This episode is a recording of the talk You and Your Racist Brain: The Neuroscience of Prejudice with Dr. Larry Sherman, a neuroscientist from OHSU. In this talk, Dr. Sherman explains how our brains have evolved to make judgments based on visual information in milliseconds, and that these preconceived opinions about other people are not based on reason or… Listen to the episode

This episode is a recording of the talk Parasites: A Global Health Problem, with Dr. Buddy Ullman, a parasitologist from OHSU. In this talk, Buddy describes a number of different human parasites, including tapeworms, hookworms, and plenty that you've never heard of. WARNING: this talk contains pretty graphic detail of what parasites do to human… Listen to the episode

This episode is a recording of the talk The Neuroscience of Trauma: From Trigger Warnings to PTSD with Dr. Larry Sherman, a neuroscientist at OHSU in Portland, Oregon. In this talk, Larry describes a lot of things related to trauma and PTSD, including his own family experience with the condition, conditioned fear response, fMRI studies, epigenetics, and proven… Listen to the episode

This episode is a recording of the talk Ignoble Rot: Food Scraps as Compost and Energy by David Allaway, senior policy analyst with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). David spoke about ways to reduce food waste, and also described some of the pros and cons of four ways of dealing with food waste once it's been… Listen to the episode

This episode features Theodore Gray talking about his new book "Molecules: The Elements and the Architecture of Everything." Theo is known for many things, including his periodic table, his Ig Nobel award, his column in Popular Science, his app development company called Touchpress, his work as a co-founder of Wolfram Research, and his book "The Elements." In… Listen to the episode

This episode features the talk Cannabis Pharmacy: The Practical Guide to Medical Marijuana with author Michael Backes. The book gives "evidence-based information on using cannabis for ailments and conditions, plus a comprehensive guide to the most popular varieties." In this talk he describes how prohibition of cannabis in the United States has inspired selective breeding and has changed the… Listen to the episode

This episode features the talk Epigenetics: The Merger of Nature and Nurture, by Dr. Lisa Sardinia from Pacific University. Lisa teaches environmental science and biology, specializing in microbiology and genetics. In this talk she describes the emerging field of epigenetics and how changes in your environment and what you eat can contribute to genetic changes not only for yourself… Listen to the episode

This episode features the talk Cataclysms on the Columbia: The Great Missoula Floods, by Dr. Scott Burns from Portland State University. The Missoula Floods were a series of 80+ floods that happened in the Pacific Northwest during the last ice age around 15,000 years ago, and they dramatically shaped the geology and topography of Washington and Oregon… Listen to the episode

This episode features the talk I Dig Your Bones: Adventures in Forensic Anthropology, by Dr. Nici Vance, a forensic scientist and State Forensic Anthropologist for the Oregon State Police. In this talk she describes what happens when bones are found in the woods, where she then has to figure out: 1) are the bones human? 2) if so, are they male or female? 3) how old was… Listen to the episode

This episode features Dr. Larry Sherman, a neuroscientist from OHSU in Portland, Oregon, talking about how our brains process pleasure and the special case of falling in love. Topics touched on during the talk include: ancient philosophy and the definition of "pleasure"; how hormones such as estrogen and testosterone affect our choice of partners; how drug addiction and… Listen to the episode