organizations.

Key Words: 

#airpollution #lungdisease #toxicology #NAMs #geneexpression #invitro #pollution #environmentalhealth #respiratorydisease #airwaydisease #environment #molecularbiology #researchapplications

Key Topics:

How repeated exposure to pollutants affects cells differently than one-time exposure

Why individuals respond differently to the same environmental exposures

What NAMs are and how they’re changing toxicology research

Differences between acute vs. chronic exposure

How this research can inform public health and regulation

Links:

Make Science Make Sense Podcast: https://www.makesciencemakesensepod.com

EPA Air Quality Index: https://www.airnow.gov

NIH Initiative on Complementary Animal Research: https://commonfund.nih.gov/animalresearch

Link to the paper discussed in this podcast: https://doi.org/10.1093/toxsci/kfab128

How We Met and Why We Started Make Science Make Sense

While translating complex research for broader audiences—and covering for each other as new moms—we noticed a pattern: incredible scientific work was being published every day, but much of it never reached the people who could benefit from it.

That’s why we created @MakeScienceMakeSense, a podcast where each episode takes one scientific paper and works directly with the scientists behind it to translate the research into a clear, engaging story about what the evidence actually means. Our first series will reveal the human relevance of science exploring the potential harms of air pollutants, changes in the ocean’s climate, the impact of child food advertising, the mental health of military veterans, and much more.  

Before we launch our first episode translating alongside scientists, we invite you to get to know us a little better. In this special mini-episode, learn about our shared passion for science communication, and along the way, hear about our friendship, our very different personalities, and how singing Taylor Swift in a pedicab in New York City somehow became part of our story.

First our first full episode drops March 23. Please subscribe to stay connected!

The opinions shared here are our own and don’t represent those of our employers or any organizations we’re affiliated with.

🌐 www.makesciencemakesensepod.com

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Make Science Make Sense is a new podcast that turns scientific evidence into meaningful insights for everyday life. The hosts, Elizabeth and Mia, focus on unpacking recent scientific research and drawing connections between evidence and actions related to our health, our food, our living environments, our behaviors, and other aspects of practical life.

Takeaways

• Unpacking scientific research for everyday understanding
• Bridging the gap between scientific world and everyday life

Chapters

• 00:00 Introducing Make Science Make Sense