University of California Audio Podcasts (Audio)

A profile of Rob Knight, recipient of the 2015 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science for his work to understand the human microbiome and its role in human health. Series: "The UC Wellbeing Channel " [Science] [Show ID: 31146]

Barbara Taylor shares some rare footage of the Vaquita enjoying their natural habitat and explains why this dolphin in particular is shrouded in so much mystery, and how this weakens its chances of surviving overfishing. Series: "UCTV Prime" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 31327]

How can we optimize bone health and minimize the risk of fractures as we age? What preventive measures can patients take? Deborah Kado, MD, MS takes a deeper look at these questions and explains the “whole person perspective” for evaluating and treating patients. Series: "Stein Institute for Research on Aging" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 30570]

Jessica Sommerville (Univ of Washington) reviews evidence to suggest that, within the first year of life, infants develop an understanding of transient mental states (such as goals and desires), enduring personal dispositions (such as preferences), and socio-moral norms (such as fairness norms), that is driven by their own actions on the world, as well as their interactions with other people. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 26082]

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a developmental disorder that often interferes with a person's ability to communicate with and relate to others, affects about 1 in 68 school-age children. Dr. Bennett Leventhal, a psychiatry professor at UCSF, discusses the history and diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD) such as autism and Asperger’s. He also looks at the prevalence, assessment and risk factors. Series: "UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine presents Mini Medical School for the Public" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 31002]

Johannes Krause (Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History) and his research team analyzed more than 200 ancient human genomes spanning the last 10,000 years of Western Eurasian pre-history. They found direct evidence for two major genetic turnover events at the beginning and at the end of the Neolithic time period in Europe, which they attribute to two major migrations. This explains why all modern European populations are a genetic mixture of steppe pastoralist, early farmers and indigenous European hunter-gatherers in varying proportion. This genetic mixture together with local biological adaptation has led to major changes in human phenotypes such as eye color, skin color, and the ability to digest milk sugar over the past 10,000 years. Series: "CARTA - Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny" [Science] [Show ID: 30982]

H. Tayloe Stansbury is a technology and business leader with more than 30 years of experience, including more than 15 years as a senior executive in public software companies. Currently he is executive vice president and chief technology officer of Intuit with responsibility for all product engineering and information technology. Series: "Technology Management Program" [Business] [Show ID: 30924]

Nancy Bardacke, nurse-midwife, mindfulness teacher, and originator of the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting program at UCSF has been assisting birthing families for more than four decades. She explores the benefits of mindfulness meditation for childbirth and parenting. Series: "UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine presents Mini Medical School for the Public" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 31009]

Is free speech threatened on college campuses? One of the nation’s leading constitutional scholars explores the the notion of “hateful” or “hurtful” speech and their relation to the First Amendment. Series: "Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 31310]

Fresh out of graduate school 30 years ago, Debra Kelley began work in San Diego for the American Lung Association. Her first assignment? To help pass a statewide initiative that would establish smoking and no-smoking areas within restaurants. Smoke-free restaurants seem so normal now. “We’ve come a long way, and it is so gratifying to be a part of dramatically changing social norms and saving so many lives,” Kelley says.

Kelley currently has her sights on a California ballot initiative to raise the tax on cigarettes by $2 a pack. The tobacco industry spent more than $100 million to defeat the last initiative, Kelley says. To take on this foe, as well as others she’s faced as director of advocacy at the nonprofit, Kelley describes drawing on a “deep understanding of the political system,” much-in-demand grant writing skills, a comfort with budgets and spreadsheets, as well as ease in public speaking she developed over time.

Series: "The Pulse" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 31414]