The Measure of Everyday Life

Public health workers and medical workers help to make it possible for us to live the lives we do, although we do not always emphasize that in talking about our history. On this episode, we talk with Maria Smilios, faculty member at the Columbia University School of Public Health and author of The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses who Helped Cure Tuberculosis.

What we know about the environment reflects in part what we learn through news coverage. How do journalists cover stories about the environment? Has that changed? What will the future look like? On this episode, we talk with Suzannah Evans Comfort of Indiana University, author of The Environmental Beat: Inside the Struggle to Legitimize the Environment as News (published by the University of Missouri Press).

You might know how difficult it can be to wake a sleeping teenager. It turns out that teenagers in the U.S. may not be getting enough sleep, though. On this episode, we talk with public health researcher Rachel Widome of the University of Minnesota about her work.

Depression affects many people around the world with implications for daily interactions between people. What do we know about long-term consequences of depression for our health? On this episode, we talk with Jody Greaney of the University of Delaware about her work to assess how depression might be connected to our future heart health.

We have been building dams for hundreds of years, many of which you can find today across the U.S., and yet we often haven't investigated how to use these technologies to balance societal concerns and benefits. On this episode, we talk with Smit Vasquez Caballero, an economist at RTI International who recently evaluated an innovative collaboration between The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to improve our use of dams.

Many people need help as they age and many families count on a combination of their own caregiving and professional assistance. What about people who don't have access to help? On this episode, we talk with Dr. Kristen Giombi of RTI International about work she and her colleagues have done to find out who uses caregiving services and who does not.

It is easy to take the air we breathe for granted, as it is with us every moment of our lives, and yet that air is vital not just for our daily activities but also for the long-term health of our brains. On this episode, we talk with Dr. Haneen Khreis of the University of Cambridge and Texas A&M University about her investigation into potential links between air quality and dementia.

Changes in our climate are forcing many communities to grapple with the possibility of uprooting and relocating. How exactly are communities able to manage governance issues such moves entail? On this episode, we talk with Christopher Galik of North Carolina State University about his work with co-author Brad Johnson to answer that question.

Sexual assault affects people of all ages, including adolescents. On this episode, we talk with Shael Norris, Founding Director of SafeBAE, a survivor-founded and youth-led organization dedicated to preventing sexual violence among teens.

Some of us stay up late, but how much time do we spend awake without artificial light? What can we learn from being awake in the dark? On this episode, we talk with author Leigh Ann Henion about her book, Night Magic: Adventures among Glowworms, Moon Gardens, and Other Marvels of the Dark.