Genes, Germs and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are (0:36)

Guest: Bill Sullivan, PhD, Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Author of “Pleased to Meet Me: Genes, Germs, and the Curious Forces That Make Us Who We Are.” 

Almost everything we think we know about ourselves is wrong, says Bill Sullivan. “All of us like to think that we march to the beat of our own drum. But science has revealed that the rhythm is played by percussionists we can’t see with the naked eye. We march through life believing that we’re the drummer – but the shocking evidence reveals this is an illusion. The truth is that there are hidden forces orchestrating our each and every move.” (Originally aired 8/1/19)

 

New Study Shows Impact of Wildfire Smoke on Children’s Immune Systems (35:06)

Guest: Mary Prunicki, PhD, MD., Asthma and Pollution Expert, Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research, Stanford University

We’re entering wildfire season. National fire officials predict the Pacific Northwest could have be hit worse this year because of unusually warm, dry conditions. While we can’t control if it rains, we can set off intentional fires to prevent larger, more intense fires from igniting. The idea is to reduce the amount of burnable “fuel” that builds up in a forest so future fires won’t be so damaging. “Prescribed burns” are controversial, though, because they sometimes get out of control. And because, where there’s fire, there’s smoke, which is dangerous to breathe. (Originally aired 8/13/2019)

 

Feeling Anxious? Get More Deep Sleep. (50:42)

Guest: Eti Ben-Simon, Post-Doctoral Researcher in the Center for Human Sleep Science, University of California, Berkeley

Have you felt anxious today? How well did you sleep last night? The two are so connected that when researchers at the Center for Human Sleep Science at UC Berkeley took 18 perfectly healthy adults and forced them to stay awake all night, the next day, half of the poor souls registered anxiety levels high enough they’d normally trigger a clinical diagnoses of anxiety disorder. (Originally aired 1/7/20)

 

How Partisan News Sways the Public (1:02:02)

Guest: Adam Berinsky, MIT Professor of Political Science, Director of MIT Political Experiments Research Lab

We’re living in a very politically polarized time in America – Democrats are more firmly Democrat and Republicans are more firmly Republican. And often the news media gets some of the blame for that: cable TV and the internet make it possible to get your news only from sources that align with your political views. So which comes first? Do people choose a biased news outlet because they like its slant? Or is the news media making us more politically polarized? (Originally aired 9/17/2019)

 

Historic Slave Auction Infiltrated by Northern Reporter (1:19:36)

Guest: Peter Carlson, Author of “Junius and Albert’s Adventures in the Confederacy”

One hundred and sixty-one years ago – in March of 1859 – a wealthy planter who’d squandered his fortune planned an auction to sell all of the enslaved people on his Georgia plantation. This was two years before the Civil War broke out. A newspaper reporter from the North got wind of the auction and made the risky decision to go undercover as a buyer. The story he came back with outraged the world. (Originally aired 3/19/19)