Minds Over Matters

The world has certainly seen its share of economic crises before. But have we ever seen anything like this? How did we get here? How long might this last? What might it look like on the other side? And what’s with all the tariffs? Today’s guest, noted economist Chris Meissner, shares his insights and expertise on these and other pressing questions.Bio: Christopher M. Meissner, professor of economics, is an authority in comparative economic history, with an emphasis on international finance and international trade. In addition to his UC Davis faculty position, he is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). He has held numerous visiting positions, including at the Paris School of Economics, the International Monetary Fund, and the Bank of England. In 2026-2027, he will be the Pitt Professor of American History at Cambridge University.Publications: One from the Many: The Global Economy since 1850. (2024) Oxford University Press.Original Sin and the Great Depression (2023) Journal of International Economics. (with Michael Bordo)Persistent Pandemics (2021) Economics and Human Biology (with Peter Z. Lin)The French (Trade) Revolution of 1860: Intra-Industry Trade and Smooth Adjustment (2021) Journal of Economic History (with Stéphane Becuwe and Bertrand Blancheton)Austerity and the Rise of the Nazi Party (2021) Journal of Economic History (with Gregori Galofré-Vilà, Martin McKee, and David Stuckler)

The word “wellness” has been appropriated by a handful of for-profit industries, each with an interest in branding the concept as something achievable through their products or services. The upside of this branding is that wellness is much closer to the top of our minds. The downside is that many have become trained to believe that wellness can only be achieved through a purchase. So, what’s the truth? Does wellness really have a price tag? And what are the factors of wellness? In today’s episode, Dr. Scott Fishman reminds us of the vast scope of influences that affect our wellness and encourages us to consider the true meaning of the word. Bio: Scott M. Fishman is a professor in the UC Davis Health Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, director of the UC Davis Center for Advancing Pain Relief, and the executive director and Jacquelyn S. Anderson endowed chair for the UC Davis Office of Wellness Education. An internationally recognized expert in pain and pain management, Fishman has held numerous leadership roles with the goal of alleviating pain. Such roles include past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, past chairman of the board of directors for the American Pain Foundation, and past board member for the American Pain Society. He is the immediate past chair and a current member of the Pain Care Coalition of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, American Pain Society, and Academy of Pain Medicine. He advocates for safe use of pain medicines with consumers and lawmakers and also lectures on a wide variety of topics related to pain. Fishman has testified before several state legislatures as well as the U.S. Congress. He serves as a consultant for various federal agencies, sits on a panel for the American Academy of Medicine, and provides expert interviews for the media, including appearances on the “Today" show, “Good Morning America,” and "PBS NewsHour.”Publications: Fishman’s book publications include "The War on Pain" (Harper's Collins Publishers), "Listening to Pain" (Oxford Univ. Press), and "Responsible Opioid Prescribing" (Federation of State Medical Boards). He also co-authored "Spinal Cord Stimulation: Implantation Techniques" (Oxford Univ. Press). He co-edited "Bonica’s Management of Pain" (Lippincott), the "Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Pain Management" (Lippincott), and "Essentials of Pain Medicine and Regional Anesthesia" (Elsevier). He has authored many peer-reviewed articles in medical journals, book chapters, and other scholarly reviews. He previously served as a senior editor of the Pain Medicine journal and serves on the editorial boards of other medical journals.

So, you want to build a better baby. While many who have tried in the past have done so for not-so-good reasons, today’s emerging technology — while not capable of producing fully customized super-offspring — does allow us to maximize certain traits while minimizing certain risks. Today’s guest, Emily Merchant, walks us through the history, potential, and current state of genetic sciences.   Bio: Emily Merchant is a historian of science and technology in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, focusing on the quantitative human sciences and technologies of human measurement. Her current project, Molecular Eugenics, combines archival research, oral history, and computational textual analysis to develop an intellectual, institutional, and material history of the genetic and genomic social sciences since the mid-twentieth century, and their contribution to eugenic projects in the postgenomic era. Her first book, Building the Population Bomb (Oxford 2021), examines how human population growth became a subject of scientific expertise and an object of governmental and philanthropic intervention in the twentieth century. Her research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, International Migration Review, and Population Research and Policy Review, as well as the production of public-use datasets for historical demography and environmental history.Publications: Emily Klancher Merchant. 2022. Environmental Malthusianism and Demography. Social Studies of Science 52(4): 536-560.Emily Klancher Merchant and Carrie S. Alexander. 2022. Demography in Transition. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 55(3): 168-188.Emily Klancher Merchant. 2021. Building the Population Bomb. New York: Oxford University Press.Emily Klancher Merchant. 2021. American Demographers and Global Population Policy in the Postwar World. Modern American History 4(3): 239-261.Emily Klancher Merchant. 2021. Assessing the Demographic Consequences of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Pp. 37-41 in Covid-19 and the Global Demographic Research Agenda, ed. Landis MacKellar and Rachel Friedman. New York: Population Council.Projit Bihari Mukharji, Myrna Perez Sheldon, Elise K. Burton, Sebastián Gil-Riaño, Terence Keel, Emily Klancher Merchant, Wangui Muigai, Ahmed Ragab, and Suman Seth. 2020. A Roundtable Discussion on Collecting Demographics Data. Isis 111(2): 310-353.Myron P. Gutmann and Emily Klancher Merchant. 2019. Historical Demography. Pp. 669-695 in Handbook of Population, Second Edition, ed. Dudley L. Poston, Jr. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature.

How dark were the Dark Ages? Were they dark for everyone, or was the darkness local to an unfortunate few? How did they break out of the darkness? And what of us? Today’s guest, Mikhaila Redovian, an expert on the period from the late Dark Ages through the Renaissance, shares her insights into the trials, tribulations, victories, and patterns of that era, and asks us to picture ourselves in those conditions. Bio: Mikhaila Redovian’s research looks at the rise of English colonialism in relation to new technologies and shipping routes in and around the 17th Century. She’s interested in how this impacted early environmental thinking and evaluations of risk and reward. Redovian uses English literature and historical texts to analyze changes from the late Dark Ages through the Renaissance.Publications:YouTubeOcean Gyres and Historic Currents: Interpreting an Expanding World through Romance in Early Modern EnglandCross-Pollinating the Humanities and Environmental Science

During a recent trip to Syria to study the post-civil war healing process, Keith Watenpaugh found himself in the midst of a fresh conflict — a war declared by the United States and Israel on Iran. In this special episode of Minds Over Matters, Keith discusses the region’s history of conflict, its possible paths toward peace, and the balance between perseverance and exhaustion among its people.Bio: Keith David Watenpaugh is an American historian and theorist of human rights and humanitarianism. He is an internationally recognized expert on genocide as well as refugees and forcibly displaced communities across world history. He is also a leader of international efforts to defend the human rights of displaced and refugee university students and scholars, primarily those affected by the wars and civil conflicts in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa.Read more on Substack.Publications:The Washington PostNewsWeekUniversity of California

For centuries, the physical sciences have offered us ways to make sense of the physical world — the world we perceive with our senses. But what about the world beyond our perceptions? The one we can only infer — the quantum world? Today’s guest, renowned theoretical cosmologist and physicist Andreas Albrecht, sheds some light on the mysteries of the quantum world and clears up a few of the blurry lines between real science and the Hollywood version. Bio: Dr. Andreas Albrecht is a leading theoretical cosmologist and physicist well-known as one of the founders of inflation cosmology — the idea that the universe rapidly expanded immediately after the Big Bang. Albrecht’s work addresses fundamental questions of the universe’s origin and its existence. Why does the matter around us exist in the state that it does? What doors of perception does quantum physics open, and what can it tell us about our existence? A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the Institute of Physics, Albrecht is especially interested in questions about the early universe, cosmic structure, and dark energy, among other related topics. His research brings scientific understanding to the awe we feel when reflecting on the nature of the universe.      Publications: Andreas Albrecht’s Publications

To say that Islam is misunderstood would be misleading. It would be much more accurate to say that Islam is not understood at all — at least by most people in the United States. What many of us think we know is actually manufactured disinformation, deliberately spread to demonize and divide for political reasons. In truth, Islam and Christianity have far more in common than we might realize. Today, we’re joined by Mairaj Syed, a renowned expert in Islam, who will walk us through the similarities, the differences, the consequences, and the opportunities.Bio: Mairaj Syed, Director of the Middle East/South Asia Studies Program in the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis, utilizes statistical and computational analytical techniques to understand the development of hadith literature in the first three centuries of Islam. He is currently researching the application of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) to create a fully annotated digital corpus of Islamic thought, and the exploration of the heritage of Islamic thought for both interpretive and constructive purposes, with a particular emphasis on addressing contemporary moral and political issues. Syed is a Fulbright Fellow and holds an M.A., Ph.D. in Religion from Princeton University as well as a B.A. in Business from the University of Texas at Austin. Publications:Islamic Law BlogCoercion and Responsibility in Islam: A Study in Ethics and LawTranslation

Imagine a place that checks nearly every box in the search for Utopia — sustainable, energy efficient, communal, safe. For the past half-century, Village Homes, a visionary housing development in Davis, California, has checked those boxes and so much more. Since its groundbreaking, Village Homes has attracted such curious visitors as French President Francois Mitterrand, First Lady Rosalynn Carter, and Singer/Activist Pete Seeger — all eager to learn what it is about this place that continues to feel so right, even as others have since failed. Our guest, Tim McNeil, is not only an expert on the history of Village Homes but also a resident, and on today’s episode, he shares what makes this community so special. Bio: Tim McNeil is the Director of the UC Davis Design Museum and a Professor of Design at the University of California, Davis, where he is the primary instructor for courses on exhibition design and environmental graphic design.Publications:Village Homes: A Radical PlanThe Transformational Impact of Exhibition DesignSTILL: Racism in America

To suggest that tea is merely something to drink seems somewhat superficial. After all, tea has been found at the center of diplomatic negotiations, rebellions, and national economies. It contains high antioxidant content, cholesterol-lowering flavonoids, and anti-anxiety properties, among other benefits. On this episode of Minds Over Matters, we are joined by Katharine Burnett, director of the Global Tea Institute, for a conversation on the scope of tea’s impact and its current resurgence in U.S. culture.Bio: Katharine Burnett’s research explores China’s historical art theory and criticism, art and politics, art collecting and display, and the international spread of visual and material culture relating to the global tea trade. Publications:Shaping Chinese Art History: Pang Yuanji and His Painting Collection, Amherst, NY: Cambria Press, 2020.Dimensions of Originality: Essays on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art Theory and Criticism, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 2013.Naibin Jiang, trans.《明清中国艺术：十七世纪中国艺术理论与批评》, Chinese translation of Dimensions of Originality: Essays on Seventeenth-Century Chinese Art Theory and Criticism, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Academy of Comparative Civilization and Intercultural Communication and Da Xiang Publish House, forthcoming.Kuiyi Shen, Book series editor: Shaping Chinese Art History: Pang Yuanji and His Painting Collection, China, forthcoming. 

This January, as the country observes National Poverty Month, we ask how it is that the wealthiest nation in the world manages to rank 79th out of 91 countries in terms of poverty, according to the World Population Review. Economist Marianne Page, one of the country’s leading experts on the subject, sits down with Ed for an eye-opening chat about its causes, effects, and possible remedies. Prepare for a sobering, honest, and sometimes sad conversation that is also hopefully inspiring.Bio: Marianne Page is an economist and a leading expert on economic mobility in the U.S. She studies how families, the economy, and social policies affect children’s likelihood of achieving economic success in adulthood. Her recent research investigates how the effects of safety net programs persist across generations. She has served as principal investigator on grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is the co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Center for Poverty and Inequality Research.Publications:Time MagazineLA TimesUniversity of California

While the act of genocide dates back to the 13th century, the word itself is fairly young — coined in 1944. Keith David Watenpaugh, one of the country’s leading experts on human rights and the history of genocide, sits down with Ed for a conversation on the implications of that coining, the legalities that inform its interpretations, what it might require to ultimately render the word meaningless, the shocking number of times it’s been correctly used and tips on how we should proceed until that day comes when it is no longer needed. Bio: Keith David Watenpaugh is an American historian and theorist of human rights and humanitarianism. He is an internationally recognized expert on genocide as well as refugees and forcibly displaced communities across world history. He is also a leader of international efforts to defend the human rights of displaced and refugee university students and scholars, primarily those affected by the wars and civil conflicts in the Middle East, South Asia, and East Africa.Publications:Washington PostNewsweekUniversity of California, DavisGoogle Scholar

In this episode of Minds Over Matters, lighting designer and director of the California Lighting Technology Center Jae Yong Suk joins host Ed Kiggins to discuss lighting, smart homes, and energy resiliency in the 21st century. How does lighting affect our health? And how are our energy technologies evolving to meet the growing needs of decarbonization, grid resiliency, and community well-being? In this conversation, Ed and Suk discuss how the California Lighting Technology Center is leading the charge to accelerate and commercialize technologies necessary for a sustainable future. Can these blue-sky dreams become a reality? Listen and find out! Bio: Dr. Jae Yong Suk is an internationally recognized lighting designer and director of the California Lighting Technology Center. His research focuses on optimizing lighting technologies to advance human health and well-being. As director of the California Lighting Technology Center, Suk supervises and enhances the center’s ongoing research, education, and demonstration activities. From studying the effects of discrete lighting on human stress levels in The Color Lab to integrating sustainable energy technologies into building infrastructure, Suk and his colleagues are setting the stage for an energy-resilient future, influencing policy both nationally and internationally.Publications:Full list of academic publications available at Google Scholar. 

In this episode of Minds Over Matters, oceanographer and climate scientist Dr. Tessa Hill joins host Ed Kiggins to discuss the concerning shifts in the Earth’s climates due to human activities and pollution. How are our oceans faring in the face of these challenges? Are we too far gone or is there still time to reverse course and save the planet? In this conversation that highlights humanity’s critical ties to the ocean, Hill and Ed discuss efforts to reduce methane and carbon emissions, the critical role marine ecosystems play in mitigating climate change, the importance of hope and optimism in these challenging times, and growing global efforts to tackle the climate crisis head on.       Bio: Dr. Tessa Hill is a world-renowned oceanographer and climate scientist. Her research addresses the sea-change occurring in our oceans, mainly the alarming and rapid shifts occurring in marine ecosystems due to human-induced climate change. A prolific science communicator, Hill is also the co-author of the popular science book At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans. She is one of 20 global experts currently on the Climate Crisis Advisory Group, which is dedicated to integrating scientific insights into policy and economic strategies with the goal of creating a sustainable planet.    Publications:At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans (pop sci book)A Tidepool in Time (article in Bay Nature Magazine that was the basis for the book mentioned above)Full list of academic publications available at Google Scholar.

Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor is a historian whose new book Under the Hammer is the first to document how auctions in early America, for everything from sacks of sugar to enslaved people and Indigenous land, shaped the way we buy and sell everything today.On this week's episode of Minds Over Matters, Hartigan-O’Connor talks about how auctions came to define how we buy and sell goods. She explains how auctions were as much a social as an economic activity, where people could buy and be seen buying goods. The echoes of this American adoption of auctions continue to resonate today.Read more about her work:UC Davis: How Auctions Shaped Buying, Value and What Can Be Owned in Early AmericaSan Francisco Chronicle: Women’s March movement wants to show it’s more than a force against TrumpUniversity of California: The female historians unearthing women's stories

Giovanni Peri is an award-winning global economist and one of the world’s leading experts on migration. He is the Founding Director of the Global Migration Center, an interdisciplinary research center focusing on migrations and migration policies, and has shared his findings on such notable outlets as CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, and the Economist Magazine.  On this week's Minds over Matters episode, Peri talks about the impacts aggressive deportations have historically had on the U.S. economy as well as the impact of immigrant workers on jobs and wages.Read more about his work:New York Times: Why Trump Allies Say Immigration Hurts American WorkersTime Magazine: How Trump’s H-1B Reform Could Harm American Tech InnovationUC Davis: Deportations Meet the Demographic Cliff

In the debut episode of Minds Over Matters, evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Manvir Singh joins host Ed Kiggins for a wide-ranging conversation about a phenomenon that continuously pops up across human cultures: shamanism. Why is this the case? Why does shamanism repeatedly develop across societies? Singh views shamanism as a potent mind technology, one that helps us deal with the uncertainty of everyday life and, more deeply, the uncertainty of existence. In this conversation, Singh guides Ed through the history of shamanism, its current iterations in modern-day foraging societies, and its echoes and analogs in modern Western society. Is shamanism a force for good? And just how relevant is it in your life today? The answers may surprise you.  Bio: Dr. Manvir Singh is an evolutionary anthropologist and writer studying the origins of human behavior and societies. Seeking to make the “strange familiar and the familiar strange,” his research focuses on the cognitive foundations and cross-cultural patterns of music, storytelling, justice, and religion. A contributing writer to The New Yorker, Singh recently published his first book Shamanism: The Timeless Religion, which explores the origin and persistence of shamanism through human time and cultures, from Ice Age hunters to modern-day foraging societies and the offices of CEOs and hedge fund managers.  Publications:Shamanism: The Timeless Religion (new book) Manvir Singh’s archive with The New YorkerFull list of academic publications available at Google Scholar