Brazilian Politics, Global Surgery, Paid Maternity Leave

Guest: Greg Michener, PhD, Professor of Politics and Public Administration at the Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (FGV-EBAPE) in Rio de Janeiro

Guest: Raymond Price, MD, Director of the University of Utah School of Medicine’s Center for Global Surgery and Member of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery More than half of all the people on this planet cannot access the treatment they need if, for example, they were to hemorrhage after childbirth, suffer a burn or develop cancer. Safe, affordable surgery and anesthesia is simply out of reach for 5 billion people. Improving global access to surgery is one of the UN’s millennium development goals, because it will both improve health and economic productivity in low and middle-income countries.

Guests: Ryan Elder, PhD, Professor of Marketing in BYU’s Marriott School of Management; Gina Mohr, PhD, Professor of Marketing at Colorado State University Diet experts have long warned against unconscious eating.  Focusing on the food you put in your mouth will help you eat less. New research from BYU and Colorado State University suggests listening to your food as you chew also helps. Their paper called, “The Crunch Effect” found study participants ate less pretzels, cookies and chips when they listened closely to their chomping sounds.

Guest: Daryl Cameron, PhD, Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa Thinking of people as less-than-human has led to some of the more egregious atrocities in history –  slavery and genocide, for example. You and I like to think we’re above that. We could never fail to see the humanity in another person, no matter how different they are from us. But we do it more than we think. Anytime we look the other way when a panhandler sidles up to our car, or when we sigh at the tragic images of desperate refugees on TV and then shrug and switch the channel.

Guest: Arijit Nandi, PhD, Epidemiologist and Professor at McGill University’s Institute for Health and Social Policy Parents in nearly every country in the world get paid leave when a child is born. Mothers in developed nations typically get six months or more. Even less-wealthy countries offer upwards of three months of paid leave. The US is the one big exception in all of this. We do not have mandatory paid leave for parents after a baby is born. What difference does it really make? According to research from McGill University and UCLA, it improves the chances of a baby surviving.

Guest: Ruth Ann Atchley, PhD, Professor of Psychology at the University of Kansas The summer season of outdoor excursions and afternoons in the park is just around the corner. And while many state parks and recreation areas now offer WIFI to keep you connected even when you’re out of cell service, let’s hear a pitch for letting your devices go dark while you’re in nature. There’s evidence to suggest that if you combine the rejuvenating power of the outdoors with a break from the distractions of your phone and tablet, your brain works better.