Please Explain from WNYC New York Public Radio show

Please Explain from WNYC New York Public Radio

Summary: From WNYC, New York Public Radio: Please Explain, where Leonard Lopate and a guest get to the bottom of one complex issue. History, science, politics, pop culture or anything that needs some explanation!

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  • Artist: WNYC-FM
  • Copyright: Copyright 2007 WNYC New York Public Radio

Podcasts:

 Please Explain: Stress | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

This week's Please Explain is all about stress--and why it can take a toll on our mental and physical health. We're joined by Dr. Drew Ramsey, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, looks at how stress affects our health and ways to cope with stress and anxiety in everyday life. He's co-author of The Happiness Diet. And Rajita Sinha, director of the Yale Stress Center, and Professor of Psychiatry, Neurobiology and Child Study at Yale University School of Medicine.

 Please Explain: Calendars | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

The Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012, prompting some to believe the world will end on that date. For this week's Please Explain, we thought we'd find out about that calendar and the many others used through history by different cultures to account for the days and months that make up the year. Joining us are John Pratt?and Ken Seidelmann, Research Professor at the University?of Virginia's Department of Astronomy.

 Please Explain: Mold | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

Mold is a common household nuisance--it can appear on shower curtains and in damp basements and on aging foods in the refrigerator, but it's a major concern in the aftermath of flooding caused by Sandy. Industrial hygienist and environmental health expert Monona Rossol and microbiologist Chin Yang, of Prestige EnviroMicrobiology, explain what mold is, where it comes from, how it grows, what it can do to your home and health, and how to get rid of it. Resources on Mold:http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/epi/moldrpt1.shtmlhttp://www.epa.gov/mold/mold_remediation.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/iaq/pdfs/floods.pdfhttp://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/insidestory.html#ref3http://www.epa.gov/iaq/biologic.htmlhttp://www.fema.gov/removing-mold-your-homehttp://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/726http://www.hud.gov/offices/lead/hhi/hhiresources.cfmhttp://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=DOC_10722.pdfhttp://www.oehc.uchc.edu/clinser/MOLD%20GUIDE.pdf

 Please Explain: The Microbes Inside | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

On this week's Please Explain we'll learn about the microbes, bacteria, and fungi in and around our households, hospitals and other buildings. Rob Dunn, biologist in the Department of Biology at North Carolina State University, project director of the Wild Life of Our Homes, and author of The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today, and? Jessica Green, Director of the Biology and the Built Environment (BioBE) Center at the University of Oregon, explain what these microbes are, where they come from, the ways their presence and absence may directly influence our health and well being, and new research into how to the design and operation of buildings to promote both human health and environmental sustainability.?

 Please Explain: Predicting the Weather | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

For?Please Explain?we're looking at how experts predict the weather--and storms like Hurricane Sandy--and how improving technology is making the science more precise. Dr. Robert Gall, Development Manager of the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Dr. Adam Sobel, Professor in the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

 Please Explain: Skyscrapers | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

Kate Ascher, author of The Heights: Anatomy of a Skyscraper, and Carol Willis, founder, director, and curator of the Skyscraper Museum, discuss the history and future of tall buildings--from Chicago's 17-story Auditorium Building to Dubai's 160-story Burj Khalifa. They'll explain how they're built, how they work, and how they've changed cities.

 Please Explain: Fungal Meningitis and Compounding Pharmacies | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 36:12

This week's Please Explain looks at the outbreak of fungal meningitis from contaminated steroid shots. We'll find out how epidemiologists trace outbreaks like this to their origins and what compounding pharmacies are and how they work. Dr. Emil Hiesiger, clinical associate professor of neurology, NYU? School of Medicine, and Dr. William Schaffner, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University and president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, explain.

 Please Explain: Stunts | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 0:00

Jumping off buildings, running from a car engulfed in flames, getting into a brawl with a villain all some of the feats we see frequently in movies--and they're performed by stuntmen (and women). Two experts join us to explain how stunts are performed in movies and on television: Hal Needham worked as a stuntman on more than 300 feature films and he was a pioneer in improving stunt technology and safety. He also directed the films Smokey and the Bandit, Cannonball Run, and Hooper, among others. He's written about his career in Stuntman! My Car-Crashing, Plane-Jumping, Bone-Breaking, Death-Defying Hollywood Life. And Blaise Corrigan, a stuntman who has worked in New York for more than 20 years in such films as The Avengers, The Departed, The Bourne Legacy, and the television shows Boardwalk Empire, 30 Rock, and Law and Order.

 Please Explain: Concussions and Sports | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 23:25

For this week's Please Explain, director Steve James talks about his new film "Head Games," a revealing documentary about the concussions in American sports, along with former Ivy League Football Player and WWE Wrestler Christopher Nowinski, author of the book Head Games. It covers eye-opening evidence and cutting-edge science on head trauma from the nation's leading medical experts and gives first-hand accounts from the athletes, coaches, and parents.

 Please Explain: What Organic Labels Mean | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 37:01

Thomas Bjorkman, professor of horticulture at Cornell's New York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY, and Dr. Urvashi Rangan, Director, Consumer Safety and Sustainability Group at Consumer Reports, discuss what the organic label indicates about how food is grown, and what the various animal welfare labels indicate about how meat or eggs were bred and raised.

 Please Explain: Butterflies | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 31:21

Monarch butterflies have started to make their long journey south to Mexico. On this week's Please Explain, we'll find out about the many different species of butterflies--from their coloring to their attraction to flowers to their cocoons. We're joined by Bob Robbins, Curator of Lepidoptera, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and Dr. Cole Gilbert, Associate Professor of Entomology at Cornell University.

 Please Explain: Wonder Bread | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 33:41

Aaron Bobrow-Strain, author of White Bread: A Social History of the Store-Bought Loaf and professor of politics at Whitman College, explains the colorful history of white bread and tells us what makes it so soft, so white, and have such a long shelf life. He'll also discuss how the kind of bread you eat has defined social status for centuries.

 Please Explain: Spiders | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 30:12

This week we'll take a look at the creepy crawly world of spiders. Dr. Norm Platnick, curator emeritus in the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology, and Hazel Davies, Associate Director of Living Exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History, talk about spiders, which are among the most versatile animals on the planet--they're able to inhabit every continent but Antarctica and are able to survive in environments that range from deserts to rainforests to crowded cities. There's an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History called "Spiders Alive!" It's on view through December 2.

 Please Explain: Pigeons | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 29:31

Pigeons seem to be everywhere in New York City, and they fill city squares in London and Venice. We'll take a look at why these birds thrive in urban areas around the word and how they're able to find their way home from hundreds of miles away. Andrew Blechman, managing editor of Orion magazine and author of Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World's Most Revered and Reviled Bird, and Courtney Humphries, author of Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan...and the World, join us.

 Please Explain: Teams and Teamwork | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 32:35

This week's Please Explain takes a look at the art and science of teamwork. We're joined by Scott Wiltermuth, Assistant Professor of Management and Organization, at USC's Marshall School of Business, and Dr. John Krakauer, Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience, Director, Center for the Study of Motor Learning and Brain Repair, the Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Neurology.

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