The Pulse

By WHYYScience Health & Fitness

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The Pulse episodes

July 27, 2018Unintended Consequences
In science and medicine, we often fail to predict the outcomes of our experiments and actions. The result: unintended consequences. Sometimes the surprise is an interesting success. Other times, it’s a disaster. On this episode of The Pulse, how we handle the things we didn’t see coming.
The hour includes: the Nazi physician trial that helped shape medical ethics; how hospitals are dealing with incessant medical alarms; and the history of Macquarie Island — where the introduction of a few rats, cats, and rabbits triggered a domino effect of ecological disaster.
On the show:
Author Dawn Raffel tells us about Dr. Couney — the carnival showman who saved thousands of infants, and helped change the way we care for premature babies. Find info on her new book here.
Reporter Jad Sleiman brings us the history of the Doctors’ Trial — the post-WWII prosecution of Nazi physicians for war crimes. The goal was justice, but the trial yielded an unexpected result: standards that continue to shape modern medical ethics.
Rotavirus once sent hundreds of thousands of U.S. children to the emergency room every year. Then, in 2006, a new vaccine was released. One of the creators, pediatrician Paul Offit, describes the worries that scientists deal with while they wait to see if their product is a success — and safe.
Reporter Katja Ridderbusch explains the unintended consequences of hospital alarms, and how medical centers are tackling the problem.
When Marta Rusek dropped 80 pounds in three years, her confidence soared. Then — came the comments. Shai Ben-Yaacov reports.
LED streetlights can save cities millions on electric bills. But not everyone’s convinced — including one young activist with some science-based quibbles. Monica Eng from WBEZ’s Curious City addresses his concerns, one by one.
Conservation biologist Nick Holmes explains the bizarre history of Macquarie Island, where invasive species have devastated the native ecology.
Len Webb talks to Amalgam Comics owner Ariell Johnson about her time spent caring for her mother, and the unexpected gift that led to her new life.
49 min
July 20, 2018Make (a) Way
For a long time disability meant one thing — limitations. Think about the word disabled: its literal meaning is broken, not functioning. In a world largely built by and for those considered typical, people with disabilities are often boxed out — from jobs they want, places they want to go and activities they could love. But that’s changing as advances in science and technology collide with evolving conceptions of disability. On this week’s show, we explore the idea that “disability” resides not in people, but in the systems, schools, workplaces and communities that don’t make a way for inclusion and participation.
To read a transcript of this week’s episode, click here.
Also on this week’s show:
Inside a growing movement to change a culture of medicine that sidelines disabled doctors, and could even hobble patient care.
Teresa Blankmeyer Burke is a deaf philosophy professor whose work probes how we define disability – and when it’s really just difference.
Introducing computer scientist Brian Smith, whose big idea could be bringing mainstream video games to blind players.
A chat with Mariette Bates, the head of CUNY’s Disability Studies program, about embracing disability as identity, and what that means for language.
Pianist Andrea Avery’s life changed when she developed rheumatoid arthritis – she describes her journey navigating the gray space between health and disability.
In a story from the podcast Exited, we follow a young man who says he’s ready for a job, while those around him say his developmental disabilities are sure to get in the way.
50 min
July 13, 2018DNA, Adapted
The Pulse explores how the environment shapes biology. Turns out that influence goes deep, down to the molecular level — to the DNA of humans and animals.
Also heard on this week’s show:
Davis Land speaks with a Houston mom about the stress of dealing with Hurricane Harvey — and the super simple coping exercise that researchers say might help.
Author-illustrator Katrina van Grouw takes us on pigeon hunt to explain how humans are affecting animal evolution. Her book is Unnatural Selection.
Mike Moscarelli offers a history lesson on our early theories about inherited traits — and the bedeviling mystery of redheads.
Dana Farengo Clark, a genetic counselor at Penn Medicine, says her white-coat world has collided with those swab-your-cheek, spit-in-a-cup commercial DNA services.
Eric Kmiec, director of the Gene Editing Institute at Christiana Care Health System, shares his hopes for CRISPR, that it could be used for better lung cancer treatment.
49 min
July 06, 2018Crisis Mode
As drug overdose deaths continue to soar, cities hit hard by the opioid crisis are considering a controversial new proposal: safe injection sites. That’s where people can bring their illicit drugs — and inject them — under medical supervision. Supporters say this harm-reduction approach saves lives.
For more than a decade, Vancouver has been experimenting with safe injection sites. On this episode, we travel there to talk with users, staff, advocates, and neighbors, and see what lessons the city has for communities hoping to curb drug deaths.
Also heard this week:
WBEZ’s Lakeidra Chavis visits Chicago neighborhoods where African Americans say they’ve been largely excluded from conversations about opioid addiction and treatment — even though the crisis is affecting them in high numbers.
Psychiatrist Lloyd Sederer talks about the roots of addiction and his new book “The Addiction Solution.”
50 min
June 29, 2018 Science and the Fourth of July
Rebroadcast: Happy Birthday, America! From the very beginning, science has shaped this country. Many of the Founding Fathers — Madison, Jefferson, Washington — were science geeks, and their methodical way of thinking is reflected in the Declaration of Independence.
To celebrate the holiday, we dig into the science that makes fireworks sparkle, flags durable, and hot dogs delicious. Plus, what brain researchers are learning about the pursuit of happiness and feelings of patriotism.
49 min
June 15, 2018Hurricanes
The Atlantic hurricane season is here — that time of the year when tropical storms whip their way in from the sea, cutting paths of destruction from Nova Scotia all the way down to the Caribbean. From Katrina back in 2005, to Harvey and Maria more recently, we’ve seen the devastation these storms can do. How do we prepare better — and recover more fully? In this episode, we hear stories about the power of hurricanes, and how we deal with them.
Also heard on this week’s episode:
Compost isn’t just good for your garden — as reporter Zoe Sullivan explains, it’s a weapon for cities in the fight against floodwaters.
Yale historian Stuart Schwartz says hurricanes have the power to change political history. He takes us back to one storm in 1930 that helped shape the future of the Dominican Republic.
Author Rachel Slade recounts the story of El Faro, a container ship sunk by a hurricane just east of the Bahamas, and why it didn’t need to happen. Her new book is “Into the Raging Sea.”
50 min
June 08, 2018What Lab Animals Teach Us
We have dogs to thank for pacemakers. We probably should be a little grateful to mice for the development of chemotherapy. Cows helped us conquer smallpox, and chimp research led to the new ebola vaccine. But despite those breakthroughs, animal testing makes a lot of us squirm. On this episode of The Pulse, we explore our complicated relationship with lab animals (and insects). How do we treat them? What are we learning? And what do we owe them?
Also heard this week:
Medical historian and part-time comedian Michael Yudell pays homage to Tusko, the first elephant to drop acid.
Neuroscientist Ashley Juavinett talks about doing experiments on mice and rats, and what it’s like dealing with the backlash.
Alan Yu reports that some researchers say bored mice and rats in barren cages are bad test subjects.
Geneticist Stephanie Mohr explains what makes fruit flies popular for research on genetic mutations. Her book is “First in Fly: Drosophila Research and Biological Discovery.”
Geneticist Hugo Bellen from Baylor College of Medicine discusses the model organisms that are best for different kinds of research. CORRECTION: In this episode, we incorrectly listed the model organisms used in Hugo Bellen’s lab. Bellen works with Drosophila melanogaster. We regret the error.
Duke University bioethicist Nita Farahany digs into the ethics of animal testing, and tries to answer the question of what we owe them.
50 min
June 01, 2018 Treat Yourself
On this week’s show, we talk with people taking their health and wellness into their own hands — with varying results.
49 min
May 25, 2018The Difference a Gun Makes
A gun can change a moment, a life, a family, an entire neighborhood. Like a catalyst in a chemical reaction, guns have a unique ability to transform the calculus of a situation. A gun can make you feel safe. Sometimes it’s symbol of cultural identity. It also has the power to destroy. On this episode of The Pulse, we look at the difference a gun makes.
Also heard on this week’s episode:
A chat with Lore McSpadden, the militant pacifist who went on to co-found an LGBTQ gun club called Trigger Warning.
Jermaine McCory and Ted Corbin both have first-hand experience with gun violence — Jermaine as a victim, and Ted as an emergency doctor. They describe what gun violence looks like from each of their perspectives, and their work with Healing Hurt People, a violence intervention program.
Jessie Wright-Mendoza talks with her grandfather about his choice to keep a gun in the house after she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Poet and pediatrician Irène P. Mathieu wrote “Our Boy” to mark the murder of Jordan Davis — an unarmed black teenager who was shot and killed by a white man during a “loud music dispute” in front of a gas station.
52 min
May 18, 2018Saving the Farm
We like to romanticize farming – but the truth is that it’s tough, complicated, sometimes dangerous work. Technology has made some of that work easier, but it’s also brought a whole new set of pressures. In today’s episode, we hear about what some people are doing to help save America’s family farms.
Also heard on this week’s show:
Pennsylvania dairy farmer Frank Hartley sheds light on factors behind the falling price of milk
Farmers in Boulder County, Colorado are facing a ban on growing genetically engineered crops. Reporter Liz Tung talks with Paul Schlagel and his son Scott about what that means for their family farm.
Ann López, executive director of the Center for Farmworker Families, talks about the serious health challenges facing farmworkers in the US and Mexico.
Reporter Alan Yu looks at the stresses behind farmers’ high suicide rates, and how some of them deal with the pressure.
What’s it like to deliver piglets or get hit by a cow? Farm veterinarian Linda Kauffman gives us the scoop.
49 min

About The Pulse

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Go on an adventure into unexpected corners of the health and science world each week with award-winning host Maiken Scott. The Pulse takes you behind the doors of operating rooms, into the lab with…