Podcasts about emily willingham

When you really think about it, sex to make babies is WEIRD! You take an outie that has to get stuck inside an innie that links into a production line of eggs to assemble a perfect tiny being. It's so damn complicated!So why does it work like that?Join us at What the Duck for the first episode of a series where we figure out how living things went from splitting ourselves in half to double the population, to periodically feeling compelled to copulate in such a vigorous, sometimes highly embarrassing, manner.Earth - this is your sexual history!Please note that this program contains adult themes and explicit language. Parental guidance is recommended. This is a summer repeat of Episode One -  please find the rest of the "Sex is Weird" series here.Featuring:Emeritus Professor David Siveter, University of Leicester, UK.Assistant Professor Emily Mitchell, University of Cambridge, UK and curator of non-insect invertebrates, University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK.Dr Marissa Betts, geologist and palaeontologist at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. Dr Emily Willingham, biologist, journalist and author.Associate Professor Patty Brennan, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, US. Production:Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer.Petria Ladgrove, Producer.Additional mastering: Isabella Tropiano and Russell Stapleton.Thanks also to Will Ockenden, Belinda Smith, Corey Hague and Joel Werner. If you want to hear more "What the Duck?" episodes- please like and subscribe here.This episode of What the Duck?! was first broadcast in September 2024 and is produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and Kaurna people.

When you really think about it, sex to make babies is WEIRD! You take an outie that has to get stuck inside an innie that links into a production line of eggs to assemble a perfect tiny being. It's so damn complicated!So why does it work like that?Join us at What the Duck for the first episode of a new series where we figure out how living things went from splitting ourselves in half to double the population, to periodically feeling compelled to copulate in such a vigorous, sometimes highly embarrassing, manner.Earth - this is your sexual history!Please note that this program contains adult themes and explicit language. Parental guidance is recommended. Featuring:Emeritus Professor David Siveter, University of Leicester, UK.Assistant Professor Emily Mitchell, University of Cambridge, UK and curator of non-insect invertebrates, University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK.Dr Marissa Betts, geologist and palaeontologist at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. Emily Willingham, biologist, journalist and teacher.Associate Professor Patty Brennan, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts, US. Production:Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer.Petria Ladgrove, Producer.Additional mastering: Isabella Tropiano.Thanks also to Will Ockenden, Belinda Smith, Corey Hague and Joel Werner. This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the land of the Wadawarrung and the Kaurna people.

Beauty and the Beast. Twilight. The Shape of Water. What do these stories have in common? Humans and monsters getting down and dirty. This episode explores the surprising psychology behind "monsterf*ckers" — people attracted to creatures like vampires, werewolves, and tentacled beasts. Hear from researcher Ella Gallego about her study on monstrous desire, which reveals how and why women and LGBTQ+ people are particularly entranced by these inhuman love interests. We'll trace the history of monster erotica through the medieval church's preoccupation with demon sex, the horny throughline of vampire movies, and the incredibly surprising history of tentacle porn. Bare your neck and put on your hottest swamp bikini: it's time to discover the connection between monsters, sex, and our deepest desires.Resources from Ella Gallego:Monstrous Desire Study: https://monstrousdesirestudy.com/Monstrous Desire TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@monstrousdesireMonstrous Desire Study podcast: https://pod.link/1707753667Listen to S1E3 Penises (with Dr. Emily Willingham): https://www.tabooscience.show/003-penises/See citations and a transcript here: https://www.tabooscience.show/s3e13-attraction-to-monsters/Need music for a project? Use my Epidemic Sound referral link: https://share.epidemicsound.com/kbva2hConnect with the show: Newsletter: https://www.tabooscience.show/newsletter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tabooscience YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tabooscience Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tabooscience Website: https://www.tabooscience.show/ Loved this episode? Leave a review and rating here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/taboo-science/id1533606473Mentioned in this episode:Nice GenesListen to Nice Genes right here: https://pod.link/1622851335

"The P Word: A Manual for Mammals" from Dr. David Hu (published by Science, Naturally! in 2023) is a delightful resource that encourages kids to see penises as normal and to be confident in discussing their bodies with others. It's a playful guide to understanding penises across the animal kingdom and helps children develop a healthy relationship with their own bodies from a young age. We also talk about how this book can entertain and inform readers of ALL ages, though. Join us for a humorous, educational, and eye-opening adventure into the world of penises! Additional Resources and Show Notes: How to Walk Up Water and Climb Up Walls by David Hu: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691169866/how-to-walk-on-water-and-climb-up-walls “The Other Golden Rule” Ted-Ed Talk: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/do-larger-animals-take-longer-to-pee-david-l-hu Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis by Emily Willingham: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/621131/phallacy-by-emily-willingham/ Check out the book for additional resources and things to include in your exploration of penis education!

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined once again by science writer Dr. Emily Willingham to talk about her newest book, "The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Stronger." They discuss how our cognitive needs are not one-size-fits-all while applying much-needed skepticism to the gimmicks and tricks often offered by the self-help industry.

Timothy welcomes back Emily Willingham, a penis scientist who has shifted her focus to study the brain - and she has a new book called 'The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter'. cliffcentral.com

Timothy welcomes back Emily Willingham, a penis scientist who has shifted her focus to study the brain - and she has a new book called 'The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter'. cliffcentral.com

Timothy welcomes back Emily Willingham, a penis scientist who has shifted her focus to study the brain - and she has a new book called 'The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter'.

When you’re actively engaged in creative practice, what’s happening in your brain? We ask research scientist and writer Emily Willingham to talk about the science of creativity. Her clear communication about neurons and cognitive processes open up a new understanding of not only how the brain works but also the three key features of creativity, two kinds of thinking that go into creative process, plus the importance of flexibility, storytelling, openness and awe. The business of Emily’s life has been writing and science. Her work as a research scientist led her to many cool things, including ultrasound and surgery on a spotted hyena, plastic casting of the inside of the mammalian penis, chasing tiny blazing-fast lizards around in the desert, and innumerable activities involving gonads. Her work as a writer has done the same, from stories about the black bears of Big Bend to how pregnant people will fare in a post-Roe nation. There are hundreds of adventures in between, some of them reflected in her stories published at places like Scientific American, the Washington Post, Slate, Vox, Wired, LitHub, Aeon, and others. Emily is the author of several books, including Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis, published in 2020, and The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine to Keto to Companionship, a User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter, published in December 2021.Emily’s WebsiteExcerpt from The Tailored Brain about creativity and awe. This is a public episode. Get access to private episodes at emergingform.substack.com/subscribe

Intent on improving your creativity or focus? Want to raise your IQ? What does that even mean? This week, we've got Emily Willingham back on the show to talk about tailoring the brain with science: The good, the bad, and the totally not proven. We're talking about her new book The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship: A user's guide to feeling better and thinking smarter.

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus is joined by author Emily Willingham. Emily's new book The Tailored Brain: Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter is all about how our brains work and whether gender plays a role in brain enhancement. They talk about how to be more empathetic and the ways empathy can boost your brain, the importance of using a feminist lens in brain science, and the old theory that brains are made of sperm.  In the Slate Plus segment, Emily and Shannon talk about Emily's other book, Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis and explore why the duck vagina is like a gated community. Recommendations: Shannon: Wearing perfume to turn your mood around.  Emily: Lightly meditating by beholding a tree.    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus, Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus is joined by author Emily Willingham. Emily's new book The Tailored Brain: Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter is all about how our brains work and whether gender plays a role in brain enhancement. They talk about how to be more empathetic and the ways empathy can boost your brain, the importance of using a feminist lens in brain science, and the old theory that brains are made of sperm.  In the Slate Plus segment, Emily and Shannon talk about Emily's other book, Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis and explore why the duck vagina is like a gated community. Recommendations: Shannon: Wearing perfume to turn your mood around.  Emily: Lightly meditating by beholding a tree.    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus, Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus is joined by author Emily Willingham. Emily's new book The Tailored Brain: Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter is all about how our brains work and whether gender plays a role in brain enhancement. They talk about how to be more empathetic and the ways empathy can boost your brain, the importance of using a feminist lens in brain science, and the old theory that brains are made of sperm.  In the Slate Plus segment, Emily and Shannon talk about Emily's other book, Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis and explore why the duck vagina is like a gated community. Recommendations: Shannon: Wearing perfume to turn your mood around.  Emily: Lightly meditating by beholding a tree.    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus, Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus is joined by author Emily Willingham. Emily's new book The Tailored Brain: Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter is all about how our brains work and whether gender plays a role in brain enhancement. They talk about how to be more empathetic and the ways empathy can boost your brain, the importance of using a feminist lens in brain science, and the old theory that brains are made of sperm.  In the Slate Plus segment, Emily and Shannon talk about Emily's other book, Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis and explore why the duck vagina is like a gated community. Recommendations: Shannon: Wearing perfume to turn your mood around.  Emily: Lightly meditating by beholding a tree.    Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus, Susan Matthews and June Thomas.  Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Cool Science Radio guests include: ( 00:56) Dr. Keith Noll who is the Project Scientist for NASA's Lucy mission and ( 28:24) The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter author Emily Willingham.

The brain is a very special organ that we are just beginning to understand. Dr. Emily Willingham provides a science-based roadmap to better mental performance in her book, The Tailored Brain. Avoid the useless, and sometimes dangerous brain performance hacks and focus on the key things to make your brain healthy. You can find the full show notes for this episode at 40plusfitnesspodcast.com/520.

Although there are many claims for improving our ability to think and brain health, how can we assess which of these claims have validity? On this episode, Dr. Emily Willingham discussed her book, The Tailored Brain.

Journalist and science writer Emily Willingham chats with Trey Elling about THE TAILORED BRAIN: FROM KETAMINE, TO KETO, TO COMPANIONSHIP, A USER'S GUIDE TO FEELING BETTER AND THINKING SMARTER. Questions include: Why does the brain burn so much energy, even when it isn't doing much? (03:04) Can brain game apps translate to increased performance in real life? (10:41) Do any drugs enhance cognitive load, a la Bradley Cooper in Limitless? (13:53) How much does exercise help with cognition? (14:45) Can socioeconomics impact cognitive functioning? (18:04) Neurologically speaking, how does empathy work? (20:27) Is there a common mistake made when thinking about stress in modern times? (25:44) Do psychedelics help with anxiety? (28:45) Why do 'memory athletes' remember so much better than the average person? (32:58) How can temporary depression be valuable to the individual? (36:50) Can psychedelics help with depression? (39:20) Do Omega 3s or vitamin D combat depression? (40:48) How does sugar negatively affect creativity? (43:41)

In this episode, Emily Willingham joins Indre to talk about tailoring the brain, a subject on which she's an expert and about which she writes extensively in her book The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter. Emily is a journalist, a science writer, the author of previous books, including Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis, a coauthor of The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years, and is a regular contributor to Scientific American and other publications. She is the joint recipient with David Robert Grimes of the 2014 John Maddox Prize which is awarded by the science charity Sense About Science to those who stand up for science in the face of personal attacks. If you want to learn how to to feel better and think smarter – and, really, who doesn't? – then today's episode of Inquiring Minds is definitely a ‘must listen'.   Show Links: Inquiring Minds Podcast Homepage Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds See https://omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. The Tailored Brain: From Ketamine, to Keto, to Companionship, A User's Guide to Feeling Better and Thinking Smarter Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emily Willingham joins me today to talk all about the evolutionary pressures that lead to the variety of penis designs we find in nature. Her new book, "Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis" is available to purchase along with her other fascinating books on her website at http://www.emilywillinghamphd.com/ Thank you for watching and being an inquisitive being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emily Willingham joins me today to talk all about the evolutionary pressures that lead to the variety of penis designs we find in nature. Her new book, "Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis" will be available to purchase along with her other fascinating books on her website at http://www.emilywillinghamphd.com/ Thank you for watching and being an inquisitive being. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://www.alainguillot.com/emily-willingham/ Emily Jane Willingham is a journalist and scientist. Her writing focuses on neuroscience, genetics, psychology, health and medicine, and occasionally on evolution and ecology. Her latest book is Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis. Get the book here: https://amzn.to/3cH5L1S

Dongs. Schlongs. Peters. Intromittent organs. Gamete cannons. Biologist, gonad researcher, and Phallologist Dr. Emily Willingham joins to chat about peckers big and small, plain and fancy, barbed, coiled, colossal, pickled, and efficient. Also on the agenda: how the pressures of masculinity affect self-image, what actually contributes to a partner’s pleasure, what can cause willies to go wonky (and how to get back on track,) life beyond the binary, and sensual turtles. Stick around to the end for friendly fellatio advice from penis-owners; boy howdy it’s a hard episode to pass up.  Support the show: http://Patreon.com/ologies See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a culture, we are obsessed with penises. Our society often associates the phallus with social power and worth. And the pervasive focus on the phallus has a greater and potentially more negative impact on a plethora of issues, such as the self worth of women and men and gender equality, than many realize. Today I am talking to an expert on all things penis. Emily Willingham is the author of Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis. Her writing has also been published in the New York Times, Scientific American, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and many others. She has a PhD in biological sciences and a BA in English literature, both from The University of Texas at Austin. In Phallacy, Emily Willingham explores animal genitalia while also delving into the social and cultural significance of penises as symbols of power and identity. She challenges the notion that the penis makes the man and the fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. In short: Emily Willingham thinks it's time to put the human penis into perspective ... for the sake of all of humanity. In this episode, you'll hear: The roots of our culture unhealthy obsession with Penises...02:25Book: Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis Anthropologist, Wednesday Martin Roman beliefs of the male role Penis trees and plants How the human penis measures up to the animal kingdom?...08:10The human penis is not so spectacular in comparison to some animals Dr. Emily breaks down the vast diversity of penises in the animal kingdom Why men are deathly afraid of losing their manhood...12:10Witches would gain more power by eating a man's penis The glamour of penises stems from witches and fairy tales Why penises have been historically more fascinating than vaginas...14:10The truth behind the roles the penis and vagina play in evolutionary biology The sexism of the female cycle YouTube of pink plastic gloves on SharTtank How menstruation was viewed as something unclean and shameful What the experts get wrong about female sexual desire...20:35The narrative imposed on women is completely contradictory to how women were biologically wired Book: The Pleasure Gap by Catherine Roland How differing narratives on the human sexuality inform public policy...21:25Sexual politics + building roles around penises Socioculturally and psychologically, we need an intentional language shift How the social discussion around transgender roles contradict biology...23:35Biology does not support binary gender roles How the mighty phallus has fallen...25:00The fall has come as men send pictures of their penises rather than their faces We should focus on the brain, not the penis How to shift the assumptions that the penis = masculinity...27:40Shifting the language will create a cultural shift and acceptance Constraint in our culture about how boys and men are allowed to express themselves Parental support in gender identification How the discussion of size is detrimental to self-worth...30:45Humans don't have super large penises relative to the animal kingdom "Small dick" vs "Big dick" attitudes Dr. Emily talks about her new book...32:55Being published later this year: The Tailored Brain Micro-dosing, Ketamine, pets and companionship Uplifting others allows us to uplift ourselves as well Emily's best practices...35:15Non-negotiable daily walks with her partner Twitter: @ejwillingham

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature’s more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can’t control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature’s more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can’t control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature’s more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can’t control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature’s more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can’t control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature’s more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can’t control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature's more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can't control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein's Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech's Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/animal-studies

The fallacy sold to many of us is that the penis signals dominance and power. But this wry and penetrating book reveals that in fact nature did not shape the penis–or the human attached to it–to have the upper…hand. Phallacy looks closely at some of nature’s more remarkable examples of penises and the many lessons to learn from them. In tracing how we ended up positioning our nondescript penis as a pulsing, awe-inspiring shaft of all masculinity and human dominance, Phallacy also shows what can we do to put that penis back where it belongs. Emphasizing our human capacities for impulse control, Phallacy ultimately challenges the toxic message that the penis makes the man and the man can’t control himself. With instructive illustrations of unusual genitalia and tales of animal mating rituals that will make you particularly happy you are not a bedbug, Phallacy shows where humans fit on the continuum from fun to fatal phalli and why the human penis is an implement for intimacy, not intimidation. Emily Anthes is a science journalist and author. Her books include Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling Up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts and The Great Indoors: The Surprising Science of How Buildings Shape Our Behavior, Health, and Happiness. Read more about her work at emilyanthes.com or follow her on Twitter at @emilyanthes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, we’re taking a look at penises in the animal kingdom and the lessons we can learn from them. Some shocking. Some entertaining.This fascinating topic is based on the book, “Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis,” by health, medical and science writer Emily Willingham, Ph.D. She’s also a research scientist specializing in the biological sciences. The richly illustrated “Phallacy” explores the historical and contemporary context of the penis and all the hype–and oddity–that surrounds it. In her book and in our interview, she answers a range of fun and serious questions about animal and human penises and their relationship to reproduction, pleasure and even power. “When you look at the animal kingdom, one of the lessons we learn is that it's not our most impressive organ,” Emily says. “It would be great for people to be able to relax a little bit about theirs, I think.”By breaking down the penis to its biological origins, Emily reminds us the penis wasn’t always a “worshipped obelisk of masculinity.” Rather, it’s a reproductive organ that many creatures have in all sorts of shapes and sizes One that has adapted and changed throughout our biological history. Enjoy! And get more resources at Dave.Asprey/podcasts. Got a comment, idea or question for the podcast? Submit via this form.WE APPRECIATE OUR PARTNERS. CHECK THEM OUT!Erectile Dysfunction: https://bluechew.com, use code DAVE to get first shipment FREE, pay only $5 shippingSexual Pleasure: https://dameproducts.com/DAVE, save 15%Cooler Sleep: https://www.chilitechnology.com/ASPREY for special discounts DAVE ASPREY’S NEW BOOK!“Fast This Way: Burn Fat, Heal Inflammation, and Become the High-Performing Human You Were Meant to Be”

In this episode of Bulletproof Radio, we’re taking a look at penises in the animal kingdom and the lessons we can learn from them. Some shocking. Some entertaining.This fascinating topic is based on the book, “Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis,” by health, medical and science writer Emily Willingham, Ph.D. She’s also a research scientist specializing in the biological sciences. The richly illustrated “Phallacy” explores the historical and contemporary context of the penis and all the hype–and oddity–that surrounds it. In her book and in our interview, she answers a range of fun and serious questions about animal and human penises and their relationship to reproduction, pleasure and even power. “When you look at the animal kingdom, one of the lessons we learn is that it's not our most impressive organ,” Emily says. “It would be great for people to be able to relax a little bit about theirs, I think.”By breaking down the penis to its biological origins, Emily reminds us the penis wasn’t always a “worshipped obelisk of masculinity.” Rather, it’s a reproductive organ that many creatures have in all sorts of shapes and sizes One that has adapted and changed throughout our biological history. Enjoy! And get more resources at Dave.Asprey/podcasts. Got a comment, idea or question for the podcast? Submit via this form.WE APPRECIATE OUR PARTNERS. CHECK THEM OUT!Erectile Dysfunction: https://bluechew.com, use code DAVE to get first shipment FREE, pay only $5 shippingSexual Pleasure: https://dameproducts.com/DAVE, save 15%Cooler Sleep: https://www.chilitechnology.com/ASPREY for special discounts DAVE ASPREY’S NEW BOOK!“Fast This Way: Burn Fat, Heal Inflammation, and Become the High-Performing Human You Were Meant to Be”

Decorated, detachable, curly, spiked, thorny, hooks, claspers, valves, flaps, spirals...is it time to reconsider what makes a penis...a penis?

Decorated, detachable, curly, spiked, thorny, hooks, claspers, valves, flaps, spirals...is it time to reconsider what makes a penis...a penis?

Say what now? We made it to another weekend! Now let us get you ready for it. First, we talk about the “news” of the week with Hari Kondabolu and W. Kamau Bell, comedians and hosts of the Politically Re-Active podcast. Then we have a conversation you’ve all been waiting for: Emily Willingham tells us about her new book titled Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis. It’s wild!And last but not least, Yossy Arefi introduces us to the countertop staple we didn’t know we needed so badly: Snacking Cakes. Join us!

Whatever it is you're doing to cope with the constant new normal of these uncertain times as we barrel into the holiday season, we are glad you are here! Joining us today is Tara Haelle. Tara is a regular http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/ (Forbes contributor) and the http://healthjournalism.org/blog/category/covering-medical-studies/ (core topic leader in medical studies) for the Association of Health Care Journalists. As a freelance science and health reporter and parenting blogger, her pieces frequently appear in NPR, Scientific American, Slate, Politico, HealthDay, Everyday Health, and Consumer Reports.  Tara is author of http://theinformedparentbook.com/ (The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child's First Four Years), coauthored with Emily Willingham. In another life, she was also a world traveler — backpacking, hiking, train-hopping and motorbiking through more than 40 countries on six continents while eating strange insects, climbing ancient ruins and swimming with sharks — before she became a mom. It was also pre-pandemic, and our interest in this interview is discussing what research is telling her about how we can cope in a crisis that just keeps going on and on. https://medium.com/@tarahaelle (https://medium.com/@tarahaelle) https://www.tarahaelle.net/ (https://www.tarahaelle.net/) Time Stamps: 2:35 We open up the discussion talking about the pandemic and Tara shares her story about her personal emotional crash 5:43  Tara discusses surge capacity and how the pandemic created a situation for us where we have exceeded that capacity  7:20 Shelley talks about chronic stress syndrome and the feelings of tired and wired 8:25 We discuss why this time has been especially hard for high performers  11:00 Tara shares how accepting our current reality and accepting what that means are the keys to managing this pandemic  14:40 Tara explains the concept of ambiguous loss as it relates to the pandemic  17.40 We discuss parenting in the pandemic  24:16 We talk about screen time and how it relates to anxiety before and during the pandemic  30:12 Tara shares creative suggestions, practices and routines that she recommends to take care of ourselves through the pandemic and building up your resilience bank account Leave us a review and https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-big-self-podcast/id1485907203 (subscribe on Apple iTunes). https://open.spotify.com/show/1yx9VzUCRcYezd7cUlSRn4?si=Xygeo5a7T0ePnX7IaHu0AQ (Subscribe on Spotify). Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.

How does the human penis measure up to the rest of the animal kingdom? What can the shape of the penis tell us about human mating? And what is up with society's obsession with the penis? Today's guest is Emily Willingham, science journalist and author of the book "Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis." Click here to see citations for this episode! Follow Taboo Science on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Suggest a taboo topic via ashley@tabooscience.show. Visit tabooscience.show for more. Taboo Science is written and produced by Ashley Hamer. Theme music by Danny Lopatka of DLC Music.

In this episode of Talk Nerdy, Cara is joined by science writer Dr. Emily Willingham to talk about her newest book, "Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis." Emily guides Cara through a demystification of the so-called male member, including its imposed relationship to dominance, masculinity, and the vagina (or other counterparts in nature).

S5 Ep 59: In this episode, meet contemporary art curator Jennifer Dasal, journalist and science writer Emily Willingham, and writer and editor John Jeremiah Sullivan. ArtCurious by Jennifer Dasal: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/611497/artcurious/ Phallacy by Emily Willingham: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/621131/phallacy/ Blood Horses by John Jeremiah Sullivan: https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/636390/blood-horses/

There is A LOT to unpack in this episode with Tara Haelle, a science and health journalist whose article "Your 'Surge Capacity' is Depleted-It's Why You Feel Awful" hit our radar in August as something we should definitely talk about. We revisit familiar themes of toxic positivity, embracing the suck, and being OK with NOT being OK as well as learn new terminology like "surge capacity", "resilience banks", and "ambiguous loss".Tara has also spent over a decade writing and reporting on vaccines for over a decade, so we dive right into the current status of the many COVID-19 vaccine developments. She shares with us and our community her knowledge on the REAL timeline for a COVID vaccine and breaks down for us laymen how exactly to find information we can trust. It's a pretty packed episode-one that we think you are going to need to listen to with a pen and paper, and probably more than once!Tara Haelle is a freelance science and health journalist who has specialized in writing about vaccines, pediatrics, infectious disease, women’s health, mental health and medical research for the past decade. She is a Forbes contributor whose work also appears in NPR, the New York Times, Scientific American, O Magazine, Elemental, Self Magazine, HuffPost, and Medscape. She wrote the book Vaccination Investigation: The Science and History of Vaccines, and cowrote The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Guide to the First Four Years, with science journalist Emily Willingham. She has also authored a dozen children’s science books and given a TEDx talk about why parents fear vaccines.https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feel-awful-de285d542f4chttps://elemental.medium.com/enough-with-the-hand-wringing-over-covid-19-vaccine-hesitancy-ef0bed6cd0fchttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/smarter-living/why-you-need-the-flu-shot-every-year.htmlhttps://elemental.medium.com/50-experts-to-trust-in-a-pandemic-fe58932950e7https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtkzkoI3eM&authuser=0Support the show (http://www.paypal.com)

Episode 24: Duck Penises, Gender Bias In Science, And Phallacy by Emily Willingham. This week we are talking about Emily Willingham's new book Phallacy, and discussing gender bias in science, and what on earth is up with the penis? Follow us on Instagram and twitter: @the_ms_informed and on facebook.com/msinformedpodcast or on patreon.com/msinformed You can also sign up to our newsletter via the link below: eepurl.com/g_jXQ9 You can also listen on Spotify and Apple podcast app.

This episode is about penises. That was your content warning. Penises. Where they came from. Why they're useful. And the many, many wild things that animals do with them. Come for the world's oldest penis, stay for the creature that ejaculates 80 percent of its bodyweight. Host Bethany Brookshire talks with Emily Willingham about her new book, "Phallacy: Life Lessons from the Animal Penis".

The penis isn't what you think it is.  We talk to Emily Willingham, author of Phallacy: Life Lessons From the Animal Penis, about what the incredible diversity of reproductive organs among non-human animals can teach us about our own junk. It turns out the human penis was made for love, not war.

Are babies better off on baby food or whole foods? Should they eat all organic? Does a mother’s diet during pregnancy affect her kid’s tastebuds? What’s the deal with alcohol? To try and answer questions like these, parents often have to weigh outdated, loosely researched, or guilt-inducing opinions. Well, today we bring you answers from the authors of The Informed Parent: A Science-Based Resource for Your Child’s First Four Years. Scientists Tara Haelle and Emily Willingham have scoured thousands of studies to come up with up-to-date answers for your trickiest parenting food dilemmas. But even if you don’t plan to have kids, chances are, you like baked goods, right? Don’t miss this episode, because Maddie has a special delivery from the heart of the West.

Emily Willingham is a journalist, scientist, and award winning skeptical blogger, with much of her work centered on autism and debunking junk science controversies. Recently the autism community has shown a surge in support for medical cannabis, as anti-vaccination activists claim that cannabis may hold the key for a cure, and many people with autism claim it to be a useful for controlling their symptoms. Willingham and host Lindsay Beyerstein delve further into the topic to sort through the misconceptions that exist on both sides of the debate. Willingham explains that the data is limited on the relationship between cannabis and autism, in part because of the strict research restrictions that have been placed on what the government classifies as a Schedule I substance, a drug with no medical value. Despite the abundance of data showing its benefits and safety in regard to pain relief and inducing appetite, Willingham points out that the stigma against cannabis has lead to restrictions that are even more severe than those that exist on many other pain killers and opioids.   Emily Willingham will also be speaking at the upcoming Women in Secularism conference, September 23-25 in Arlington, VA. For more information go to womeninsecularism.org.   

[intro music]   Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the Podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s Podcast features an interview with Dr. Jeffrey Dunn, who explores the prospect of personalized medicine in MS. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the topics we’ve been covering on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Recently, blogger Emily Willingham shared a person experience with MRI interpretation in our blog, MS Patient, Ph.D. She wrote, “I’ve come to realize in my various dealings with MRI reports that neuroradiologists are like economists; everyone has an opinion and no two readers will agree on what they see in exactly the same data.” Willingham, a developmental biologist, provides a unique view into the life of an MS patient. Her experiences bring a first-person perspective of MS, while her scientific background informs her insights in a way that many researchers and clinicians may find valuable.   We’d also like to bring your attention to the data visualization section of the MSDF website. Under the research resources tab, you can find a series of interactive data visualizations useful for MS researchers. One visualization aggregates 106 clinical trials. You can organize the data by the compound, phase, population, or even the funding. Our latest visualization is of the natural history of MS symptoms. The interactive bar chart allows you to see the change of various symptom severity in MS over a 30-year period.   Also in research resources, check out the drug development pipeline. This is where we keep detailed information on, at last count, 40 drugs currently in development or on the market for MS. This database, which is updated daily as new information becomes available, contains a wealth of data on each agent. This includes the agent’s class, its intended target and routes of administration, its regulatory status and commercial history, its chemical properties, mechanism of action and adverse effects, and all its clinical trials.   Now for the interview. Dr. Jeffrey Dunn is a Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University. He met with MSDF editor Bob Finn to discuss the use of biomarkers and personalized medicine. But first he shared a little history.   Interviewee – Jeffrey Dunn So, in the history of multiple sclerosis, when cases of CNS demyelinating disease were first discovered, they were discovered as isolated case instances at a number of different and variable institutions throughout Europe and in the United States. The doctors knew of the patients’ symptoms, of course, because they had cared for them. Many of these patients went on to pathology examination, and multiple cases of areas of inflammation or even scar formation were seen within the central nervous system. These cases from the mid-1800s and into the late-1800s were described as isolated instances. And the physician who is given credit for the discovery of what we now know to be multiple sclerosis was Dr. John-Martin Charcot in Paris, because he had had the experience of a very close relationship with a patient he named Mademoiselle V. He had known that she had had a tremor and ataxia and eye movement abnormalities, so Charcot knew his patient’s phenotype, her clinical manifestations, very well, and specifically had seen evidence of eye movement abnormalities, tremor, and ataxia. She had consented to have her nervous system evaluated pathologically, and so Charcot was able to make a connection between what she had looked like in life, and then what her brain and spinal cord had looked like after she had passed away.   It’s that clinicopathologic correlation that really was a paradigm-buster at the time. And Charcot found palpably hard spots – areas of gliosis or scar formation – that occurred in plaques and patches throughout the spinal cord and brain (and cerebellum in this case). He called the disease almost an adjective really; he called it “la sclérose en plaques”, which is French for sclerosis – meaning hard spots essentially – in plaques. So hard spots was the disease. Multiple sclerosis is really an adjective more than a diagnosis. But in the early 20th Century leading up to the mid-20th century, there was increasing recognition on the basis of these isolated case reports that this disease that was now increasingly being called multiple sclerosis might be far more common than people had realized, and great credit needs to be given to Sylvia Lawry, who as you know was the founder of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The National MS Society was put together to try to bring physicians together to create a forum by which they could crosstalk, share the anecdotal information each of them had compiled, and come up with a more systematic review so that the disease could be better described and so that treatments could be more likely discovered. This was a huge step forward in terms of our discovery and ability to diagnosis and ultimately later to treat MS, but it created a framework that said that MS was, in some respects, one disease.   Now all of us even today, I would say, as physicians are trained that MS is a distinct disease; that it’s one type of disease with many variations according to individuals, but I think we’re actually at the very beginning of a very important paradigm shift in this consideration. There’s a difference, of course, between a disease and a syndrome. A disease is a quantifiable isolated entity – a classic example might be a genetic disorder caused by a single mutation in a coding sequence of DNA – whereas a syndrome is probably a collection of different but closely related diseases. I think there’s increasing evidence now, an increasing recognition that MS may be very heterogeneous and variable across individuals; I don’t think there would be any argument among my colleagues that MS is a heterogeneous process. My suggestion to you is that now, I think, we’re at the threshold of a paradigm that says that MS should not be regarded as a monolith or a single pathologic entity, but maybe more as a Stonehenge; a collection of closely related conditions that share some common pathology, but that need to be considered on an individual basis.   At the clinical, radiologic, immunologic, and pathologic levels we have evidence that MS is very heterogeneous among individuals. I think the theory that we now need to proceed according to is that multiple sclerosis is not one disease entity, but a number of different conditions. This idea and paradigm of personalized medicine is gaining traction. Our oncology colleagues who treat cancer have used this with some great and promising success in terms of applying optimum regimens and chemotherapeutic protocols to their patients, but I think there’s tremendous opportunity in multiple sclerosis to practice personalized medicine, because I think that the process of MS is a personalized one in which there are unique and eminently measurable proteins or protein profiles one day we’ll be able to identify, and hopefully that day is soon, and we can use that as the rationale for our prescription for the patients.   Interviewer – Bob Finn So when some people think about biomarkers, they think about an individual protein or some other biological signal that will be prognostic or in some other way tell you about what the patient is experiencing or might experience. It sounds to me like you’re talking about not an individual biomarker, but a constellation of biomarkers that would provide a fingerprint. Am I right about that?   Dr. Dunn I think so. Just as the disease pathogenesis itself is heterogeneous, I don’t think that one single protein would be able to help us. What I would foresee as an individual approaches us, that we might do a panel. There’s a series of questions that has to be asked. The immune process itself is sequential and acts, I think, as a cascade, and we have some biomarkers today that are available. I think you could argue them as biomarkers that help us in decision-making, that help the clinician decide what might be the best therapy, at least in terms of risk-benefit balance, but we just don’t have enough of them to be able to make the kinds of personalized decisions that I think we all hope we’ll be able to make one day.   MSDF Would you mention a couple of the ones that are – or some of the ones – that are available now?   Dr. Dunn So one example that I think would be well agreed on is the presence or absence of JC virus infection that can now be measured by a two-step ELISA assay, with a false-positive rate of an estimated 2.5%. One of the great challenges we face in treating MS is that we have to, in some respects, down-regulate the immune system to protect the brain and central nervous system, but we can’t overshoot the mark to cause a systemic immunosuppression. Immunosuppression can manifest in a number of different ways, including opportunistic infections and even malignancy. One of the most lethal and daunting of the opportunistic infections is a condition called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy – that’s precisely why we tend to call that PML instead, three syllables is far preferable – and that condition is caused by an infection of an otherwise relatively benign virus called JC virus, that if it gets into the central nervous system and begins to affect oligodendrocytes and cells of the central nervous system, can cause rapid intracellular proliferation and damage to the brain; that can spread geometrically throughout the brain and can cause very profound brain damage, and sometimes cases of death as well.   We’ve known of PML previously in patients with lymphoma and also in patients with untreated HIV infection who had severe and advancing immunosuppression. But we’ve seen this same PML condition in immunocompetent patients who have been treated with some of the agents that we might use for multiple sclerosis. This concern is not unique to MS, but it’s a concern with any immunotherapy that you use. The ability to measure whether a patient has previously been infected with a JC virus or not helps us in the risk-benefit balance considerations we have to make on behalf of our patients. It’s known that the absence of evidence of a JC virus infection is associated with a markedly decreased risk of PML, whereas its presence means that’s an active consideration in our prescribing.    Now that, I think, functions as a biomarker. Any time you might see an elevation of a measurable protein or another biomarker in general that normalizes with remission that gives you the opportunity to suggest that that either might be a therapeutic target – so let’s just call it protein X, for example, just for simplification and clarification. If a patient having an MS attack has a measurable increase in protein X in their blood which then now returns to normal or what had been their previous baseline in remission, that tells the clinician investigator that protein X might either be part of the immunologic cascade that causes the MS attack, and therefore suggests that the ability to intervene, down-regulate, or modify the expression of protein X may help with disease pathogenesis, OR it could also mean, or it could emerge as a candidate as a tool of assessment for disease status, so that one question we always have to ask as clinicians when we start patient on any given therapy or just in following them is how are they doing. Of course, that’s a primary mandate for the clinician taking care of patients.   Today, we do that by asking how they’re feeling, we strive to get into quality of life metrics with them, we also turn to their examination findings to look for interval change, and we look at MRI to see if there’s been a change there, with the hope that we’re seeing no evidence of disease activity. But the field of multiple sclerosis does not have its own version of a hemoglobin A1c, such as our endocrinologists have. In that scenario for those that aren’t familiar with it, A1c can be a value obtained literally with a single drop of blood that tells the practicing clinician caring for the patient what the average blood sugar of that patient has been over a substantial period of time prior to the time of their clinical encounter. So it helps the clinician make wise judgments and counsel to the patient regarding the optimum way to treat their diabetes, whether adjustments have to be made in their diet or in their prescription medications.   We don’t have such a thing in multiple sclerosis today. If we could find such a thing, it would make our care, I think, far superior in its quality. I think it would make physicians’ advice to our patients far more wise, and it would make the entire medical enterprise of caring for the MS patient less expensive, because we wouldn’t have to resort to important but still somewhat stodgy and expensive technologies like serial MRIs done with what could be high-frequency for the patient. Serial MRIs are safe for the patient, but you can see that if we could identify such a biomarker as that, if that were possible, I think that would have revolutionary implications for our care of the MS patient, not just in reducing medical costs – that’s an important goal – but the more important goal and what physicians need to focus on is superior advice, improved advice and counsel to the patients that are in our care.     MSDF So you and I are both old enough to remember when the Human Genome Project was proposed, and one of the values of the Human Genome Project that was articulated was that it would usher in an era of personalized medicine. Now it’s 13 years or so after the Human Genome Project has been completed, and, arguably, that promise has never been realized. How much longer will it take in multiple sclerosis to realize an era of personalized medicine?   Dr. Dunn The short answer is I don’t know, but there’s some important considerations to be made along the way. One fact is there are approximately 25,000 genes in the human body, but there are an estimated 500,000 proteins. The reason for the difference is that after an original protein is manufactured on the basis of the blueprint of DNA, it can be modified in transcription and translation. For those of you in your field, this would be post-production modifications. The same thing happens with proteins, and what that means is that the field of proteomics, you could argue, is 20 times more sensitive than the field of genomics if the ratio is 25,000 to 500,000 genes to proteins in the human body, respectively.   MS does have a genetic component, and that’s been proven by research in this past two decades by our country’s leading researchers, but the genetic input of MS is not the only answer; MS is only partially a genetic disease. It seems to be, in my own opinion and I think it’s shared by my colleagues – many of them, most of them perhaps – is that MS is primarily an environmental condition. The greatest risk of obtaining MS is not so much that family members are affected, though cases of that have happened and happen regularly, it seems to be more related to environment, where one lives. Now you may know that epidemiologically, MS is almost absent, or very sparse, at the equator, but in moving north and south on Earth, the greater that one moves away from the equator, the greater the prevalence of MS. And right about the 35th parallel or so both north and south of the equator, there appears to be a relatively large increase in how much MS there is. And that’s true, to the best of our knowledge, all the way around the world.   And so if MS is more of an environmental condition than a genetic one – although it’s both – then I think a genetic assay may be part, but not likely to be all of the answer, and the promise of going to a more sensitive assay to get into the post-transcription and post-translational modification that takes place in human molecules, which ultimately are the language of how the immune system affects our nervous system, is going to be and prove to be a more enriched and more promising field of inquiry.   MSDF I wonder if you can mention some of the labs that are doing the most promising work in this area.   Dr. Dunn I’m pleased to say that there are labs throughout the world that I think are doing research in this. Within the United States – I don’t want to leave anybody out – but I think that special kudos need to be given to the Mayo Clinic. I think on the east coast the Partners Program of the Harvard Medical Schools are very interested in this field; Johns Hopkins is doing work that I think is exemplary. Out west, our colleagues at UCSF. And, of course, I have to give special kudos to my colleagues at Stanford University. These are places that are publishing in translational medicine the bench-to-bedside framework in which discoveries that are being made at the level of the bench, there’s an active effort being made to try to translate that to human care. I’m very sensitive to the idea of excluding anybody, because I think that this is really an international search, and it’s going to require multilevel of collaboration. So I hope that as we go forward, we’ll be able to really work together.   I mentioned just a moment ago, I think practice of personalized medicine in this field is going to require not one discovery, it’s going to require a panel, perhaps, of different measurable biomarkers. I don’t anticipate one single lab is going to be able to discover all of those biomarkers, I think we’ll get one discovery from one place, one from another, one from another. And it’s going to require a transcendent collaboration between institutions and individuals and researchers and investigators to bring it all together for the collective good.   MSDF Dr. Dunn, thank you very much.   Dr. Dunn Okay, alright, thank you very much, Bob.   [transition music]   Thank you for listening to Episode Six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This Podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Robert Finn. Msdiscovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations.   Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances.   We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org.   [outro music]

Welcome to Double X Science for November 1, 2013. This week's hosts are Adrienne Roehrich, chemistry editor, and Chris Gunter, science ed editor. This podcast is split into two episodes due to the length of discussion on our topics. Our introductory discussion is about Tara Haelle's post 25 myths about the flu vaccine debunked http://www.redwineandapplesauce.com/2013/10/28/setting-the-record-straight-dubunking-all-the-flu-vaccine-myths/ http://www.doublexscience.org/setting-record-straight-debunking-25-myths-flu-vaccine/ Double X Science posts since our last podcast: Why I Am the Perfect Mother by Emily Willingham http://www.doublexscience.org/why-i-am-the-perfect-mother/ Parallel Earth and the Evil Matthew Hypothesis by Matthew Frances http://www.doublexscience.org/parallel_earth_evil_matthew/ The Girls of Atomic City by Chris Gunter http://www.doublexscience.org/girls-atomic-city/ Cosmic Coincidence and a Potato Eclipse by Matthew Frances http://www.doublexscience.org/cosmic-coincidence-and-a-potato-eclipse/ How close is a malaria vaccine? by Alexa Kurzius http://www.doublexscience.org/will-ever-effective-malaria-vaccine/ Of CRISPR/Cas and the power of basic research by Jeffrey Perkel http://www.doublexscience.org/crisprcas-basic-research/ The Secret Ingredient of Breast Milk by Beth Skwarekci http://www.doublexscience.org/secret-ingredient-breast-milk/ Two Moms Talk About Pertussis As Told to Maryn McKenna http://www.doublexscience.org/two-moms-talk-pertussis/ Girls Who Grew Up to be scientists by Emily Willingham http://www.doublexscience.org/girls-grew-scientists/ Leave no vagina behind by Tara Haelle http://www.doublexscience.org/leave-vagina-behind/ Scientists Highlighted on Double X Science Jr by Adrienne Roehrich http://www.doublexscience.org/scientists-highlighted-double-x-science-jr/ Double X Science, Jr. posts: The Lunarpolitan Museum of Art by magdissimo http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-lunarpolitan-museum-of-modern-art.html The key to survival: turles by KathyZ http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-key-to-survival-turtles.html A Pretty Metal Story - Parts 1 & 2 by akshiv http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-pretty-metal-story-part-one.html http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/09/part-two-of-pretty-metal-story.html Please visit http://doublexscience.podomatic.com/ for more information. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe via iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/double-x-science/id604770613) or your favorite pod catcher (http://feeds.feedburner.com/doublexscience). Please leave us positive ratings and reviews to bring science to more people.

Welcome to Double X Science for November 1, 2013. This week's hosts are Adrienne Roehrich, chemistry editor, and Chris Gunter, science ed editor. This podcast is split into two episodes due to the length of discussion on our topics. Our introductory discussion is about Tara Haelle's post 25 myths about the flu vaccine debunked http://www.redwineandapplesauce.com/2013/10/28/setting-the-record-straight-dubunking-all-the-flu-vaccine-myths/ http://www.doublexscience.org/setting-record-straight-debunking-25-myths-flu-vaccine/ Double X Science posts since our last podcast: Why I Am the Perfect Mother by Emily Willingham http://www.doublexscience.org/why-i-am-the-perfect-mother/ Parallel Earth and the Evil Matthew Hypothesis by Matthew Frances http://www.doublexscience.org/parallel_earth_evil_matthew/ The Girls of Atomic City by Chris Gunter http://www.doublexscience.org/girls-atomic-city/ Cosmic Coincidence and a Potato Eclipse by Matthew Frances http://www.doublexscience.org/cosmic-coincidence-and-a-potato-eclipse/ How close is a malaria vaccine? by Alexa Kurzius http://www.doublexscience.org/will-ever-effective-malaria-vaccine/ Of CRISPR/Cas and the power of basic research by Jeffrey Perkel http://www.doublexscience.org/crisprcas-basic-research/ The Secret Ingredient of Breast Milk by Beth Skwarekci http://www.doublexscience.org/secret-ingredient-breast-milk/ Two Moms Talk About Pertussis As Told to Maryn McKenna http://www.doublexscience.org/two-moms-talk-pertussis/ Girls Who Grew Up to be scientists by Emily Willingham http://www.doublexscience.org/girls-grew-scientists/ Leave no vagina behind by Tara Haelle http://www.doublexscience.org/leave-vagina-behind/ Scientists Highlighted on Double X Science Jr by Adrienne Roehrich http://www.doublexscience.org/scientists-highlighted-double-x-science-jr/ Double X Science, Jr. posts: The Lunarpolitan Museum of Art by magdissimo http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-lunarpolitan-museum-of-modern-art.html The key to survival: turles by KathyZ http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-key-to-survival-turtles.html A Pretty Metal Story - Parts 1 & 2 by akshiv http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-pretty-metal-story-part-one.html http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/09/part-two-of-pretty-metal-story.html Please visit http://doublexscience.podomatic.com/ for more information. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe via iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/double-x-science/id604770613) or your favorite pod catcher (http://feeds.feedburner.com/doublexscience). Please leave us positive ratings and reviews to bring science to more people.

Welcome to Double X Science for June 22, 2013. This week's hosts are Adrienne Roehrich, chemistry editor, and Jeff Perkel, tech editor. Our topics cover posts since the end of May: Early Puberty Among Adoptees by Health Editor Tara Haelle http://www.doublexscience.org/adoptees-early-puberty-rates/ Calculating Vaccine Risk by Contributor Alison Hagood http://www.doublexscience.org/calculating-vaccine-risk/ Arousal during rape by Contributor Jenny Morber http://www.doublexscience.org/arousal-during-rape/ Five Reasons Mermaids are Impossible by Editor-in-Chief Emily Willingham http://www.doublexscience.org/five-reasons-mermaids-are-impossible/ On Pacifiers and Breastfeeding by Health Editor Tara Haelle http://www.doublexscience.org/of-pacifiers-and-breastfeeding/ Chasing Tornadoes is an Old Habit by Tech Editor Jeffrey Perkel http://www.doublexscience.org/storm-chasers-colonial-edition/ Sizing Up the Mother in Me by Contributor Joss Fong http://www.doublexscience.org/sizing-up-the-mother-in-me/ He found out he has ovaries by Editor-in-chief Emily Willingham http://www.doublexscience.org/he-found-out-he-has-ovaries/ SCOTUS ruling means cheaper genetic testing by science ed editor Chris Gunter http://www.doublexscience.org/myriad-genetics-ruling/ Shark Clones: A Story of Parthenogenesis http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/06/shark-clones-story-of-parthenogenesis.html Dr. Irene Helen Battle http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/06/dr-helen-irene-battle.html ews of the week was about the Big Brain Project. http://www.nature.com/news/whole-human-brain-mapped-in-3d-1.13245?WT.mc_id=PIN_NatureNews Thank you for listening. Please subscribe via iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/double-x-science/id604770613) or your favorite pod catcher (http://feeds.feedburner.com/doublexscience). Please leave us positive ratings and reviews to bring science to more people.

Welcome to Double X Science for May 10, 2013. This week's hosts are Adrienne Roehrich, chemistry editor, and Emily Willingham, editor-in-chief. Our topics cover posts of the week, Unicorns and Brainbows, A Tour of Digestion from Nose to Um... Tail, About that Pacifier Study, That deadly, imported, meningitis-toting snail? Isn’t., and the I Am Mental Illness post of the week. We also covered Double X Science Jr posts about Bon Voyage, NEOSSat! and The mystery of salmon migration and magnetism. News of the week was about the 14-year old girl presenting her science fair project on iPads and defibrillators/pace makers at a cardiology conference. You can find this week's posts at: http://www.doublexscience.org/unicorns-and-brainbows/ http://www.doublexscience.org/a-tour-of-digestion-from-nose-to-um-tail/ http://www.doublexscience.org/about-that-pacifier-study/ http://www.doublexscience.org/daily-mail-snail-fail/ http://www.doublexscience.org/this-is-good-and-i-am-happy/ http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/05/bon-voyage-neossat.html http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-mystery-of-salmon-migration-and.html You can google information for our news story. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe via iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/double-x-science/id604770613) or your favorite pod catcher (http://feeds.feedburner.com/doublexscience). Please leave us positive ratings and reviews to bring science to more people.

Welcome to the Double X Science podcast for Friday, March 15, 2013 with hosts Adrienne Roehrich, chemistry editor, and Emily Willingham, editor-in-chief. We discuss the five posts of the week, with special emphasis on Laura Newman's post 'HIV+ doesn't mean you can't have children.' We also discuss the posts at Double X Science Jr, highlighting Rare Earth Metals. We wrap up with a brief discussion about a study using an African Sleeping Sickness medication to treat mitochondrial autism shown in a mice study. Our blog posts can be found at: http://www.doublexscience.org/hiv-doesnt-mean-you-cant-have-children/ http://www.doublexscience.org/when-it-comes-to-height-we-tend-to-get-what-we-want/ http://www.doublexscience.org/a-brontosaurus-for-you/ http://www.doublexscience.org/gluten-sensitivity/ http://www.doublexscience.org/a-dislocation-of-mind/ http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/03/dont-stop-playing.html http://doublexsciencejr.blogspot.com/2013/03/rare-earth-elements.html

Emily Willingham is a biologist, science writer, and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to College Biology.  She is also the blogger at ‘The Biology Files.’  In this episode we talk about a short book that Emily wrote called When Worlds Collide: The Troubled History of Bears and People in Texas, which is available as […]