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. 

If you are a parent or a coach, you sometimes might wonder whether a child is really trying their best. What if we could tell by looking at their face? On this episode, we talk with Michael Willoughby and Timothy Slade of RTI International about their work to consider thermal imaging to measure effort. 

Rising healthcare costs are a concern in many parts of the world. Engagement with nature, as in taking a walk in the woods, spending time with a pet, or even mindfully thinking about past experiences outdoors, might offer a surprising tool to cope with some of those concerns. On this episode, we talk with two researchers who are assessing how exposure to nature can improve our health and wellbeing: Olivia McAnirlin and Matthew Browning of Clemson University. 

How should we think about death and how it happens? Americans now die more often than our peers in other wealthy countries. What does that shortened mortality say about our lives? On this episode, we talk with Elizabeth Wrigley-Field of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Population Center. 

Emotion, including fear, is an important part of us. What we fear and how we react can be shaped and influenced, though. On this episode, we talk with Ruth DeFoster of the University of Minnesota, co-author, with Natashia Swalve, of The Fear Knot: How Science, History, and Culture Shape Our Fears and How to Get Unstuck.

Billions of people do not have access to medicines that could save their lives. The Med Aditis Foundation is a non-profit organization that builds partnerships to improve access to high-quality medicines. On this episode, we talk with Bob Blouin, President and CEO of the Med Aditis Foundation.

In schools across the United States, active shooter drills have been common for years and yet we don't know all that we could about the effect of such drills on students and educators. On this episode, we talk with two members of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Consensus Study focused on this phenomenon: Melissa Brymer of the UCLA–Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress and Sonali Rajan of Columbia University.

Have you ever felt any sort of shame in admitting you have used an artificial intelligence tool? On this episode, we talk with Jessica Reif of Duke University, lead author of a new paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that explores how people feel about co-workers using AI and what they do about it.

Healthcare professionals do heroic work and so finding ways to support them can help all of us. Evidence now suggests that mindfulness techniques might help. On this episode, we talk with Misty Rae, an emergency physician with the North Mississippi Health System, about mindfulness and the future of medicine.

When many people think about the science of life, they think of concepts such as DNA or genes. Proteins also play a vital role in our everyday existence that might surprise you. On this episode, we talk with Shahir Rizk and Maggie Fink, authors of The Color of North: The Molecular Language of Proteins and the Future of Life. 

Our healthcare system comprises people -- including patients who need help and healthcare professionals who help them -- and yet our discussions about healthcare in the U.S. often focus on abstract concepts such as financial cost or new technologies. On this episode, we talk with the leader of an organization aiming to change that conversation: Dr. Kathleen Reeves, President and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, a nonprofit organization that champions humanism in healthcare.

We have been making progress in incorporating emotional responses into measures of public perceptions to predict behavior. On this episode, we talk with Tomas Gonsorcik, Global Chief Strategy Officer at DDB Worldwide, about innovations in considering how what we feel says something about what we tend to think and do. 

Whenever we use the Internet, we potentially share personal data in exchange for information that can, in turn, shape future information presented to us. What are the implications of that arrangement for society? On this episode, we talk with Jose Marichal, professor at California Lutheran University and author of the new book, You Must Become an Algorithmic Problem: Renegotiating the Socio-Technical Contract.

How we talk about suicide matters. How we talk about prevention and support also matters. On this episode, we talk with Aurora Occa of the University of Kentucky about her work to help college students by considering how we frame opportunities for support.

We hear often hear about stress and burnout in healthcare. We don't hear as often about kindness. What roles could kindness play in the future of our healthcare system? On this episode, we talk with Nora Jones of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the Pincus Foundation about evidence that kindness matters in serving patients and promoting wellbeing.  

How to be a good parent has been a topic of conversation for decades but raising children now includes online influences as well. How is the Internet shaping how we think about parenting? On this episode, we talk with Ranjana Das of the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. She is author of Parents Talking Algorithms: Navigating Datafication and Family Life in Digital Societies.

Even as people use online technologies in their everyday lives, they sometimes worry about potential pitfalls, including concerns about trusting other people. On this episode, we talk with two innovators who are seeking to improve public health by improving transparency in sexual relationships through a new platform called PlumCheck: Celine Gounder of the Kaiser Family Foundation and CBS News, and Josh Karetny, CEO of the new platform.

As we seek to know ourselves, who should help us with that exploration? Many different perspectives on empirical research,  philosophy, and contemplation can be helpful as we try to understand our minds and ourselves. On this episode, we talk with Vladimir Miskovic, co-author of DREAMING REALITY: How Neuroscience and Mysticism Can Unlock the Secrets of Consciousness with Steven Jay Lynn.

Local public health workers help communities all over the country. Who helps them do their work? On this episode, we talk with two people who have spent time supporting public health in Western North Carolina with compelling new innovations to improve communication about local health: Adrienne Ammerman, founder of Arclet, and Brandon Romstadt of the WNC Health Network. 

How should we support people facing mental health challenges? The Ad Council -- the same organization which introduced us to Smokey Bear over 80 years ago -- has some answers with their latest evidence-based campaign: Love, Your Mind. On this episode, we talk with Catherine Chao, Vice President of Strategy and Evaluation at the Ad Council. 

Artificial intelligence tools have been in the headlines and yet we are still learning who opts to use such tools and why. On this episode, we talk with David Playfoot of Swansea University in the United Kingdom about his work on student use of AI tools.

As online content evolves, you might assume teenagers are flourishing on the Internet while older Americans shake their head in confusion, but the reality might surprise you. On this episode, we talk with Amanda Lenhart of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop about adolescents and how they think about our lives online.

The growth of online courses has been an important part of the story of education in the United States in the past decade, but we need more evidence of the ways our shift online may affect our sense of connection with others. On this episode, we talk with Daniela Castellanos-Reyes of North Carolina State University about her work to understand student connections online. 

On this episode, Marieta Pehlivanova of the University of Virginia returns to the show to discuss her neurological perception research, including the adult experiences of people who as children reported memories of what some people refer to as a past life.

Helping children make friends with a wide range of people can benefit us all. On this episode, we talk with Melanie Killen of the University of Maryland, a psychology professor who has studied ways to reduce social exclusion and improve connections between people. 

What do Americans eat? What do we know about their overall health? Answering questions like those requires measurement on a national scale. For decades, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has continuously fielded its National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. On this episode, we talk with Tony Nguyen, Chief Medical Officer for the project.

Article 2 of the U.S. Constitution sets an age limit for people running for various offices but we do not have an upper age limit. What do Americans think about aging and civic life? On this episode, we talk with Yewande Addie of RTI International about her work on storytelling and public understanding. 

Crime rates in the United States are generally lower now than they were a few decades ago and yet researchers and criminal justice professionals continue to search for innovations to reduce rates of criminal offense. One approach which some advocates have proposed addresses mental health concerns. On this episode, we talk with Robert VerBruggen, Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, about the use of cognitive behavioral therapy with incarcerated people.  

On this episode, we lift up the work of three researchers who are making a difference through their efforts to promote suicide prevention among Native American people: Ivette Rodriguez Borja, Rebecca Perry, and Monica Desjardins of RTI International. 

When we read about the devastating effects of weather-related disasters, we often focus on housing and infrastructure. Such situations also might affect our eating patterns. On this episode, we talk with Lindsey Taillie of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health about her work on food marketing, the ways in which climate change might exacerbate unhealthy eating, and what steps we might take next.

When we hear stories about injuries from violence at the hands of other people or in the face of disasters, we often hear about acute physical injuries but there is more to the story in terms of mental health. How can we best support patients who have suffered trauma? On this episode, we talk with Douglas Zatzick of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington.

Although it is easy to scroll through social media applications to see posts from all over the world, it can be challenging to know what is real and what is artificial and to know about the mindset and wellbeing of people posting content. New tools can help us assess what gets posted online and to turn that into useful signals for interventions to help society. On this episode, we talk with Ana-Maria Staicu of the Department of Statistics at North Carolina State University about her work.

How exactly does language evolve and how do people shape it? On this episode, we talk with Molly Flaherty of Davidson College. She has studied the birth and evolution of a new language: Nicaraguan Sign Language. 

Why do our news headlines often focus on war and crime and mortgage rates? Do we spend too much time focused on transactional markets and not enough on our unconditional existence as part of humanity? On this episode, we talk with Rob Faure Walker of University College London, author of Love and the Market: How to Recover from the Enlightenment and Survive the Current Crisis.

We have seen recent innovations in our efforts to detect medical conditions in infants through genetic screening, including a program called Early Check based in North Carolina. The service now provides parents in North Carolina a free scan and review of a baby's entire genetic blueprint to look for hundreds of conditions. On this episode, we talk about the initiative with researcher Heidi Cope of RTI International and pediatrician Elizabeth Jalazo of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Each of us has a sense of our own identity. Sometimes, though, people make judgements about what another person's racial or ethnic identity is. How do people make those appraisals? On this episode, we talk with Raj Ghoshal of Elon University about his nationwide survey research.  

What happens to children who have been adopted from foster care as they become adults? On this episode, we talk with Rose Domanico and Heather Ringeisen of RTI International and Nancy Rolock of Case Western Reserve University about the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being Adoption Follow-Up Study and additional analysis funded by RTI International.

Although the threat of gun violence is common for some Americans, how exactly court officials, law enforcement professionals, and survivors each tend to talk about weapons is not something we often read about in news headlines. On this episode, we talk with two researchers who study how domestic violence survivors and law professionals talk about weapons and conflict: Allyson Corbo of RTI International and Beth Moracco of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

What happens to a person's online data after they die is something we may not spend much time thinking about, and yet there is much potential for that data to echo into the future. On this episode, we talk with Dr. Carl Ohman of Uppsala University in Sweden, author of The Afterlife of Data: What Happens to Your Information When You Die and Why You Should Care. 

Generating electrical power is vital for our current way of life and yet the process can have direct effects on human health. On this episode, we talk with Sarah Komisarow of Duke University and Emily Pakhtigian of Penn State University about their innovative research to assess the effects of power plants on human health. 

How can we improve our mental wellbeing by supporting our caregivers and healers? Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has many ideas which have come to her in part from her own remarkable life. Time magazine has called her a "Hero of Medicine." She's also an award-winning author. On this episode, we talk with her about her New Yorker Book of the Year, Fires in the Dark: Healing the Unquiet Mind.