In a world full of media, which may contain misinformation or fake news, there are conspiracy theories abounding. However, conspiracy theories, and the spreading of those theories, is not a new practice, it has been around and transmitting in any way that people communicate. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Joseph Uscinski talk about the origin of conspiracy theories and how these formal theories differ (and are similar) to the fake news and misinformation that fills our media screens tod...
Dec 08, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 137
Among the biggest health fears adults have are getting a diagnosis of cancer or developing Alzheimer's disease. An estimated 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older, actually are living with Alzheimer's today. That number could double by 2050. The worldwide number is estimated to be about 50 million. Alzheimer's develops later in life, and class can last anywhere from three to 10 years before the patient dies. And currently, there's no cure for the disease. Well, today's guest is uniquely suited...
Dec 01, 2021•56 min•Season 2Ep. 136
When we hear the term tumor or cancer, the image that often comes to mind is a bunch of bad cells next to normal ones, and growing. Like many things, it's just not that simple. How do the normal cells turn bad? Can our immune systems detect the cancer cell and kill it? Why does some, initially successful, chemotherapy stopped working? Why does cancer spread? These are all great questions, since cancers of one kind or another, will affect so many of us either as patients, friends, or loved ones. ...
Nov 24, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 135
Evidence is emerging that fluoride, a chemical that helps prevent dental cavities or caries, also is a neurotoxin that can cross the placenta and enter the developing brain. Recent studies reveal that excess fluoride during fetal development can result in impaired intelligence and cognition in children. Key Takeaways: Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay. An excess during gestation can produce dental "fluorosis" , discolored and even pitted teeth in the children Fluoride is also a neurotoxin, dete...
Nov 17, 2021•6 min•Season 2Ep. 134
What happens when we remember something? Therese Markow talks with neuroscientist Dr. Ben Albensi about how memory works, involving both chemical and structural changes. They talk about the signals in the brain, the connections among different brain regions underlying memory, and the role of sleep in consolidating the memory process. Dr. Albensi also describes what happens when a person suffers amnesia. Key Takeaways: Memory begins in the brain region called the hippocampus, from which chemical ...
Nov 10, 2021•28 min•Season 2Ep. 133
Infertility is on the rise, leading otherwise healthy young couples to seek a form of assisted reproductive technology appropriate for their particular situation. This increase infertility of considerable concern. Is one sex affected more than the other? What are the long-range implications if the trend keeps going? Is it only humans that appear to be affected? And the critical question is why? In today’s episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Shanna Swan, author of the new book Count Down, answer many...
Nov 03, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 132
Many people have addictions. While much of the time we think of substance addictions, such as drugs or alcohol, there is an increasing rise in behavioral addictions as well, which are often not viewed in society as addictions however real they are and however many issues they cause. Where are these addictions coming from? How do they form? How can they be treated? In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Amanda Giordano, author of A Clinical Guide to Treating Behavioral Addictions, discuss just t...
Oct 27, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 131
Sexual assaults of women, men, and children are always in the news. We know a lot about this when it comes to little children, but for adults, especially women, what constitutes a sexual assault? Lack of consent, forced intimate relations? How does one prove an assault took place? Often the information provided by medical forensic experts is brought to bear on these cases. Today's guest, Dr. Felice Gersh, is not only a distinguished OBGYN and Integrative Medicine Specialist, but she often serves...
Oct 20, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 130
As the world experiences the continuation of the COVID-19 virus, we see a growing number of COVID-19 survivors who continue to have symptoms for weeks and even months after the acute phase of their disease subsided. These individuals have gained the name COVID-19 Long Haulers. What's this all about? What's happening to these patients and how can they be helped? Well, there's no better person to address these issues than today's guest, Dr. Jason Maley. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Jaso...
Oct 13, 2021•18 min•Season 2Ep. 129
Some people live more than a hundred years with no health problems and very little cognitive decline. How come? While healthy lifestyles certainly play a part in healthy aging, these “centenarians” share a number of special biological attributes. Furthermore, these attributes, along with attaining an age of 100 or greater, show a strong genetic component. Dr. Stacy Andersen of the Boston University School of Medicine has been studying these centenarians and the factors that are associated with n...
Oct 06, 2021•24 min•Season 2Ep. 128
The last decades have seen a continuing rise in really serious and often fatal health problems. The list is long: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, infertility, autoimmune diseases, autism, just to name a few. While vulnerability to disease often has an underlying genetic predisposition, there have to be environmental triggers to set these diseases in motion. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Aly Cohen discuss just these topics and what we can look for on a daily basis, as well as the small...
Sep 29, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 127
Should everyone go to college? Well, for years, this was considered an important goal in life - a college education. The idea being that with a college degree, a better paying job would result. There are so many college majors from art to business to engineering to language arts, among others. How does one know, besides what they happen to be interested in, if the degree they get is actually going to yield the expected employment benefits? In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Richard Phelps d...
Sep 22, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 126
In this episode, Therese Markow answers questions from the listeners! Today, she discusses why you can sell plasma or semen, but not something like a kidney. She also talks about the current hot topic of inflammation, including chronic inflammation, and what is and is not, and reminds us all, that knowledge is power for a healthy life. Key Takeaways: It's illegal in the United States to sell a kidney. Laws against kidney selling are designed to keep you healthy, and to keep economically disadvan...
Sep 15, 2021•8 min•Season 2Ep. 125
Dr. Therese Markow talks with psychiatrist and researcher Dr. Daniel Blumberger about depression that does not respond to medications and behavioral cognitive therapy. Approximately one third of patients suffering from major depression are “Treatment Resistant”. Fortunately, there are a range of brain stimulation techniques that help the majority of these patients. Electroconvulsive therapy or ETC, has evolved into a much more benign procedure than depicted earlier in movies and has the best out...
Sep 08, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 124
With up to 1 in 5 people having dyslexia, dyslexia impacts people every single day. In this episode, Therese Markow and Lorraine Hightower discuss what distinguishes dyslexia from other learning disabilities, how to identify and diagnose dyslexia, as well as the impact that dyslexia has on not only individuals, but also society as a whole. As a dyslexia advocate, Lorraine Hightower has spearheaded movements to identify kids with dyslexia early, to advocate for them within the educational system,...
Sep 01, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 123
In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. David Beversdorf discuss what exactly autism is, the theories of the causes of autism, and what we do know from research of autism. Numerous non-evidence based cures for autism are becoming more common and understanding the facts of autism is becoming more critical. In this discussion with Dr. Beversdorf, we will understand more about what is autism, what are the symptoms, who first discovered it, what really causes it (and what doesn’t), and what effectiv...
Aug 25, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 122
The last few decades have been filled with confusing information about women's hormones and what's happening with them across a woman's lifetime. How early are male versus female hormones produced? How birth control pills modify hormones and related metabolic processes? What about hormones and postmenopausal women? In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Felice Gersh discuss these questions and more. As an OBGYN and a dual certified integrative gynecologist, Dr. Gersh shares information on the e...
Aug 18, 2021•50 min•Season 2Ep. 121
In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Cheryl Hawkes discuss the increasing scientific evidence that maternal obesity affects the developing fetal brain. While many of the effects manifest early, in infant temperament and childhood cognitive (IQ) decrements, other effects do not show up until years later, in adult psychiatric and neurodegenerative problems. The physical bases for these changes in fetal brains also are clearly evidenced in laboratory model systems, such as mice, where the matern...
Aug 11, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 120
In this episode, Therese Markow discusses where the safest seat is on an airplane (and what safety means in different contexts). She passes on the current recommendations for reducing COVID exposure as well as the safest seat in different types of plane crashes. Key Takeaways: There is a difference between safety from COVID-19 and in a crash. There is some reduction in risk of infection by sitting by the window if you are sitting in economy. Wear your mask. Go to the bathroom before you fly so y...
Aug 04, 2021•5 min•Season 2Ep. 119
We've all either heard about, or know, someone whose home is filled with things they have no use for, but won't, or can't, discard. When taken to the extreme, this is a part of hoarding disorder. While hoarding is a word that is thrown around in our common vernacular (such as people hoarding toilet paper early in this pandemic), there is more to hoarding than what most people know. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Mary Dozier discuss what hoarding is, how it can manifest itself, and what ...
Jul 28, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 118
Not all animals see colors the same way we do. Some have less ability to see color and others have better color vision. Color vision will likely fit with the fitness of a particular species. Can they recognize other members of their group? Can they avoid predation? Is their feeding specialized on particular flowers or colorful insects? We talk about these questions today. Key Takeaways: Color detection depends on the number and types of cones in the eye, while rods detect movement. Dogs and bull...
Jul 21, 2021•5 min•Season 2Ep. 117
Most organisms have ways to fix a wound. But what about regenerating missing tissues or limbs after that wound has healed? What about crippling spinal cord injuries? Well, today we'll hear about the process of wound healing and subsequent regeneration, and how findings in lower organisms can help us to understand and enhance regeneration in humans. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Karen Echeverri discuss what happens when you get a wound, the role the immune system plays in regeneration, ...
Jul 14, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 116
While many of us are familiar with detection dogs, whether working with first responders, military units, in airports, or even just in movies, canine detection is also expanding and evolving into medical detection. But what, exactly, makes a dog good in detection, and how do they do it? In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Paul Waggoner, of the Auburn University Canine Performance Sciences Center, discuss these questions and many more. Key Takeaways: Not all dogs make great detection dogs, al...
Jul 07, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 115
When most of us think of climate change, we think of global warming - that everything's getting hotter. We also know that this is a simplification. Other climate features, like rainfall and humidity, change as well. While the term global is used, there's considerable variation from one geographic area to another with respect to what kinds of changes are happening. An important, but often overlooked, aspect of climate change is its influence on infectious disease. In this episode, Therese Markow ...
Jun 30, 2021•34 min•Season 2Ep. 114
No one likes to be lied to. And most folks would love a quick method to detect if somebody lied to them. But it's not so simple. In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Mark Frank, a specialist in non-verbal communication and the department chair and a professor at the University of Buffalo, discuss the many aspects of lying. They talk about lies versus deception and how the definition of the rules of deception can change by culture. They also discuss lying in interpersonal relationships and in ...
Jun 23, 2021•44 min•Season 2Ep. 113
Most people use their right hand to perform various tasks like eating, writing, playing sports. But there's also a minority of people who primarily use their left hands for these things. Why are left-handed people left-handed? Is it genetic? Are their brains different? Are they smarter? Do they live longer or die earlier? Well, there's a lot of information about left handers circulating in social media, especially making all kinds of claims about left handed people. In this episode, Therese Mark...
Jun 16, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 112
In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. James Alcock discuss what near death experiences are and the increase of them in recent years due to improvements in medical technology. While near death experiences (NDEs) have been known about for a long time, we, as a scientific community, are starting to understand more about what they mean for neurological processes. However, despite knowing the science of what is happening, NDEs and how they are experienced are subject to one’s own beliefs, context, ...
Jun 09, 2021•39 min•Season 2Ep. 111
Many people were out of work for a year or more owing to the pandemic. Now they are looking for work and are concerned about the health risks associated with various employment opportunities. In today’s episode, Therese Markow answers listener questions regarding occupational cancer risks. She discusses the types of occupations that can expose individuals to the cancer causing substances, and what we can do to try and minimize our risks. Key Takeaways: Radiation, chemicals, and viruses can all c...
Jun 02, 2021•9 min•Season 2Ep. 110
The obesity epidemic in the US and elsewhere shows no signs of abating. Overweight and obese people now make up more than half of the people in the United States. Everywhere you look, people are large, like it's the new normal. Yet the costs of health problems associated with obesity are huge, and numerous, ranging from hospitalization and medicines to absenteeism at work. Also, it doesn't help when advertisements and beauty contests targeting overweight or obese women, especially, are more and ...
May 26, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 109
We’ve been hearing more and more in the news about murder hornets, but we haven’t been hearing too much about the details of these insects. Where did they come from? Who do they kill? Where do they live? How big are they? What are the risks of these murder hornets? In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Ed Vargo discuss these questions and more. Bees, wasps, and hornets are all part of the same insect order, hymenoptera, but there are thousands of different species, both social and solitary of ...
May 19, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 108
