Episodes
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Most people generally understand what friendship is and yet the roles it plays in our wellbeing have yet to be fully explored. On this episode, we talk with psychology researcher William Chopik of Michigan State University about new work on the value of friendship for health and what we can to do encourage better friendship in our lives.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has posed challenges for many different people, but one of those groups whose story hasn’t been sufficiently told yet is teachers. On this episode, we talk with Erin Thomsen and Erin Dunlop Velez of RTI International about their work to tell that story.
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Communities sometimes emerge into the public spotlight at moments of crisis, such as when there is a dangerous train derailment or catastrophic damage to a water system. When we try to help those communities, though, how can we do that in a respectful and useful way that reflects history. On this episode, we talk about doing community-engaged research with Vicki Johnson-Lawrence of RTI International, co-author of a new RTI Press report on trauma-informed approaches to improve public health.
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If you are hoping for a vacation this summer, it might reflect your frustrations with co-workers. Conflict in the workplace can be an important source of stress and can undermine team functioning. On this episode, we talk about how to cope with conflict with Jessica Jameson of North Carolina State University, author of Communication for Constructive Workplace Conflict.
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Many of us sometimes scroll through the comments posted in reaction to a news article or social media post. How important is that and why might it matter? On this episode, we talk with Gina Sipley of the State University of New York Nassau Community College and author of a new book called Just Here for the Comments: Lurking as Digital Literacy Practice.
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When some people die, no one comes to claim them. The death of people without easily identified social network ties can signal a different sort of loss, a loss for a society which comprises alienation and disconnection. On this episode, we talk with researchers Pamela Prickett of the University of Amsterdam and Stefan Timmermans of UCLA about their new book, The Unclaimed: Abandonment and Hope in the City of Angels.
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What people now see presented on online platforms often reflects personal information about them, a situation which has raised alarms for some commentators. Might your personality affect whether you worry about data privacy protection and consequences for society? On this episode, we talk with Lisa Farman of Ithaca College about her work on this topic.
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