Smooth Brain Society

Dr. Dilnavaz Bhiladvala is a neurosurgeon with over 30 years of experience working in various hospitals across India and the UAE. She is the Head of Department of Neurosurgery at Al Dhaid Hospital, Sharjah, UAE before which she was the Head of Department and Professor Neurosurgery at Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, India. She takes us through how the field of neurosurgery has changed across her career. We discuss the steps involved in deciding whether surgery is required and when not to operate. Dr. Bhiladvala also shares information the public should know about neurosurgery and signs to look out for. We cover a few interesting cases across her career, her research and how technology has changed the field of neurosurgery for the better.

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Finley Ngarangi Johnson and Colleagues introduce 'Ngaruroro' which is a new model for Māori wellbeing. Fin, who is a PhD student at Victoria University of Wellington and a Researcher at the Ministry of Social Development, talks about the effort put into designing the new measure. the themes it covers and some of the issues faced when designing a wellbeing measure for the complexities of different Māori identities.

Their paper can be accessed here : https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/4/445

The episode is co-hosted by Prateek Shankar, CEO, Jungle Publics. He was a guest on an earlier episode about his work on Planetary Melancholia

See Prateek's episode here: https://smoothbrainsociety.com/2024/05/31/38-planetary-melancholia-prateek-shankar-and-valerie-navarrete/

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World Refugee Day is on the 20th of June each year and is dedicated to refugees all around the world. We spoke to Kodrean Eashae and Luis Perez from Voice of Aroha. Voice of Aroha does incredible work highlighting the stories of refugees and minority communities in New Zealand with the aims of assisting in grassroots change. Host of Me, Racism and I, Thoraya Abdul-Rassol Kodrean, joins as co-host. Our guests share their stories and speak to issues migrants and refugees face in New Zealand, the problem with the ‘refugee’ label and the growing fear of people being displaced due to climate change.

Check out Voice of Aroha: https://voiceofaroha.org.nz/

Listen to Me, Racism and I on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2YmqGwgoLYooHrgs7TFv0Y?si=190e868cf6cb42c1

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The Catholic church is the only religious entity to hold a seat in the United Nations through the Vatican city’s status as a state. Geo Robrigado, Law graduate and former President of the Victoria University of Wellington Student Union, speaks about his research in law, international relations and politics focusing on how the Catholic Church maintains its political relevance. We go through the influence of the church and how it has been evolving over time to cater to the new generations. Covering historical examples of how the church has embedded itself into global politics, how it influences other religions and how it adapts to individual locations in order to extend its reach.

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Prateek Shankar and Valerie Navarrete are founders of the Jungle Publics, a group trying to foster interdisciplinary discussions and reimagine how we relate to our planet and each other. They come on to talk about their first major publication titled "Planetary Melancholia". The article is written with Center for Complexity and the Global Arts & Cultures department at the Rhode Island School of Design. It covers a wide range of discussion points around the current state of the planet looking at how planetary crises like climate change, war, social inequality and cultural erosion are all coming together to cause impacts larger than the sum of their parts and try to understand not just the impacts on those directly affected but also the emotional dysregulation people feel by seeing all these issues unfold in front of their own phone screens everyday. Making this a unique time for personhood as we see everything good, bad and ugly unfold before our eyes in real time.

Jungle Publics : https://junglepublics.com/
Instagram: @jungle.publics
Prateek Shankar
Substack: https://substack.com/@prateekshankar
Instagram: prateekshankar_
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prateek-shankar/
Valerie Navarrete:
Substack: https://substack.com/profile/122074846-valerie-navarrete
Instagram: valerie_nav
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-navarrete-779071233/

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The use of stats and throwing around numbers in conversation is incredibly common, yet statistics itself is poorly understood. Dr. Liza Bolton from  @universityofauckland discusses the dark art that is statistics. Using examples, she takes us through some misconceptions and dispels the notion that numbers don’t lie. We cover how to identify the best ice cream store, how to not be fooled when stats are mischaracterized in media and politics, why we worship the nat 20 dice roll and is the 27 club for musicians a real thing?

Dr. Bolton's website: https://www.lizabolton.com/

Missing data in police warrant information: https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300938784/data-shows-ongoing-racial-bias-in-police-warrantless-searches
Gang numbers: https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/23-04-2024/have-gang-numbers-really-skyrocketed-in-recent-years

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Professor Tim Karl of Western Sydney University. He joined to give us a basic overview into the world of cannabinoids. He spoke about what happens in our brain when we use/abuse cannabis and all the different components the plant has. This podcast covers where research is in terms of the benefits of medical marijuana, some of the concerns which people need to be aware of and how the media often misrepresents findings in this space.

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Near-death experiences (NDEs) are common amongst those coming close to death and profoundly impact how they make sense of the world. Dr. Alex Fry of the University of Bournemouth draws on interviews with atheists who have had a NDE to explore whether death anxiety motivates attempts to make sense of the world and the extent to which the dominant belief systems in the UK shape their attempts to do so.

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As the term "international law" is brought up frequently in discourse these days we sat down with Professor Alberto Costi to get an introduction into international law and laws of armed conflict. We cover how international law works and how it is implemented? Who can be held accountable for breaches in international humanitarian law? Where do non-state actors fit in? The nuances within the Geneva Conventions and examples of past and present cases regarding genocide and why the current law is not always the best mechanism to prevent crimes against humanity.

Prof. Costi specializes in the law of armed conflict, international criminal law, international human rights law, the law of international organizations and in comparative law and EU law. He is a member of the New Zealand International Humanitarian Law Committee, serves as the Secretary-General of the International Law Association New Zealand Branch and is the Vice-President of the New Zealand Association for Comparative Law.

Prof Costi's Profile: https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/Alberto.Costi

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On this episode, Dr. Christopher Maymon, Head of the Virtual Reality lab at Victoria University of Wellington delves into the captivating realm of VR and emotion research. Explore with us as we dissect groundbreaking studies and innovative experiments, uncovering the intricate interplay between VR experiences and human emotions. From  negative emotions like fear and disgust to the the more obscure positive emotions like awe. Dr. Maymon talks us through how VR is reshaping research and how it can be incorporated in treatments of phobias

https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/christopher.maymon

Support the show

Support us and reach out!
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email: [email protected]