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In this month's episode, we tackled innovations in healthcare. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've seen a focus on various healthcare innovations and technology like artificial intelligence, cloud-enabled solutions, and inpatient telehealth, but other innovations are important, too. Some of these focused on in Pennsylvania include how we can get more value out of the country's healthcare system without sacrificing the quality of care and lowering barriers for underserved populations.We spoke to Dr. Doug Jacobs, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Medical Officer and Chief Innovation Officer in the Office of the Secretary at the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and Meg Small, Ph.D., Director of Social Innovation and Assistant Research Professor at the Penn State Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center, about what it means to have a healthcare system that pays for value, promotes health equity and addresses the social determinants of health; measuring the success of healthcare innovation; healthcare innovations involving mobile technology; and other improvements to expanding access while reducing healthcare costs.Episode Resources and NotesFor more information about DHS's efforts on healthcare innovation, visit this page.In response to a question about how health equity frames prevention science, Meg brings up a collaboration project with a woman named Lavelle Smith Hall, an entrepreneur and founder of a company called MOMLogics. MOMLogics serves Black moms and empowers them with parenting strategies so they can enjoy better relationships with their children, spouses, and families.Meg discusses a program called Museums for All that allows families and children receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) free or reduced admission to over 700 museums throughout the United States simply by presenting their EBT card.Meg mentions the research of Karen Bierman, Ph.D., Evan Pugh Professor, Professor of Psychology and Human Development and Family Studies, and Director of the Child Study Center at Penn State. For more of her work, visit Karen's Google Scholar page.Meg mentions Penn State faculty affiliate and pediatrician, Laura Jana, M.D., and her work on adopting reach out and read programs into early learning centers. More information about Laura can be found here.Doug refers to a healthcare system in Pennsylvania that has a “fresh food pharmacy” where physicians can prescribe fresh food for families.Meg references The Common Good by Robert Reich.The transcript for this episode is available here.
Recent Penn State graduate Amy Mook interviews Nina Jablonski about her ground-breaking research into the evolution of skin pigmentation, and the promise of that research to help to heal the damage inflicted over generations through misguided racist constructs perpetuated by the scientific establishment of the past. HOST:Amy Mook, 2020 graduate of Penn State's Genetics and Developmental Biology programGUESTS:Dr. Nina Jablonski, Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology, Penn State Co-director of the Center for Human Evolution and Diversity
In this debut episode, the co-directors of Penn State's Center for Human Evolution and Diversity (CHED) are interviewed by a recent graduate of the university about the origins and mission of their Center – and this podcast.HOST:Amy Mook, 2020 graduate of Penn State's Genetics and Developmental Biology programGUESTS:Nina Jablonski, Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology, Penn State Mark Shriver, Professor of Anthropology, Penn State
Historian Ben Baumann talks with planetary habitability expert Dr. James Kasting about the search for life beyond Earth, its challenges, and what can be done to increase our chances of finding it. (James Kasting is an Evan Pugh Professor at Penn State University, where he holds joint appointments in the Departments of Geosciences and in Meteorology and Atmospheric Science. He earned an undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Michigan in 1979. Prior to coming to Penn State in 1988, he spent 2 years at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, and 7 years in the Space Science Division at NASA Ames Research Center south of San Francisco. His research focuses on the evolution of planetary atmospheres and climates and on the question of whether life might exist on planets around other stars. In 2018, he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. His semi-popular book, How to Find a Habitable Planet (Princeton University Press), was published in 2010.) For more on Dr. James Kasting visit the following links: Profile- https://www.ems.psu.edu/directory/james-kasting Book- https://www.amazon.com/Find-Habitable-Planet-Science-Essentials/dp/0691138052 (The memories, comments, and viewpoints shared by guests in the interviews do not represent the viewpoints of, or speak for Roots of Reality)
Andrew Read, Ph.D is the director of Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, the Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Entomology, and the Eberly Professor of Biotechnology at Pennsylvania State University. He joins host Lauren Richardson to discuss the results and implications of the article "An adjunctive therapy administered with an antibiotic prevents enrichment of antibiotic-resistant clones of a colonizing opportunistic pathogen" by Valerie J Morley, Clare L Kinnear , Derek G Sim, Samantha N Olson , Lindsey M Jackson, Elsa Hansen, Grace A Usher, Scott A Showalter, Manjunath P Pai, Robert J Woods, and Andrew F Read, published in eLife.
The storms started forming even before the hurricane season officially kicked off. Tropical Storm Albert churned toward North Carolina in mid-May, two weeks before the official start to the Atlantic season on June 1. It was an ominous beginning that only continued. By August, meteorologists upgraded their forecast to say 2020 looked to be “extremely active,” and that they now expected up to 25 named storms – double a normal year. But 2020 blew past even that goalpost. There have now been 30 named storms – 13 of them hurricanes. Is climate change to blame? Since 1900, Atlantic ocean waters have warmed by 2 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists know warmer water leads to stronger storms. Does it also increase the number? Guest: Richard Alley is an American geologist and Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS
Dr. Alan Walked passed away on November 20, 2017. A paleoanthropologist known for his work in early human evolution, Dr. Walker was the Evan Pugh Professor of Biological Anthropology and Biology at the Pennsylvania State University and was also a research scientist at the National Museum of Kenya. During his impressive career Dr. Walker discovered the “Black Skull” and was also on the research team that discovered Turkana Boy. He received many awards throughout his life, including a MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant". In this episode, Chris and Cara honor and remember his many contributions to the field with his former PhD student Dr. Leslea Hlusko and his former postdoc Dr. Peter Ungar. You can find their memorial piece here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2019.0017 To learn more about Dr. Ungar, you can visit his website: https://ungarlab.uark.edu/ You can learn more about Dr. Hlusko’s work here: https://www.lesleahlusko.org/ Contact the Sausage of Science and Human Biology Association: Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation Website:humbio.org/, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc Cara Ocobock, Website: sites.nd.edu/cara-ocobock/, Email:cocobock@nd.edu, Twitter:@CaraOcobock Chris Lynn, HBA Public Relations Committee Chair, Website:cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, Email:cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly Theresa Gildner, Website: bonesandbehavior.org/theresa_gildner, Email: Theresa.E.Gildner@dartmouth.edu, Twitter: @TEGildner Delaney Glass, Website: https://dglass.netlify.app/, Email: dglass1@uw.edu, Twitter: @GlassDelaney Alexandra Niclou, Email: aniclou@nd.edu, Twitter: @fiat_Luxandra
Guest: Dr. Richard Alley, Evan Pugh Professor, Penn State UniversityDescription:Oftentimes, when a scientist explains their work to the public there is a breakdown of communication. The person listening gets lost in the complex explanation and foreign terminology. But there are small handful of amazing scientists that have an incredible ability to communicate... keeping the audience engaged and wanting more. And today we are joined by one such person, Dr. Richard Alley from Penn State University. We are going to talk glaciology, meteorology, and climatology and I guarantee you won’t be disappointed.
Dr. Nina Jablonski is Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology at Penn State University. She is a primatologist and paleoanthropologist but has also become among the foremost experts in the world on the biology and evolution of human skin pigmentation. She is author of Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color (2012) and Skin: A Natural History (2006). Dr. Jablonski was interviewed by Chris, along with Jo Weaver and Erik Peterson, while in Tuscaloosa, AL to give a lecture for the ALLELE speaker series. The interview was recorded by Jim Bindon. Jo, Erik, and Jim produce the Speaking of Race podcast, and we shared portions of the interview. Learn more about Dr. Jablonski’s research and teaching at her department webpage: anth.la.psu.edu/people/ngj2. Contact Nina Jablonski: Ngj2@psu.edu. Get info about the Finding Your Roots program she develops and runs with Henry Louis Gates www.findingyourroots.la.psu.edu/ Tmw119@psu.edu Find more information about the UA ALLELE series: evolution.ua.edu/. Nina Jablonski’s full lecture with video will be posted on the ALLELE Vimeo site: vimeo.com/channels/allele/videos Contact Us: www.facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation humbio.org/ twitter.com/HumBioAssoc Michaela Howells is Chair of the Publicity Committee, howellsm@uncw.edu. Cara & Chris are committee members and produce this show: Cara Ocobock www.albany.edu/anthro/72074.php cocobock@albany.edu twitter.com/CaraOcobock Chris Lynn cdlynn.people.ua.edu/ cdlynn@ua.edu twitter.com/Chris_Ly Interview engineered by Jim Bindon. Lecture recorded by UA’s eTech. Mixing and editing by Chris. Music by the Morning Shakes. “Sausage of Science” logo by Lux Lynn (LuxL1312@gmail.com).
Dr. Nina Jablonski is Evan Pugh Professor of Anthropology at Penn State University. She is a primatologist and paleoanthropologist but has also become among the foremost experts in the world on the biology and evolution of human skin pigmentation. She is author of Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color (2012) and Skin: A Natural History (2006). Dr. Jablonski was interviewed by Chris, along with Jo Weaver and Erik Peterson, while in Tuscaloosa, AL to give a lecture for the ALLELE speaker series. The interview was recorded by Jim Bindon. Jo, Erik, and Jim produce the Speaking of Race podcast, and we shared portions of the interview. Learn more about Dr. Jablonski’s research and teaching at her department webpage: http://anth.la.psu.edu/people/ngj2. Contact Nina Jablonski: Ngj2@psu.edu. Get info about the Finding Your Roots program she develops and runs with Henry Louis Gates http://www.findingyourroots.la.psu.edu/ Tmw119@psu.edu Find more information about the UA ALLELE series: http://evolution.ua.edu/. Nina Jablonski’s full lecture with video will be posted on the ALLELE Vimeo site: https://vimeo.com/channels/allele/videos Contact Us: https://www.facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation http://humbio.org/ https://twitter.com/HumBioAssoc Michaela Howells is Chair of the Publicity Committee, howellsm@uncw.edu. Cara & Chris are committee members and produce this show: Cara Ocobock http://www.albany.edu/anthro/72074.php cocobock@albany.edu https://twitter.com/CaraOcobock Chris Lynn http://cdlynn.people.ua.edu/ cdlynn@ua.edu https://twitter.com/Chris_Ly Interview engineered by Jim Bindon. Lecture recorded by UA’s eTech. Mixing and editing by Chris. Music by the Morning Shakes. “Sausage of Science” logo by Lux Lynn (LuxL1312@gmail.com).
The Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication Dr. Richard Alley, Professor of Geosciences, Penn State The event is a moving tribute to the late Stanford University climatologist Stephen Schneider, as Richard Alley is honored as the inaugural winner of the Stephen H. Schneider Award for Outstanding Climate Science Communication. Alley, the Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, is also host of the PBS documentary "Earth: The Operators Manual." Alley and Climate One’s Greg Dalton talk about the challenges confronting scientists who carry on Schneider’s legacy of communicating climate science to the public and policymakers. The intent of the PBS series and companion book, Alley says, is to present both the risks and opportunities presented by climate change, and to use different messengers to tell the story. “We’re hoping to communicate more, not only the imperatives of doing something, but the amazing opportunities that are out there,” he says. The good news is that we have the tools we need to get started. “The first place to start is that we know we can get there without game-changers. This is the wonderful thing. If you can get a hundredth of a percent of the sun’s energy, that’s all of humanity’s energy. If you can put a wind farm on the windiest 20% of the plains and deserts of the world, that is far more than humanity’s energy needs.” And it helps if that message isn’t coming solely from him: “‘Climate change matters to you,’ I can say that. But why now have an admiral in the U.S. Navy say it, because climate change matters to them.” He also doesn’t want to prescribe policy solutions. “I would like very much to bring forward what we know, why it matters, and what opportunities are attached to that knowledge. And then stop and say, ‘It’s yours,’” he says. That handoff invariably involves asking policymakers, and the public, to grapple with the tricky concept of scientific uncertainty. Fortunately, Alley says, Stephen Schneider excelled at explaining uncertainty, using techniques that Alley has made his own. “You have to say: ‘This is what we know. And this is as good as it can get. And this is as bad as it can get.’ And make that very clear to people,” he says. And though his inbox is sometimes the target of skeptics’ screeds, Alley’s preferred response is to engage. “There may be bad people out there, but I don’t talk to them,” he says. “Even the ones who call me names, when you can actually sit down with them, they care. Usually they’re arguing about things that are not really what they care about. What they really care about are their grandkids.” This program was recorded in front of a live audience at The Commonwealth Club of California on December 6, 2011