Tracing the genetic history of African Americans using ancient DNA, and ethical questions at a famously weird medical museum
Bringing together ancient DNA from a burial site and a giant database of consumer ancestry DNA helps fill gaps in African American ancestry, and a reckoning for Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum
First up on this week’s show, ancient DNA researchers and ancestry giant 23andMe joined forces to uncover present day ties to a cemetery at the Catoctin Furnace ironworks in Maryland, where enslaved people were buried. Contributing producers and hosts of the Dope Labs podcast Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley spoke with authors Éadaoin Harney and David Reich about the historical significance of this work and how it may help som...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 3, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Debating when death begins, and the fate of abandoned lands
A new approach promises to increase organ transplants but some question whether they should proceed without revisiting the definition of death, and what happens to rural lands when people head to urban centers
First up this week, innovations in organ transplantation lead to ethical debates. Host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel and several transplant surgeons and doctors about defining death, technically. Also in this segment:
Anji Wall, abdominal transplant surgeon and bioethicist at Baylor University Medical Center
Marat Slessarav, consultant intensivist and donation physician at the...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - May 11, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Visiting a mummy factory, and improving the IQ of … toilets
On this week’s show: New clues to the chemicals used for mummification, and the benefits and barriers to smart toilets
First up this week: What can we learn from a mummy factory? Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry talks with host Sarah Crespi about mummy chemistry and why we don’t know much about what was used to preserve these ancient bodies. Online News Editor Michael Price makes a special appearance.
Next up, how having a smart toilet can contribute to your health. Seung-Min Park, an instructor in the Department of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote this week in Science Translational Med...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - February 2, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Is Meditation a "Mind Science?" with Evan Thompson (BS 202)
Brief Audience Survey
Evan Thompson (click to play, right click to download mp3
The idea that meditation is a "mind science" is popular, but in this interview Canadian philosopher Evan Thompson argues that this claim does not stand up to either scientific or philosophical scrutiny. As one of the pioneers of the Embodied Cognition movement Thompson reminds us that the Mind is not restricted to the Brain and we must also consider how ot...
Source: the Brain Science Podcast and Blog with Dr. Ginger Campbell - November 25, 2022 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Ginger Campbell, MD Tags: Embodiment Interviews Meditation and the Brain Neuroscience Source Type: podcasts
Kurt Vonnegut ’s contribution to science, and tunas and sharks as ecosystem indicators
On this week’s show: How sci-fi writer Kurt Vonnegut foresaw many of today’s ethical dilemmas, and 70 years of tunas, billfishes, and sharks as sentinels of global ocean health
First up this week on the podcast, we revisit the works of science fiction author Kurt Vonneugt on what would have been his 100th birthday. News Intern Zack Savitsky and host Sarah Crespi discuss the work of ethicists, philosophers, and Vonnegut scholars on his influence on the ethics and practice of science.
Researchers featured in this segment:
Peter-Paul Verbeek, a philosopher of science and technology at the University of Amsterdam and ...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - November 10, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Audio long read: The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby
Companies are offering genetic tests of embryos generated by in vitro fertilization that they say allow prospective parents to choose those with the lowest risk for diseases such as diabetes or certain cancers. However, some researchers are concerned about the accuracy and ethics of these tests.This is an audio version of our Feature: The controversial embryo tests that promise a better baby Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. (Source: Nature Podcast)
Source: Nature Podcast - November 4, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
Audio long read: Hybrid brains – the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals
The development of brain chimaeras – made up of human and animal neurons – is an area of research that has hugely expanded in the past five years. Proponents say that these systems are yielding important insights into health and disease, but others say the chimeras represent an ethical grey zone, because of the potential to blur the line between humans and other animals, or to recapitulate human-like cognition in an animal.This is an audio version of our Feature: Hybrid brains: the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more ...
Source: Nature Podcast - August 26, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
Massive Facebook study reveals a key to social mobility
00:47 The economic benefits of social connectionsBy looking at data gathered from billions of Facebook friendships, researchers have shown that having more connections with people from higher income groups could increase future incomes by 20%. They also show how such connections can be formed, and how schools and other institutions could help to improve peoples’ opportunities in the future.Research Article: Chetty et al.Research Article: Chetty et al.News and Views: The social connections that shape economic prospectsLink to the data11:06 Research HighlightsHow balloons could help measure quakes on Venus, and the parasit...
Source: Nature Podcast - August 3, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Springer Nature Limited Source Type: podcasts
Why is it so hard to speak out about patient safety?
In the previous episodes of Doctor Informed, we've heard why it's so important to talk about patient safety concerns, and some of the mechanisms that allow hospital staff to raise them, but knowing why and how doesn't always make it easier to speak out.
In this episode we're exploring the concept of a voiceable concern – identifying what counts as a concern, and what counts as an occasion for voice by an individual, is not a straightforward matter of applying objective criteria- for example how do you tell if you're witnessing poor practice, or just something that lies outside your area of understanding? Or how do you ...
Source: The BMJ Podcast - January 21, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: BMJ talk medicine Source Type: podcasts
Why is it so hard to speak out about patient safety?
In the previous episodes of Doctor Informed, we've heard why it's so important to talk about patient safety concerns, and some of the mechanisms that allow hospital staff to raise them, but knowing why and how doesn't always make it easier to speak out.
In this episode we're exploring the concept of a voiceable concern – identifying what counts as a concern, and what counts as an occasion for voice by an individual, is not a straightforward matter of applying objective criteria- for example how do you tell if you're witnessing poor practice, or just something that lies outside your area of understanding? Or how do you ...
Source: The BMJ Podcast - January 21, 2022 Category: General Medicine Authors: BMJ Group Source Type: podcasts
A window into live brains, and what saliva tells babies about human relationships
On this week’s show: Ethical concerns rise with an increase in open brain research, and how sharing saliva can be a proxy for the closeness of a relationship
Human brains are protected by our hard skulls, but these bony shields also keep researchers out. With brain surgeries and brain implants on the rise, scientists are getting more chances to explore living brains. Staff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the ethics of doing research on patients undergoing intense medical procedures, and the kinds of research being done.
Also this week, Ashley Thomas, a postdoctoral researcher in the brain...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - January 20, 2022 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
The ethics of small COVID-19 trials, and visiting an erupting volcano
There has been so much research during the pandemic—an avalanche of preprints, papers, and data—but how much of it is any good? Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the value of poorly designed research on COVID-19 and more generally.
In September, the volcano Cumbre Vieja on Spain’s Canary Islands began to erupt. It is still happening. The last time it erupted was back in 1971, so we don’t know much about the features of the past eruption or the signs it was coming. Marc-Antoine Longpré, a volcanologist and associate professor at Queens ...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - December 2, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
TWiV 816: Long COVID and ME/CFS with David Tuller
David Tuller returns to TWiV to revisit his work to expose the methodological and ethical problems with the PACE trial, and the post-acute sequelae to SARS-CoV-2 infection, also known as long COVID. Host: Vincent Racaniello Guest: David Tuller Subscribe (free): iTunes, Google Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Call me David Tuller (TWiV Special) David writes at virology blog Timestamps by Jolene. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your virology questions and comments to twiv@microbe.tv (Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition)
Source: This Week in Virology - MP3 Edition - October 15, 2021 Category: Virology Authors: Vincent Racaniello Source Type: podcasts
Whole-genome screening for newborns, and the importance of active learning for STEM
Today, most newborns get some biochemical screens of their blood, but whole-genome sequencing is a much more comprehensive look at an infant —maybe too comprehensive? Staff Writer Jocelyn Kaiser joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the ethical ins and outs of whole-genome screening for newborns, and the kinds of infrastructure needed to use these screens more widely. Sarah also talks with three contributors to a series of vignettes on th e importance of active learning for students in science, technology, engineering, and math. Yuko Munakata, professor in the department of psychology and Center for Mind and Brain at the Un...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - September 30, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Science Tags: Scientific Community Source Type: podcasts
