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In the very first episode of Scaling Theory, I mentioned a few scientists who have shaped my understanding of the world. At the very top of that list is today's guest: W. Brian Arthur.Brian was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and went on to become one of the most important figures of complexity science. Today, he is widely known as the father of complexity economics, a field that has transformed how we think about the evolution of modern economies.His influence is remarkable. Brian's work has been cited more than 58,000 times according to Google Scholar. He received numerous awards and recognition, such as being the inaugural laureate of the Lagrange Prize in Complexity Science, an award that many have described as complexity's equivalent of the Nobel Prize. Brian has been, at age 37, the youngest endowed chair holder at Stanford University. He went on to work for my institutions, including the Santa Fe Institute, as we will talk about. On a personal note, I consider Brian a friend.Now, what makes me especially happy to have Brian on the podcast is the unique perspective he brings on how economies form and evolve. His understanding of technology, how it emerges and scales, offers a lens that none others have developed. It is a way of seeing economic life as something alive. Be ready to be blown away.You can follow me on X (@ProfSchrepel) and BlueSky (@ProfSchrepel).**References:W. Brian Arthur, Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events (1989) https://www.rochelleterman.com/ir/sites/default/files/arthur 1989.pdfW. Brian Arthur, Foundations of Complexity Economics (2021) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7844781/pdf/42254_2020_Article_273.pdfW. Brian Arthur, The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves (2009)W. Brian Arthur, Economics in Nouns and Verbs (2023) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268122003936Thibault Schrepel, The Evolution of Economies, Technologies, and Other Institutions: Exploring W. Brian Arthur's Insights (2024) https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/8809341E2E94D76B8CCAB4A4DDACBC4C/S1744137424000067a.pdf/evolution_of_economies_technologies_and_other_institutions_exploring_w_brian_arthurs_insights.pdf
This episode of The Food Professor Podcast opens with Michael and Sylvain analyzing the most pressing developments shaping Canada's food and retail landscape. Sylvain reflects on the extraordinary national and global reach of Canada's Food Price Report, which this year generated unprecedented media attention and continues to influence retailers, manufacturers, governments, and consumers planning for 2026. They dig into the structural issues behind Canada's complex food-tax regime, discuss why the GST holiday changed how Canadians think about food pricing, and explore the broader economic forces influencing consumer behaviour.The hosts then turn to one of the most surprising developments of the season: mounting instability in the chicken sector. With nine consecutive missed production cycles, increased reliance on imports, and confusion around border testing, the system designed to provide stability is under strain. Sylvain breaks down why this matters for households, grocers, foodservice operators, and the broader supply chain—especially as chicken remains Canada's most-purchased protein. The conversation then expands southward to U.S. agricultural subsidies, tariff battles, Costco's legal challenge over tariff refunds, and the potential fallout of proposed U.S. tariffs on Canadian fertilizer.The second half of the episode shifts to a live interview recorded at the Coffee Association of Canada conference, where Michael and Sylvain sit down with Carman Allison, Vice President, NIQ Canada, one of the country's most respected consumer data voices. Carman previews his conference keynote, “Navigating Disruption,” and explains why coffee inflation is reshaping buying behaviour even among loyal consumers who consider coffee essential. He outlines NIQ's segmentation showing that 29% of Canadian households are now financially vulnerable—and how this is affecting deal-seeking, product substitution, and consumption patterns.Drawing on NIQ's expanded Omni Shopper Panel, Carman describes how rapid multicultural population growth is shifting beverage preferences, why Generation X now holds the greatest spending power, and how value-seeking is reshaping entire store categories. He also reveals early evidence of the GLP-1 effect, where households using weight-loss or diabetes medications show measurable declines in food consumption.Carman closes by highlighting growth opportunities in instant coffee, protein-and-coffee hybrids, Maple-forward flavour innovation, and the continued rise of home-meal-replacement programs. His insights give retailers and suppliers a grounded, data-rich roadmap for growth in a highly price-sensitive marketplace. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
Economist Paul Milgrom is celebrated for his Nobel Prize-winning work on auction theory and design. But he has published a wide range of other innovative, influential research throughout his career – including a book and articles emerging from his 1991-92 CASBS fellowship. Gani Aldashev (CASBS fellow, 2024-25) engages Milgrom on highlights of this often-collaborative or cross-disciplinary work on organizational behavior, the institutional roots of trust and cooperation, social choice for environmental policy, and more.PAUL MILGROM: Stanford faculty page | Personal website | Nobel Prize page | Nobel bio | Wikipedia page| CASBS page |Gani Aldashev: Georgetown faculty page | CASBS page | Google Scholar page |PAUL MILGROM WORKS REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE:Economics, Organization, and Management (Prentice Hall, 1992), coauthored with John Roberts (CASBS fellow, 1991-92)"Multitask Principal-Agent Analyses: Incentive Contracts, Asset Ownership, and Job Design," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization (1991), coauthored with Bengt Holmstrom"Complementarities and Fit Strategy, Structure, and Organizational Change in Manufacturing," Journal of Accounting and Economics (1995), coauthored with John Roberts"Complementarities, Momentum, and the Evolution of Modern Manufacturing," The American Economic Review (1991), coauthored with Yingyi Qian, John Roberts"Complementarities and Systems: Understanding Japanese Economic Organization," Estudios Economicos (1994), coauthored with John Roberts"The Role of Institutions in the Revival of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, and the Champagne Fairs," Economics & Politics (1990), coauthored with Douglass North (CASBS fellow, 1987-88) and Barry Weingast (CASBS fellow, 1993-94)Learn about the Champagne Fairs on Wikipedia"Coordination, Commitment and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild," Journal of Political Economy (1994), coauthored with Avner Greif (CASBS fellow, 1993-94), Barry Weingast"Is Sympathy an Economic Value? Philosophy, Economics, and the Contingent Valuation Method," in Contingent Valuation: A Critical Assessment, J.A. Hausman, ed. (Elsevier, 1993)"Kenneth Arrow's Last Theorem," Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design (2024)Other works referenced in this episode:Oliver Williamson, The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting (Mcmillan, 1985). Much of this book was written at CASBS during Williamson's 1977-78 CASBS fellowship.Works emerging from Milgrom's CASBS fellowshipsMilgrom's collaborations with, intellectual interactions with, or responses to other Nobel Prize winners in this episode:Oliver Williamson (CASBS fellow 1977-78, Nobel Prize 2009)Bengt Holmstrom (Nobel Prize 2016)Robert Wilson (CASBS fellow 1977-78, Nobel Prize 2020)Ronald Coase (CASBS fellow 1958-59, Nobel Prize 1991)Douglass North (CASBS fellow 1987-88, Nobel Prize 1993)Kenneth Arrow (CASBS fellow 1956-57, Nobel Prize 1972) Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford UniversityExplore CASBS: website|Bluesky|X|YouTube|LinkedIn|podcast|latest newsletter|signup|outreachHuman CenteredProducer: Mike Gaetani | Audio engineer & co-producer: Joe Monzel |
In this action and insight-packed episode of The Food Professor Podcast, Michael LeBlanc and Sylvain Charlebois sit down with Hugo Magnan, President of Groupe MAG, the Quebec-based culinary innovator behind some of Canada's most delicious mayonnaise, salad dressings, dips, and sauces. Hugo shares the company's origin story — founded in 1989 by his father Jacques — and explains how Groupe MAG carved out a loyal following through premium ingredients, bold flavours, and a commitment to craft. Michael even reveals his own culinary experiments using MAG mayonnaise in a Texan-style potato salad, highlighting the brand's versatility and taste advantage over mainstream competitors. The conversation explores the future of condiments, how regional producers scale nationally, and why MAG's formula resonates with consumers craving authenticity and umami-rich flavours.The second half of the episode pivots to the newly released Canada's Food Price Report, featuring a detailed breakdown of projected food inflation for 2026. Using AI-driven forecasting, Sylvain's research team anticipates grocery price increases of 4–6% next year — adding nearly $1,000 annually for a family of four. Meat, centre-aisle pantry goods, and restaurant meals are expected to drive most inflation, while coffee prices are entering what Michael calls “eye-watering levels” due to global supply constraints. Sylvain warns that restructuring by major food manufacturers may lead to fewer product choices, reducing competition and elevating prices, particularly in packaged foods.Yet, amid affordability challenges, the report identifies positive shifts. Canadian consumers are entering 2026 more informed, intentional, and empowered than during the pandemic inflation wave. Shopping trips per household have risen from five to more than seven per month, as families comparison-shop, loyalty surf, and embrace food rescue apps, private label alternatives, and price-matching codes. Structural forces — from discount grocer expansion in Quebec to declining alcohol consumption in restaurants — are also reshaping the retail landscape. Restaurants, facing lower bar revenues, will need to reinvent profitability while consumers lean more into at-home dining.Whether you're a food lover curious about better mayonnaise, a retailer navigating shifting economics, or a policy-watcher tracking food affordability, this episode blends culinary storytelling with hard-hitting data, offering both delicious inspiration and serious insight into the year ahead. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
He's been working in AI since the late 1970s, and started a pioneering machine learning hedge fund in the 1990s. Now he's a professor, a podcaster, a Substacker, a yoda -- and has just written a cracking book on the subject. Vasant Dhar joins Amit Varma in episode 432 of The Seen and the Unseen to discuss the life and times of AI through the life and times of Vasant Dhar. (FOR FULL LINKED SHOW NOTES, GO TO SEENUNSEEN.IN.) Also check out: 1. Vasant Dhar on Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar and NYU Stern. 2. Thinking With Machines: The Brave New World of AI -- Vasant Dhar. 3. Brave New World -- Vasant Dhar's podcast. 4. Vasant Dhar's Brave New World on Substack. 5. Brave New World — Episode 203 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Vasant Dhar). 6. Brave New World -- Aldous Huxley. 7. Death of a Salesman -- Arthur Miller. 8. Aldous Huxley interviewed by Mike Wallace. 9. Anil Seth On The Science of Consciousness – Episode 94 of Brave New World. 10. How the Mind Works -- Steven Pinker. 11. Anthony Zador on How our Brains Work — Episode 35 of Brave New World. 12. The Naked Sun -- Isaac Asimov. 13. Human and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare — Episode 4 of Brave New World (w Eric Topol). 14. Daniel Kahneman on How Noise Hampers Judgement — Episode 21 of Brave New World. 15. The Nature of Intelligence — Episode 7 of Brave New World (w Yann LeCun). 16. Philip Tetlock on the Art of Forecasting — Episode 31 of Brave New World. 17. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction — Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner. 18. "When you control the mail..." -- Clip from Seinfeld. 19. The Future of Liberal Education — Episode 11 of Brave New World (w Michael S Roth). 20. The Surface Area of Serendipity -- Episode 39 of Everything is Everything. 21. When Should We Trust Machines? -- Vasant Dhar's TEDx talk from 2018. 22. From Strength to Strength -- Arthur Brooks. 23. The Innovator's Dilemma -- Clayton Christensen. 24. Raghu Sundaram on Building a Great University -- Episode 88 of Brave New World. 25. Power and Prediction -- Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb. 26. The Paperclip Maximiser. 27. The Wealth of Nations -- Adam Smith. 28. The Theory of Moral Sentiments -- Adam Smith. 29. Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister — Jonathan Lynn and Antony Jay. 30. Aswath Damodaran on Investing — Episode 33 of Brave New World. 31. The Damodaran Bot. 32. Dmitry Rinberg on the Mysteries of Smell — Episode 62 of Brave New World. 33. Alex Wiltschko on the Sense of Smell — Episode 81 of Brave New World. 34. Sandeep Robert Datta on Smell and the Brain -- Episode 90 of Brave New World. 35. Alex Wiltschko on Digitizing Scent -- Episode 97 of Brave New World. 36. A Billion Wicked Thoughts -- Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam. 37. Being You: A New Science of Consciousness -- Anil Seth. 38. Noise -- Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein. 39. Thinking, Fast and Slow -- Daniel Kahneman. This episode is sponsored by CTQ Compounds. Check out The Daily Reader and FutureStack. Use the code UNSEEN for Rs 2500 off. Amit Varma runs a course called Life Lessons, which aims to be a launchpad towards learning essential life skills all of you need. For more details, and to sign up, click here. Amit and Ajay Shah also bring out a weekly YouTube show, Everything is Everything. Have you watched it yet? You must! And have you read Amit's newsletter? Subscribe right away to The India Uncut Newsletter! It's free! Also check out Amit's online course, The Art of Clear Writing. Episode art: 'The Mage' by Simahina.
Delving into hours-of-service regulation in the trucking industry, The Broad Matters podcast talks with Martin Holzhacker about a paper he coauthored with the Department of Supply Chain Management at the Broad College. Their research uncovers both the benefits and also the unintended consequences of regulation on independent workers. Follow Martin and his research on LinkedIn and Google Scholar. For more episodes of Broad Matters, subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
In this deep and thought-provoking episode, Dr. Niraj Poudyal, a respected academic researcher and philosopher, discusses Atheism, Secularism, and the relationship between Science and Religion. The conversation begins with his personal interest in atheism, followed by an exploration of what atheism truly means—beyond misconceptions that it's simply “not believing in God.” Dr. Poudyal explains how religion and culture overlap, the belief in karma and reincarnation, and how changing religion isn't the same as becoming an atheist. He offers insights on the origin of religion, the historical situation of atheism, and how ideas of superpower and energy relate to spiritual and scientific thinking. In the second part, Dr. Poudyal breaks down secularism, explaining its importance in maintaining balance between faith and freedom. He also addresses morality for atheists, challenging the notion that ethics require religion. The discussion closes with reflections on science, reason, and human values. Whether you're religious, spiritual, or skeptical, this conversation helps you understand the spectrum of belief, atheism, and secular thought in a broader human and Nepali context. GET CONNECTED WITH Dr. Niraj Poudyal: LinkedIn - https://np.linkedin.com/in/niraj-poudyal-phd-12b85b159 Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8GHVJywAAAAJ&hl=en
This episode of The Food Professor Podcast takes a deep dive into one of the most powerful forces now reshaping the food industry: the rapid rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Hosts Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois begin with a run-through of current food and retail headlines, including controversy at Campbell Soup, conversations around AI adoption and innovation in the food sector, and early teasers from the 2026 Canada Food Price Report. These stories set the stage for this week's feature discussion: how GLP-1 medications are altering what consumers eat, where they shop, and which products they choose.The heart of the episode features an in-depth interview with Ransom Hawley, Founder and CEO of Caddle, a Canadian mobile-first consumer insights platform with access to real-time behavioural data. Hawley shares new Canadian research showing GLP-1 household usage has jumped from 10% to 14% over two years, a dramatic 40% increase. Equally important is the shift in why people are taking these drugs: where most users initially relied on them to manage type-2 diabetes, an increasing number now use them primarily for weight loss. That consumer pivot mirrors rapid adoption trends in the United States and offers important clues about what's coming next for Canadian retailers, manufacturers and restaurants.Hawley reveals that GLP-1 users report eating less, losing weight, buying fewer groceries, and reducing restaurant visits. Consumption of alcohol, sugary beverages and impulse-driven snack foods is falling, while protein-rich foods, functional beverages and satiety-oriented products are gaining momentum. Categories seeing the steepest declines include bakery goods, packaged cookies, chocolates, soft drinks and sweet snacks—all long-time staples of convenience-driven food consumption. This suggests a structural shift, not a temporary fad.The conversation expands to consider the broader implications. As GLP-1 usage rises, brands face new challenges and opportunities: How should they reformulate products for consumers who eat less? Should retailers redesign planograms to reflect category shrinkage? Will foodservice operators pivot toward protein-forward meals, smoothies and portion-smart menu strategies? As the hosts discuss, this is the first time since COVID-era lockdowns that such a large segment of the population is simultaneously changing eating behaviours, and its ripple effects will reshape category strategies, promotional plans, and innovation pipelines.By the end of the episode, one thing is clear: GLP-1 drugs are not just a pharmaceutical phenomenon—they are transforming food culture, retail economics, and consumer expectations. Retailers and brands that ignore this shift risk falling behind; those who understand it may unlock a once-in-a-generation competitive advantage. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
What does it take to push yourself to the absolute limit and keep going for a cause bigger than yourself?Imagine you're cycling 3,000 miles in 12 days on no more than 2 hours sleep a day. You feel exhausted, with nothing left to give, but important decisions need to be made to achieve your goal.This was the reality for my guest in this episode, Kurt Matzler, one of the world's most cited strategy professors and an elite ultra-endurance cyclist who has completed the Race Across America, often described as the toughest race in the world.We dive into how Kurt blends his expertise in strategy with the demands of ultra-cycling: from meticulous planning and team building to the mental resilience needed to ride for 22 hours a day across deserts and mountain ranges.It's a conversation that will inspire you to think bigger, plan smarter, and persist longer. And perhaps, to take on a challenge you once thought impossible.“Be willing to do everything that is needed to achieve your big goal” – Kurt MatzlerYou'll hear about:Race Across America: the world's longest bike raceThe role of purpose in endurance challengesBalancing training with work and familyBuilding mental toughness before the raceThe power of delegating decisions to a teamLessons from setbacks and resilienceCreating a high-performance support crewWhy strategy means saying noTurning big goals into smaller milestonesThe impact Kurt wants to have on the worldAbout Kurt Matzler:Kurt is professor of Strategic Management at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. According to Brightline Initiative he is one of the best strategic thinkers in the world. He is academic director of the Executive MBA program at MCI in Innsbruck and partner of IMP, an international consulting firm, the winner of the hidden champions in consulting in the field of disruption in Germany. Kurt is author of more than 300 academic papers and several books. He is co-author of the German edition of the Innovator's dilemma, one of the six most important management books overall (Economist). He is author of The High Performance Mindset (2023, among the 10 best business books of 2023, Forbes), co-author of "Open Strategy" (MIT Press, 2021, according to the Strategy+Business Magazine the best strategy book of 2021) and "Digital Disruption" (2016). With more than 35,000 citations in Google Scholar and an H-Index of 82, Kurt belongs to the top 20 strategy researchers in Europe and to the top 50 in the world. He is included in the John Ioannidis Stanford University's database of the world's top 2% of scientists in all disciplines. He is a passionate cyclist and a solo finisher of the Race Across America 2022 and 2025, Race Around Austria, Northcape4000 and Ultracycling World Champion 2024 (Master class). With his participation in RAAM, his Rotary team raised more than USD 4,500,000 to eradicate Polio.Resources:Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-matzler-99206b7/Book: https://shorturl.at/zPdnLMy resources:Try my High-stakes meetings toolkit (https://bit.ly/43cnhnQ) Take my Becoming a Strategic Leader course (https://bit.ly/3KJYDTj)Sign up to my Every Day is a Strategy Day newsletter (http://bit.ly/36WRpri) for modern mindsets and practices to help you get aheadSubscribe to my YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/3cFGk1k) where you can watch the conversationFor more details about me:● Services (https://rb.gy/ahlcuy) to CEOs, entrepreneurs and professionals.● About me (https://rb.gy/dvmg9n) - my background, experience and philosophy.● Examples of my writing https://rb.gy/jlbdds)● Follow me and engage with me on LinkedIn (https://bit.ly/2Z2PexP)● Follow me and engage with me on Twitter (https://bit.ly/36XavNI)
We're all familiar with the sentiment that “college is the best time of your life.” Along with a newfound sense of freedom, students have a unique opportunity to forge lifelong friendships at a point in life when friendship is particularly important. Why is it, then, that so many college students are falling victim to what the US Surgeon General termed an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation”? How do different aspects of college life help or hinder students' ability to form deep connections?In Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends: How Campuses Shape College Students' Networks (U Chicago Press, 2025), sociologist Janice M. McCabe shows that the way a college is structured—whether students live in dorms or commute, study abroad or stay close to campus, have plentiful common areas for clubs to meet or not—can either encourage or hinder the making of meaningful friendships. Based on interviews with 95 students on three distinct campuses—a small private college (Dartmouth College), a large public university (University of New Hampshire), and a non-residential community college (Manchester Community College)—McCabe captures a wide range of experiences and discovers how features of the campuses make it easier or harder for students to make and keep friends. She shows how and why, across all three institutions, some students thrive in deep and lasting friendships with their peers.As McCabe's research reveals, we need to look at the structures of students' networks, the institutions they attend, and the importance of their identities in these places if we are to truly uncover and address the loneliness epidemic facing today's young adults. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
We're all familiar with the sentiment that “college is the best time of your life.” Along with a newfound sense of freedom, students have a unique opportunity to forge lifelong friendships at a point in life when friendship is particularly important. Why is it, then, that so many college students are falling victim to what the US Surgeon General termed an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation”? How do different aspects of college life help or hinder students' ability to form deep connections?In Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends: How Campuses Shape College Students' Networks (U Chicago Press, 2025), sociologist Janice M. McCabe shows that the way a college is structured—whether students live in dorms or commute, study abroad or stay close to campus, have plentiful common areas for clubs to meet or not—can either encourage or hinder the making of meaningful friendships. Based on interviews with 95 students on three distinct campuses—a small private college (Dartmouth College), a large public university (University of New Hampshire), and a non-residential community college (Manchester Community College)—McCabe captures a wide range of experiences and discovers how features of the campuses make it easier or harder for students to make and keep friends. She shows how and why, across all three institutions, some students thrive in deep and lasting friendships with their peers.As McCabe's research reveals, we need to look at the structures of students' networks, the institutions they attend, and the importance of their identities in these places if we are to truly uncover and address the loneliness epidemic facing today's young adults. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology
We're all familiar with the sentiment that “college is the best time of your life.” Along with a newfound sense of freedom, students have a unique opportunity to forge lifelong friendships at a point in life when friendship is particularly important. Why is it, then, that so many college students are falling victim to what the US Surgeon General termed an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation”? How do different aspects of college life help or hinder students' ability to form deep connections?In Making, Keeping, and Losing Friends: How Campuses Shape College Students' Networks (U Chicago Press, 2025), sociologist Janice M. McCabe shows that the way a college is structured—whether students live in dorms or commute, study abroad or stay close to campus, have plentiful common areas for clubs to meet or not—can either encourage or hinder the making of meaningful friendships. Based on interviews with 95 students on three distinct campuses—a small private college (Dartmouth College), a large public university (University of New Hampshire), and a non-residential community college (Manchester Community College)—McCabe captures a wide range of experiences and discovers how features of the campuses make it easier or harder for students to make and keep friends. She shows how and why, across all three institutions, some students thrive in deep and lasting friendships with their peers.As McCabe's research reveals, we need to look at the structures of students' networks, the institutions they attend, and the importance of their identities in these places if we are to truly uncover and address the loneliness epidemic facing today's young adults. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Penn University, where he specializes in the cultural and interpretive study of space, behavior, and identity. His scholarship examines how designed environments shape social interaction, connectedness, and moral life across diverse settings. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His current research projects include ethnographic studies of escape rooms as emotion-structured environments, the use of urban aesthetics in rural downtown districts, and the lived experience of belongingness among college and university students. To learn more about his work, visit his personal website, Google Scholar profile, or connect with him on Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social) or Twitter/X (@ProfessorJohnst). He can also be reached directly by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this can't-miss episode of The Food Professor Podcast, Michael LeBlanc and Sylvain Charlebois return with Part Two of their exclusive, final official interview with Michael Medline, former President & CEO of Empire/Sobeys. Medline offers unusually candid reflections on leadership, culture, vendor relationships, and the evolution of one of Canada's largest food retailers.The conversation opens with a deep dive into vendor relations and the Canadian Grocery Code of Conduct. Medline explains his early shock at the combative nature of vendor–retailer dynamics and details his personal commitment to transforming the ecosystem into one built on fairness, respect, and partnership. He reflects on how mentorship from industry leaders like Michael Graydon and collaboration with executives such as Mark Taylor helped advance the Code from concept to reality — ultimately becoming one of the proudest achievements of his tenure.Medline also shares rare behind-the-scenes reflections on working with the Sobey family, leading through disruption, and preparing the company for the next era of food retail. From AI-driven transformation to the duty of stewarding an organization with 129,000 teammates, he speaks openly about responsibility, succession, and what comes next in his career. His insights offer a masterclass in modern leadership during one of the most transformative decades in grocery retail.The episode also features a rich and timely news segment. Michael and Sylvain break down Health Canada's pause on cloned beef and swine approvals, a fast-moving story with major implications for transparency, labeling, science communication, and cross-border food integration. They examine why Canada's decision diverges from the U.S., where cloned-animal offspring have been permitted for nearly two decades — often without consumer awareness.The hosts then analyze the newest edition of the Canadian Food Sentiment Index, highlighting renewed concerns about food inflation, declining trust in grocers, shifting loyalty behaviours, and the end of Canada's “couponing era.” They explore evolving consumer habits, smarter comparison shopping, and the influence of younger digital-first generations.Other key topics include:• The Lancet's callout of ultra-processed foods — and why Sylvain believes the academic narrative is oversimplified.• The rapid rise of GLP-1 drugs and their early impact on grocery and foodservice behaviour.• Nutrien's reported decision to build a major potash terminal in Washington State rather than Canada.• The tangled story behind beef prices and the federal policies that may be limiting supply.• A big win for Canadian agriculture as GoodLeaf Farms raises $52 million to expand capacity and boost controlled-environment production. Go Here for the The Canadian Food Sentiment Index, Volume 2, no. 1 The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
Tired of conflicting fitness and health advice online and not sure what to trust? Amy Hudson and Dr. James Fisher dive deep into how to separate fact from fiction in health, exercise, and wellness. In today's episode, they unpack how to spot trustworthy research, avoid hype, and make smart decisions for your fitness journey. They break down the biggest myths, why social media isn't enough, and how a personal trainer can guide you to results that actually stick. Amy starts by explaining why most people feel overwhelmed by fitness advice online. Dr. Fisher explains that not all research is unbiased—big companies often fund studies to sell products. You have to ask, "Who benefits from this claim?" This is the first step to spotting marketing dressed as science. Amy covers why magic bullet fitness solutions are everywhere, but progress takes hard work. She explains why shortcuts rarely work and how to focus on what actually delivers results. For Dr. Fisher, experts don't know everything, and the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know much. He shares how to stay humble, curious, and avoid overconfidence in fitness claims. Amy and Dr. Fisher agree that one viral Instagram post doesn't make a method true. You need to question the hype, check the evidence, and avoid being swept up in trends. Amy walks you through how to do it without stress. Before trying a new routine you saw online, check in with a personal trainer. They can help you interpret research and apply it safely. Dr. Fisher reveals why lab-based studies often don't reflect real-world outcomes. Just because something works in a controlled setting doesn't mean it works for you. Amy and Dr. Fisher cover how AI tools like ChatGPT can help you find solid research quickly—but only if you ask the right questions. Look for references, meta-analyses, and reviews. Scrolling on Facebook isn't research. Facebook and social media are designed to sell, not educate. If your goals matter, scrolling alone won't get you the answers you need. Before adding a new exercise or routine, check the evidence. Ask yourself, "Does research support this?" and "What contradicts it?" These two questions save time and frustration. According to Dr. Fisher, people tend to seek confirmation rather than truth. If you only look for evidence that supports your beliefs, you miss the bigger picture. He explains how to uncover research that challenges you. Wonder why fitness fads come and go so quickly? Amy explains that many are just marketing campaigns in disguise. She shares how to spot trends that are hype versus those backed by science. Dr. Fisher explains that big research can be misleading when the funder has an agenda. Even credible-looking studies can push products. He teaches how to critically evaluate who benefits from the research. Dr. Fisher covers how hard work beats shortcuts every time. He explains why real fitness results require consistency and how to identify programs that actually deliver. Dr. Fisher reveals that using Google Scholar or PubMed isn't as complicated as it seems. He walks you through finding studies, reviews, and meta-analyses to make your own evidence-based decisions. For Amy, working with a personal trainer, coach, or medical expert is still the safest way to reach your goals. Social media can't replace personalized guidance. Amy explains how to combine online research with real-world support. Mentioned in This Episode: The Exercise Coach - Get 2 Free Sessions! Submit your questions at StrengthChangesEverything.com The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail--but Some Don't by Nate Silver This podcast and blog are provided to you for entertainment and informational purposes only. By accessing either, you agree that neither constitute medical advice nor should they be substituted for professional medical advice or care. Use of this podcast or blog to treat any medical condition is strictly prohibited. Consult your physician for any medical condition you may be having. In no event will any podcast or blog hosts, guests, or contributors, Exercise Coach USA, LLC, Gymbot LLC, any subsidiaries or affiliates of same, or any of their respective directors, officers, employees, or agents, be responsible for any injury, loss, or damage to you or others due to any podcast or blog content.
In this first instalment of a two-part exclusive, The Food Professor Podcast sits down in person with Michael Medline, (now) former President and CEO of Empire Company Limited and Sobeys, in what serendipitously became his last official interview before news broke of his transition to lead The Woodbridge Company. Michael offers a rare, deeply personal look at his eight-plus-year tenure transforming one of Canada's largest retailers. He recounts stepping into the role in 2017, reshaping strategy, modernizing systems, and fostering a culture built on values, innovation, and operational excellence.Michael reflects on navigating the massive disruptions of recent years—from COVID-19 to global trade volatility and technological upheaval—while maintaining a clear North Star for the organisation. He shares insights on revitalizing store formats, strengthening private-label programs, and embracing data transformation and automation to sharpen competitiveness. The conversation also explores the bold acquisitions of Farm Boy and Longo's, discussing trust, partnership, culture, and why collaborative integration—not assimilation—is essential to preserving what makes independent banners special.He also speaks candidly about leadership: prioritizing people, resisting micromanagement, nurturing talent, and ensuring a national grocer performs as one unified organisation rather than fragmented regional fiefdoms. Medline's reflections on turning around the Safeway acquisition, advancing omnichannel capabilities through Voilà, and pushing Empire's innovation agenda offer invaluable lessons for retail leaders navigating rapid change.The episode also features a wide-ranging news conversation with Sylvain and Michael. They break down meat-industry dynamics on both sides of the Canada–U.S. border, including beef supply challenges, oligopoly concerns, and the impact of interprovincial trade barriers on Canadian prices. The hosts also explore the “protein orphan” trend driving increased chicken consumption—and the resulting supply management shortfalls—plus the social-media-fuelled surge in cottage cheese demand.Additional segments highlight CFIA's quietly formed task force responding to U.S. regulatory instability, early snowfall's potential impact on holiday shopping, and the growing disconnect between global climate COP events and the real-world policy outcomes they aim to influence. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rural America has created a stark urban–rural digital divide. In Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity (MIT Press, 2021), Dr. Christopher Ali analyzes the promise and the failure of national rural broadband policy in the United States and proposes a new national broadband plan. He examines how broadband policies are enacted and implemented, explores business models for broadband providers, surveys the technologies of rural broadband, and offers case studies of broadband use in the rural Midwest. Ali argues that rural broadband policy is both broken and incomplete: broken because it lacks coordinated federal leadership and incomplete because it fails to recognize the important roles of communities, cooperatives, and local providers in broadband access. For example, existing policies favor large telecommunication companies, crowding out smaller, nimbler providers. Lack of competition drives prices up—rural broadband can cost 37 percent more than urban broadband. The federal government subsidizes rural broadband by approximately $6 billion. Where does the money go? Ali proposes democratizing policy architecture for rural broadband, modeling it after the wiring of rural America for electricity and telephony. Subsidies should be equalized, not just going to big companies. The result would be a multi-stakeholder system, guided by thoughtful public policy and funded by public and private support. Dr. Christopher Ali is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and is also the author of Media Localism: The Policies of Place. He is a Knight News Innovation Fellow with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and former Fellow with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. His most recent research, “The Queen and Her Royal Court: A Content Analysis of Doing Gender at a Tulip Queen Pageant,” was published in Gender Issues Journal. He researches culture, social identity, placemaking, and media representations of social life at festivals and celebrations. He is currently working on a book titled Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River. You can learn more about Dr. Johnston on his website, Google Scholar, on Twitter @ProfessorJohnst, or by email at johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies
As much of daily life migrates online, broadband—high-speed internet connectivity—has become a necessity. The widespread lack of broadband in rural America has created a stark urban–rural digital divide. In Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity (MIT Press, 2021), Dr. Christopher Ali analyzes the promise and the failure of national rural broadband policy in the United States and proposes a new national broadband plan. He examines how broadband policies are enacted and implemented, explores business models for broadband providers, surveys the technologies of rural broadband, and offers case studies of broadband use in the rural Midwest. Ali argues that rural broadband policy is both broken and incomplete: broken because it lacks coordinated federal leadership and incomplete because it fails to recognize the important roles of communities, cooperatives, and local providers in broadband access. For example, existing policies favor large telecommunication companies, crowding out smaller, nimbler providers. Lack of competition drives prices up—rural broadband can cost 37 percent more than urban broadband. The federal government subsidizes rural broadband by approximately $6 billion. Where does the money go? Ali proposes democratizing policy architecture for rural broadband, modeling it after the wiring of rural America for electricity and telephony. Subsidies should be equalized, not just going to big companies. The result would be a multi-stakeholder system, guided by thoughtful public policy and funded by public and private support. Dr. Christopher Ali is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia and is also the author of Media Localism: The Policies of Place. He is a Knight News Innovation Fellow with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University and former Fellow with the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. His most recent research, “The Queen and Her Royal Court: A Content Analysis of Doing Gender at a Tulip Queen Pageant,” was published in Gender Issues Journal. He researches culture, social identity, placemaking, and media representations of social life at festivals and celebrations. He is currently working on a book titled Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River. You can learn more about Dr. Johnston on his website, Google Scholar, on Twitter @ProfessorJohnst, or by email at johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/technology
Recorded live at the Coffee Association of Canada Annual Conference, this special edition of The Food Professor Podcast with Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois brews up a rich conversation on the state of Canada's food economy, the coffee industry's shifting landscape, and the global forces shaping what Canadians eat and drink live on the stage.The episode opens with Michael and Sylvain diving into the latest geopolitical tensions influencing trade and agriculture. From Washington to Mexico City, Sylvain shares insights from his travels and firsthand discussions with U.S. policy insiders and Latin American producers. The conversation highlights how Canada's trading partners are adapting quickly, especially Mexico's resilience and growing potential as a key agri-food ally in the hemisphere.The professors then turn to an annual highlight — an early look at the 2026 Canada Food Price Report, compiled by a network of ten universities using AI-powered forecasting. Sylvain hints at tough times ahead for consumers, forecasting that meat and poultry prices could rise by as much as 25% in the months ahead, putting pressure on Canadian households. He connects this to the emerging “protein play” trend, where consumers are seeking protein in unconventional forms — including fortified beverages like coffee. While acknowledging the opportunity, he cautions that nutritionists are warning against over-fortification, signaling that balance and consumer education will be key.The discussion then flows into GLP-1 drugs and their growing impact on food demand. As consumers change their eating patterns, Sylvain warns that Big Pharma's gains may translate into Big Food's challenges — though innovation and reformulation could open new opportunities. From AI-enabled efficiency to personalized nutrition, the professors explore how food and beverage brands must adapt to new consumption realities.Rounding out the first half, they discuss the “Battle for the Third Place” — how coffee shops are redefining the space between home and work post-COVID. Sylvain urges operators to double down on human connection and service excellence, even as automation and rising wages push toward efficiency.In the second half, guest Doug Porter, Chief Economist at BMO, unpacks Canada's economic outlook. Porter delivers a grounded view of growth, inflation, immigration, and consumer spending, labeling the new federal budget “boring — and that's a good thing.” He weighs in on labour shortages, immigration reform, the “K-shaped” economy, and AI's role in reshaping productivity, closing with optimism that innovation and adaptation — not fear — will guide Canada's next decade. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
Support the show to get full episodes, full archive, and join the Discord community. The Transmitter is an online publication that aims to deliver useful information, insights and tools to build bridges across neuroscience and advance research. Visit thetransmitter.org to explore the latest neuroscience news and perspectives, written by journalists and scientists. Read more about our partnership. Sign up for Brain Inspired email alerts to be notified every time a new Brain Inspired episode is released. To explore more neuroscience news and perspectives, visit thetransmitter.org. My guest today is Dan Nicholson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at George Mason University, here to talk about his little book, What Is Life? Revisited. Erwin Schrödinger's What Is Life is a famous book that people point to as having predicted DNA and influenced and inspired many well-known biologists ushering in the molecular biology revolution. But Schrödinger was a physicist, not a biologist, and he spent very little time and effort toward understanding biology. What was he up to, why did he write this "famous little book"? Schrödinger had an agenda, a physics agenda. He wanted to save the older deterministic version of quantum physics from the new indeterministic version. When Dan was on the podcast a few years ago, we talked about the machine view of biological systems, how everything has become a "mechanism", and how that view fails to capture what modern science is actually telling us, that organisms are unlike machines in important ways. That work of Dan's led him down this path to Schrödinger's What Is Life, which he argues was a major contributor to that machine metaphor so ubiquitous today in biology. One of the reasons I'm interested in this kind of work is because the cognitive sciences, including neuroscience and artificial intelligence, inherited this mechanistic perspective, and swallowed it so hard that if you don't include the word "mechanism" in your research paper, you're vastly decreasing your chances of getting your work published, when in fact the mechanistic perspective is one super useful perspective among many. Dan's website. Google Scholar. Social: @NicholsonHPBio; @djnicholson.bsky.social What Is Life? Revisited Previous episode: BI 150 Dan Nicholson: Machines, Organisms, Processes 0:00 - Intro 7:27 - Why Schrodinger wrote What is Life 15:13 - Aperiodic crystal and the meaning of code 21:39 - Order-from-order, order-from-disorder 28:32 - Appeal to authority 37:48 - Cell as machine 39:33 - Relation between DNA and organism (development) 44:44 - Negentropy 53:54 - Original contributions 58:54 - Mechanistic metaphor in neuroscience 1:16:05 - What's the lesson? 1:28:06 - Historical sleuthing 1:39:49 - Modern philosophy of biology
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Can automation, such as machine learning & AI, make financial reporting better?The Broad Matters podcast invites Musaib Ashraf to discuss his recent article investigating how public companies are weaving AI into their accounting systems. Along the way, he offers practical guidance for C-suite leaders eager to strengthen their own systems and stay ahead of the curve. Follow Musaib and his research on LinkedIn and Google Scholar. Download the "AI Automation in Accounting" Episode Transcript For more episodes of Broad Matters, subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
In this flavorful new episode of The Food Professor Podcast—presented by Caddle—Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois serve up an inspiring conversation with Rob Sengotta, chef and co-founder of Von Slick's Finishing Touch, the award-winning Manitoba-based producer of gourmet compound butters.The InterviewRob takes listeners behind the scenes of his chef-to-entrepreneur journey—from fine-dining kitchens in London and France to building a small-batch butter business on the prairies. He shares how curiosity and culinary discipline led to Von Slick's signature push-tube packaging and eight imaginative flavours, including garlic confit, roasted red pepper, mushroom duxelle, and cowboy butter.Listeners learn how Rob and partner Landon Craker turned a spark of an idea into a thriving Western Canadian brand by mastering distribution, leveraging farmers' markets, and staying creative on social media. Rob reflects on his early appearance on Dragon's Den, the lessons learned about timing and valuation, and the advantages of remaining proudly local. He also reveals new restaurant-format products, growing online sales nationwide, and why Canadians' appetite for supporting homegrown brands continues to expand.The NewsIn the first half, Sylvain reports live from Medellín, Colombia, where he's attending an international conference on rural food economies. He offers a fascinating window into Colombia's agricultural transformation—how coffee and cocoa remain vital exports and how farmers are striving to move beyond decades of narcotics-driven instability.Back in Canada, Michael and Sylvain unpack the latest headlines:CFIA factory inspections and the urgent need for transparency;Health Canada's cloned-meat consultations, why silent science can backfire, and the parallels to GMO controversies;Parliamentary hearings on the grocery code of conduct and why supplier–retailer trust still drives price volatility;Bank of Canada's rate decision, its implications for restaurants and food-service recovery; andThere is a growing debate over adopting a U.S.-style SNAP food-assistance program in Canada.This episode blends global perspective, policy insight, and entrepreneurial inspiration—proving again that from farm to fork, the Canadian food economy is as complex as it is delicious. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
Research has consistently found that maintaining a healthy balance between work and other areas of life often requires people to establish and maintain boundaries those various areas. Yet as humans we might also be curious or indeed nosy about the people we are working with or who might be working for us – if only just to find out a little bit more about them. But what actually is nosiness and when might that be perceived to have gone too far?To explore the question of nosiness I am delighted to be joined by Professor Richard Currie.About our guest…Dr. Richard Currie is an Assistant Professor of Leadership and Workplace Psychology in the School of Hospitality Administration at Boston University.Dr. Currie's research interests center around work-related social stressors and the implications that employees' responses to these stressors have on critical organizational knowledge management outcomes such as knowledge sharing and counterproductive knowledge hiding behaviors.You can find out more about Richard's work at these links:Google Scholar – https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qqxawt8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aoBoston University – https://www.bu.edu/hospitality/profile/richard-a-currie/LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/racurrie/Some of the articles discussed in the interview include the following:Currie, R. A., Achyldurdyyeva, J., Guchait, P., & Lee, J. (2024). For my eyes only: The effect of supervisor nosiness on knowledge sharing behavior among restaurant workers. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 120, 103770.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278431924000823?via%3DihubCurrie, R. A., & Ehrhart, M. G. (2025). Mind Your Own Business: Developing and Validating the Workplace Nosiness Scale. Journal of Business and Psychology, 1-24.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10869-025-10018-7 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Pre-Order The Forever Strong PLAYBOOK and receive exclusive bonuses: https://drgabriellelyon.com/playbook/Want ad-free episodes, exclusives and access to community Q&As? Subscribe to Forever Strong Insider: https://foreverstrong.supercast.comIn this episode, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon sits down with Dr. Heidi van den Brink; one of the only scientists in the world studying the ovarian transition from fertility to menopause. Together, they unpack what textbooks and wellness influencers often miss: the biology behind how your ovaries, uterus, metabolism, and nutrition interact across every stage of a woman's life. Dr. Heidi reveals the never-before-seen dynamics of the ovarian cycle, how follicles develop in “waves,” and what really happens during the menopause transition. They discuss how undernutrition, obesity, and metabolic health shape reproductive hormones; why early menarche and delayed ovulation matter for long-term health; and the surprising connection between your gut microbiome, bile acids, and fertility. If you've ever been told to “balance your hormones” with seed cycling, apps, or supplements, this episode separates myths from mechanisms. It's a masterclass in understanding the science of your hormones and how to truly support reproductive health through every decade of life.Chapter Markers0:00 - Can You Get Pregnant While on Your Period? 1:21 - Intro to Dr. Heidi & Ovarian Cycle Research 3:39 - The Uterine Cycle vs. The Ovarian Cycle 6:19 - Follicle Waves: The Hidden Drama in Your Ovaries 10:38 - Novel Discovery: Follicle Waves in the Luteal Phase 12:00 - Why One Follicle is Selected for Ovulation 13:17 - Does Nutrition Affect Ovarian Function? 14:48 - The Variation in Menstrual Cycles (It's Not Always 28 Days) 17:23 - The Impact of Obesity on the Ovarian Cycle 18:11 - The Problem of Luteal Phase Defects & Fertility 24:52 - Ovarian Morphology as a Bio-Marker of Health 26:54 - How Undernutrition Affects Ovarian Health 31:56 - The Metabolic Tipping Point of PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) 33:26 - The Myth of the "String of Pearls" Ovary 35:25 - The Menopause Transition & Rogue Follicles 39:04 - Can We Predict Menopause by Scanning Ovaries? 45:59 - Early Menarche (First Period) and Long-Term Disease Risk 48:33 - The Surprising Link Between Puberty Timing and Environment 52:28 - The Role of Leptin in Reproductive Health 55:50 - Debunking the Myth: Can Nutrition Cure PCOS? 59:07 - PCOS Diet Myths (Fruit, Timing, and Supplements) 1:04:40 - Fish Oil for Menstrual Cramps (Dysmenorrhea) 1:08:37 - Breakthrough: Bile Acid, The Gut Microbiome, and Ovulation 1:11:50 - Closing RemarksWho is Heidi Vanden Brink:Dr. Vanden Brink is a reproductive physiologist with over a decade of research in nutrition, metabolism, and female reproductive health. Her work focuses on how diet and metabolic conditions like obesity influence reproductive development during adolescence, with the goal of preventing disorders such as PCOS.Find Heidi Vanden Brink at: Texas A&M University: https://nutrition.tamu.edu/people/vanden-brink-heidi/ Google Scholar:
In this dynamic episode of The Food Professor Podcast, presented by Caddle, co-hosts Michael LeBlanc and Dr. Sylvain Charlebois dive into the latest headlines shaping Canada's food and beverage sector before welcoming Kiran Mann, CEO of Brar's, one of North America's fastest-growing South Asian food manufacturers.The episode opens with a timely look at the hospitality boost from the Toronto Blue Jays' World Series run, a much-needed economic shot in the arm for restaurants and bars coast-to-coast. From there, Sylvain unpacks fresh Canadian inflation data, connecting global trade policy, tariffs, and drought-driven beef shortages to continued food-price volatility. He explains why Canadian beef prices will likely remain high until mid-2027, and how regional differences—from Saskatchewan's 5.5 percent food inflation to Ontario's 3.5 percent—highlight a widening national divide. The conversation also tackles layoffs at Molson Coors and Nestlé, changing consumer habits amid the Ozempic effect, and why Big CPG must reinvent itself as Canadians buy more locally produced goods. The duo rounds out the news rundown with an update on Agropur's cottage-cheese lockout and a surprising salmonella outbreak in dog treats, underscoring the need for better pet-food safety oversight.Then, Michael and Sylvain welcome Kiran Mann, an inspirational immigrant entrepreneur and visionary leader steering Brar's from family-run origins to a national and expanding international powerhouse. Mann shares her remarkable journey—from her roots in Amritsar, India, to leading a modern Canadian company that connects authentic Indian flavours with contemporary manufacturing innovation. She explains Brar's evolution across three categories—dairy, snacks, and sweets—including its beloved samosas, signature paneer, and pure-vegetarian veggie burgers.Mann introduces her proprietary “Harmonic System”—a leadership and operational philosophy grounded in balance, authenticity, and purpose. Her approach integrates people, process, and passion, ensuring that growth doesn't outpace culture or quality. The discussion explores how Brar's sustains traditional recipes while using food science to extend shelf life naturally, create sustainable packaging, and meet the needs of health-conscious, multicultural consumers. Looking ahead, Mann outlines her strategy of “depth and impact,” combining Canadian multiculturalism, sustainable supply chains, and bold U.S. expansion to make Brar's a global ambassador of modern Indian cuisine made in Canada. The Food Professor #podcast is presented by Caddle. About UsDr. Sylvain Charlebois is a Professor in food distribution and policy in the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax. He is also the Senior Director of the Agri-food Analytics Lab, also located at Dalhousie University. Before joining Dalhousie, he was affiliated with the University of Guelph's Arrell Food Institute, which he co-founded. Known as “The Food Professor”, his current research interest lies in the broad area of food distribution, security and safety. Google Scholar ranks him as one of the world's most cited scholars in food supply chain management, food value chains and traceability.He has authored five books on global food systems, his most recent one published in 2017 by Wiley-Blackwell entitled “Food Safety, Risk Intelligence and Benchmarking”. He has also published over 500 peer-reviewed journal articles in several academic publications. Furthermore, his research has been featured in several newspapers and media groups, including The Lancet, The Economist, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, BBC, NBC, ABC, Fox News, Foreign Affairs, the Globe & Mail, the National Post and the Toronto Star.Dr. Charlebois sits on a few company boards, and supports many organizations as a special advisor, including some publicly traded companies. Charlebois is also a member of the Scientific Council of the Business Scientific Institute, based in Luxemburg. Dr. Charlebois is a member of the Global Food Traceability Centre's Advisory Board based in Washington DC, and a member of the National Scientific Committee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) in Ottawa. Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.
In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Rajan Suwal, one of Nepal's leading structural engineers, academics, and current President of the Structural Engineers' Association of Nepal (SEANep). As an Associate Professor at the Institute of Engineering (IOE), Pulchowk Campus, Dr. Suwal shares invaluable insights into building safety, fire damage repair, and retrofitting techniques essential for Nepal's urban future. He begins by analyzing the recent fire damage and explains how houses are inspected and repaired after such incidents. Dr. Suwal dives into the technical aspects of retrofitting—especially the process of repairing Singha Durbar and Parliament after the Gen-Z protest fires. The conversation covers construction grade selection (such as whether 25 grade is suitable for commercial or residential buildings) and how house grades and materials affect insurance claims. Furthermore, he breaks down the fire temperature data, the damage assessment process, and the lessons Nepal must learn from the damage to the Hilton Hotel during the protests. The discussion expands to earthquake-resistant design principles and building maintenance practices that can save both lives and infrastructure in the long run. If you're an engineer, architecture student, homeowner, or policymaker, this episode is packed with expert insights on fire safety, retrofitting, and structural resilience in Nepal. GET CONNECTED WITH Dr. Rajan Suwal: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/rajan.suwal.1/?_rdr LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajan-suwal-5aa9b434/?originalSubdomain=np Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d3nFYBsAAAAJ&hl=en
Democratic backsliding, culture wars and partisan politics in the past two decades has seen the regression of human rights protections in the courts and across societies. However, having made incremental gains in constitutional courts, LGBTQ+ rights operate as somewhat of a paradox. In this pivotal work, Professor Rehan Abeyratne makes an argument that the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights protection obscures an increased shift towards authoritarian legality in the courts and beyond. Case studies of three apex courts - the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of India, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - provide insight into the erosion of democracy and the rule of law across these jurisdictions. Courts and LGBTQ+ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (Oxford UP, 2025) is an important work and should serve as a warning sign to constitutional lawyers, human rights scholars and anybody interested in the values that underpin liberal democracy as to the the limited ability of constitutional courts to protect rights in the current climate. Professor Rehan Abeyratne is is Professor and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) at Western Sydney University School of Law, where he teaches Government and Public Law, Legal Research and Methodology, and Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World. He also coordinates the School of Law's Honours Program. Professor Abeyratne holds a PhD from Monash University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Brown University. He researches comparative constitutional law and has published several books and articles in world leading journals. Most of Prof. Abeyratne's research can be freely accessed on SSRN, Academia, and Google Scholar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies
Democratic backsliding, culture wars and partisan politics in the past two decades has seen the regression of human rights protections in the courts and across societies. However, having made incremental gains in constitutional courts, LGBTQ+ rights operate as somewhat of a paradox. In this pivotal work, Professor Rehan Abeyratne makes an argument that the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights protection obscures an increased shift towards authoritarian legality in the courts and beyond. Case studies of three apex courts - the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of India, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - provide insight into the erosion of democracy and the rule of law across these jurisdictions. Courts and LGBTQ+ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (Oxford UP, 2025) is an important work and should serve as a warning sign to constitutional lawyers, human rights scholars and anybody interested in the values that underpin liberal democracy as to the the limited ability of constitutional courts to protect rights in the current climate. Professor Rehan Abeyratne is is Professor and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) at Western Sydney University School of Law, where he teaches Government and Public Law, Legal Research and Methodology, and Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World. He also coordinates the School of Law's Honours Program. Professor Abeyratne holds a PhD from Monash University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Brown University. He researches comparative constitutional law and has published several books and articles in world leading journals. Most of Prof. Abeyratne's research can be freely accessed on SSRN, Academia, and Google Scholar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Democratic backsliding, culture wars and partisan politics in the past two decades has seen the regression of human rights protections in the courts and across societies. However, having made incremental gains in constitutional courts, LGBTQ+ rights operate as somewhat of a paradox. In this pivotal work, Professor Rehan Abeyratne makes an argument that the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights protection obscures an increased shift towards authoritarian legality in the courts and beyond. Case studies of three apex courts - the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of India, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - provide insight into the erosion of democracy and the rule of law across these jurisdictions. Courts and LGBTQ+ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (Oxford UP, 2025) is an important work and should serve as a warning sign to constitutional lawyers, human rights scholars and anybody interested in the values that underpin liberal democracy as to the the limited ability of constitutional courts to protect rights in the current climate. Professor Rehan Abeyratne is is Professor and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) at Western Sydney University School of Law, where he teaches Government and Public Law, Legal Research and Methodology, and Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World. He also coordinates the School of Law's Honours Program. Professor Abeyratne holds a PhD from Monash University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Brown University. He researches comparative constitutional law and has published several books and articles in world leading journals. Most of Prof. Abeyratne's research can be freely accessed on SSRN, Academia, and Google Scholar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies
Democratic backsliding, culture wars and partisan politics in the past two decades has seen the regression of human rights protections in the courts and across societies. However, having made incremental gains in constitutional courts, LGBTQ+ rights operate as somewhat of a paradox. In this pivotal work, Professor Rehan Abeyratne makes an argument that the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights protection obscures an increased shift towards authoritarian legality in the courts and beyond. Case studies of three apex courts - the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of India, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - provide insight into the erosion of democracy and the rule of law across these jurisdictions. Courts and LGBTQ+ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (Oxford UP, 2025) is an important work and should serve as a warning sign to constitutional lawyers, human rights scholars and anybody interested in the values that underpin liberal democracy as to the the limited ability of constitutional courts to protect rights in the current climate. Professor Rehan Abeyratne is is Professor and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) at Western Sydney University School of Law, where he teaches Government and Public Law, Legal Research and Methodology, and Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World. He also coordinates the School of Law's Honours Program. Professor Abeyratne holds a PhD from Monash University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Brown University. He researches comparative constitutional law and has published several books and articles in world leading journals. Most of Prof. Abeyratne's research can be freely accessed on SSRN, Academia, and Google Scholar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/lgbtq-studies
Democratic backsliding, culture wars and partisan politics in the past two decades has seen the regression of human rights protections in the courts and across societies. However, having made incremental gains in constitutional courts, LGBTQ+ rights operate as somewhat of a paradox. In this pivotal work, Professor Rehan Abeyratne makes an argument that the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights protection obscures an increased shift towards authoritarian legality in the courts and beyond. Case studies of three apex courts - the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of India, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - provide insight into the erosion of democracy and the rule of law across these jurisdictions. Courts and LGBTQ+ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (Oxford UP, 2025) is an important work and should serve as a warning sign to constitutional lawyers, human rights scholars and anybody interested in the values that underpin liberal democracy as to the the limited ability of constitutional courts to protect rights in the current climate. Professor Rehan Abeyratne is is Professor and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) at Western Sydney University School of Law, where he teaches Government and Public Law, Legal Research and Methodology, and Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World. He also coordinates the School of Law's Honours Program. Professor Abeyratne holds a PhD from Monash University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Brown University. He researches comparative constitutional law and has published several books and articles in world leading journals. Most of Prof. Abeyratne's research can be freely accessed on SSRN, Academia, and Google Scholar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law
Democratic backsliding, culture wars and partisan politics in the past two decades has seen the regression of human rights protections in the courts and across societies. However, having made incremental gains in constitutional courts, LGBTQ+ rights operate as somewhat of a paradox. In this pivotal work, Professor Rehan Abeyratne makes an argument that the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights protection obscures an increased shift towards authoritarian legality in the courts and beyond. Case studies of three apex courts - the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of India, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal - provide insight into the erosion of democracy and the rule of law across these jurisdictions. Courts and LGBTQ+ Rights in an Age of Judicial Retrenchment (Oxford UP, 2025) is an important work and should serve as a warning sign to constitutional lawyers, human rights scholars and anybody interested in the values that underpin liberal democracy as to the the limited ability of constitutional courts to protect rights in the current climate. Professor Rehan Abeyratne is is Professor and Associate Dean (Higher Degree Research) at Western Sydney University School of Law, where he teaches Government and Public Law, Legal Research and Methodology, and Comparative Law: Legal Systems of the World. He also coordinates the School of Law's Honours Program. Professor Abeyratne holds a PhD from Monash University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science from Brown University. He researches comparative constitutional law and has published several books and articles in world leading journals. Most of Prof. Abeyratne's research can be freely accessed on SSRN, Academia, and Google Scholar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Humans in AI – Creativity, Wellbeing & Technology in Education a researchers perspective Guest: Dr Rebecca Marrone, Lecturer & Researcher, University of South Australia In this episode, Dan and Ray welcome Dr Rebecca Marrone to discuss the intersection of AI, creativity, and wellbeing in education. Her research explores how technology, especially AI, is transforming the educational landscape for both teachers and students. Key Topics AI's Impact on Teacher & Student Wellbeing Creativity & Critical Thinking in the Age of AI Ethical Risks of AI in Education Strategies for digital wellbeing and critical engagement. The evolving role of soft skills alongside technological advancements. Connect & Learn More For more about Dr Rebecca Marrone's research, listeners can reach out directly or explore her work online. Find Rebecca on Linkedin and read her research publications via Google Scholar We mentioned Rebecca and Vitomir's critique of the Brainrot study https://theconversation.com/mit-researchers-say-using-chatgpt-can-rot-your-brain-the-truth-is-a-little-more-complicated-259450 In the podcast Rebecca highlighted George Siemens' research and newsletters: Newsletter archive: https://buttondown.com/SAIL/archive/ Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EtknWk4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao Research mentioned during this episode Marrone, R., Taddeo, V., & Hill, G. (2022). Creativity and artificial intelligence—A student perspective. Journal of Intelligence, 10(3), 65. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/10/3/65?trk=public_post_reshare-text Marrone, R., Zamecnik, A., Joksimovic, S., Johnson, J., & De Laat, M. (2025). Understanding student perceptions of artificial intelligence as a teammate. Technology, Knowledge and Learning, 30(3), 1847-1869. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10758-024-09780-z Marrone, R., Cropley, D. H., & Wang, Z. (2022). Automatic Assessment of Mathematical Creativity using Natural Language Processing. Creativity Research Journal, 35(4), 661–676. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2022.2131209 Cropley, D. H., Theurer, C., Mathijssen, A. C. S., & Marrone, R. L. (2024). Fit-For-Purpose Creativity Assessment: Automatic Scoring of the Test of Creative Thinking – Drawing Production (TCT-DP). Creativity Research Journal, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2024.2339667 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10400419.2024.2339667
A cutting-edge volume on current trends in sex work, from sugar relationships and cyber brothels to financial domination, sex worker activism, and feminist porn Sex is for sale in more ways than ever. It can be bought and sold online, in sex clubs, on the street, and around the world. As with many industries, discrimination, exploitation, and inequality persist in sex work. Yet it also offers autonomy, job satisfaction, and even pleasurable experiences for those involved. Sex Work Today: Erotic Labor in the Twenty-First Century by Dr. Bernadette Barton, Dr. Barbara G. Brents, and Dr. Angela N. Jones explores these contradictions, offering an intimate look at the benefits and challenges of sex work across geographic contexts. Featuring thirty-one original essays by sex workers, advocates, researchers, and activists, Sex Work Today is the first compilation of research on new forms of digital sex such as camming, sugar dating, and AI sex dolls. Providing a lens to understand contemporary labor dynamics and the nature of sex work itself, this collection captures formerly ignored aspects of the sex industry including: fatphobia and disability; transmasculine and nonbinary sex workers; racialized emotional labor in the digital sex industry; high job satisfaction among professional dominatrixes; and sex worker scholars. With federal policies ostensibly aimed at combating sex trafficking–affecting all sex workers–understanding this industry is more vital than ever. Decentering Western, white, cisgender voices, Sex Work Today underscores the global repercussions of these misaligned policies, which make sex work more challenging and less safe, and provides valuable insights for those seeking to shape policies, challenge prejudices, and foster a safer and more equitable world for all. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and what it means for college students to belong in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email (johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
A cutting-edge volume on current trends in sex work, from sugar relationships and cyber brothels to financial domination, sex worker activism, and feminist porn Sex is for sale in more ways than ever. It can be bought and sold online, in sex clubs, on the street, and around the world. As with many industries, discrimination, exploitation, and inequality persist in sex work. Yet it also offers autonomy, job satisfaction, and even pleasurable experiences for those involved. Sex Work Today: Erotic Labor in the Twenty-First Century by Dr. Bernadette Barton, Dr. Barbara G. Brents, and Dr. Angela N. Jones explores these contradictions, offering an intimate look at the benefits and challenges of sex work across geographic contexts. Featuring thirty-one original essays by sex workers, advocates, researchers, and activists, Sex Work Today is the first compilation of research on new forms of digital sex such as camming, sugar dating, and AI sex dolls. Providing a lens to understand contemporary labor dynamics and the nature of sex work itself, this collection captures formerly ignored aspects of the sex industry including: fatphobia and disability; transmasculine and nonbinary sex workers; racialized emotional labor in the digital sex industry; high job satisfaction among professional dominatrixes; and sex worker scholars. With federal policies ostensibly aimed at combating sex trafficking–affecting all sex workers–understanding this industry is more vital than ever. Decentering Western, white, cisgender voices, Sex Work Today underscores the global repercussions of these misaligned policies, which make sex work more challenging and less safe, and provides valuable insights for those seeking to shape policies, challenge prejudices, and foster a safer and more equitable world for all. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and what it means for college students to belong in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email (johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology
Why are BDSM practitioners so happy? It turns out, BDSM isn't just about whips and chains.With engaging stories and a warm, conversational tone, Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons for Building a Happier Life (Bloomsbury Acacdemic, 2025) by Dr. Alicia M. Walker and Dr. Arielle Kuperberg reveals how BDSM practitioners use clear boundaries, enthusiastic consent, open dialogue, and a strong community to create fulfilling relationships and build richer, more intentional lives. Drawing on research from the largest scientific study of BDSM ever conducted, Alicia Walker and Arielle Kuperberg demonstrate that the BDSM community's approach to trust and vulnerability offers a valuable model for building intimacy and fostering authentic connections. BDSM also allows practitioners to exercise their creativity and break the mold - whether it comes to trying out new practices in the bedroom or bending ideas about gender.Whether you're vanilla, kinky, or just here for the life advice, this book -packed with humor and insight-is a refreshingly open-minded guide to building stronger relationships, deeper intimacy, and a more intentional approach to connection. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and what it means for college students to belong in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email (johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Why are BDSM practitioners so happy? It turns out, BDSM isn't just about whips and chains.With engaging stories and a warm, conversational tone, Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons for Building a Happier Life (Bloomsbury Acacdemic, 2025) by Dr. Alicia M. Walker and Dr. Arielle Kuperberg reveals how BDSM practitioners use clear boundaries, enthusiastic consent, open dialogue, and a strong community to create fulfilling relationships and build richer, more intentional lives. Drawing on research from the largest scientific study of BDSM ever conducted, Alicia Walker and Arielle Kuperberg demonstrate that the BDSM community's approach to trust and vulnerability offers a valuable model for building intimacy and fostering authentic connections. BDSM also allows practitioners to exercise their creativity and break the mold - whether it comes to trying out new practices in the bedroom or bending ideas about gender.Whether you're vanilla, kinky, or just here for the life advice, this book -packed with humor and insight-is a refreshingly open-minded guide to building stronger relationships, deeper intimacy, and a more intentional approach to connection. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and what it means for college students to belong in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email (johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology
Why are BDSM practitioners so happy? It turns out, BDSM isn't just about whips and chains.With engaging stories and a warm, conversational tone, Bound by BDSM: Unexpected Lessons for Building a Happier Life (Bloomsbury Acacdemic, 2025) by Dr. Alicia M. Walker and Dr. Arielle Kuperberg reveals how BDSM practitioners use clear boundaries, enthusiastic consent, open dialogue, and a strong community to create fulfilling relationships and build richer, more intentional lives. Drawing on research from the largest scientific study of BDSM ever conducted, Alicia Walker and Arielle Kuperberg demonstrate that the BDSM community's approach to trust and vulnerability offers a valuable model for building intimacy and fostering authentic connections. BDSM also allows practitioners to exercise their creativity and break the mold - whether it comes to trying out new practices in the bedroom or bending ideas about gender.Whether you're vanilla, kinky, or just here for the life advice, this book -packed with humor and insight-is a refreshingly open-minded guide to building stronger relationships, deeper intimacy, and a more intentional approach to connection. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and what it means for college students to belong in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email (johnstonmo@wmpenn.edu). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/psychology
In this episode, we talk with Anna Viatkina about Plotinus's views on freedom and moral responsibility and how they relate to ancient Stoic and contemporary rational abilities views. Anna's Google Scholar page: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KJmxq2gAAAAJ&hl=ruTwitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/
In Episode 2 of In The Know with Kelly Grafton, Kelly sits down once again with Bitty Balducci, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Washington State University, for a deep dive into how specific vocal cues can make or break a cold call. Together, they break down three key elements — volume, speech rate, and tone — and show how small adjustments can lead to more successful conversations and better conversion rates. Featuring real-world examples and research-backed advice, this episode is a must-listen for SDRs aiming to sharpen their cold calling skills and stand out in today's competitive sales landscape.Ready to take your tech sales career to the next level? https://memoryblue.com/inside-sales-careers/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&utm_campaign=250601_direct-In_The_KnowHelpful Links:Explore Bitty Balducci's Research on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f6Sxp2kAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=aoListen to Bitty's First Podcast with memoryBlue: https://www.buzzsprout.com/893557/episodes/16733313
Episode Summary In this eye-opening episode of *90 Miles from Needles*, host Chris Clarke welcomes back Dr. Michael E. Ketterer to explore the unsettling connections between historical nuclear testing in the Nevada Test Site and fallout in unexpected areas like eastern California. With cutting-edge mass spectrometry, Dr. Ketterer reveals how nuclear tests conducted decades ago may have risked public health in unexpected places such as eastern California. The episode not only dives deep into the legacy of nuclear testing but also highlights the need for further investigation into its repercussions, particularly in underrepresented areas impacted by radioactive exposure. During the conversation, Dr. Ketterer shares his findings on how eastern California, particularly the regions around Mount Whitney, has been affected by nuclear fallout in levels comparable to notorious downwind zones like St. George, Utah. He asserts that existing compensation programs, like the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RICA), should be expanded to include these overlooked areas. Dr. Ketterer also discusses his involvement in a mobile lab initiative that aims to map fallout across New Mexico—providing crucial data to better understand past exposures and advocate for affected communities. Key Takeaways Dr. Ketterer exhibits compelling evidence that nuclear fallout from Nevada test sites reached eastern California in significant amounts, equivalent to recognized downwind fallout areas. The episode challenges preconceived notions about nuclear test fallout only affecting designated downwind areas and calls for policy expansion to acknowledge overlooked regions. The pursuit of truth in fallout mapping is driven by sophisticated isotopic testing, identifying residual contamination in soil samples and informing future legislative action. Dr. Ketterer's work shines a light on neglected communities, emphasizing the importance of validating historical data for revising compensation and care strategies under RECA. A new mobile lab initiative, designed to bring testing capabilities directly to communities, is part of Dr. Ketterer’s latest efforts to empower citizens with real-time data and insights into their environmental health. Resources Veterans for Peace https://www.veteransforpeace.org/ Learn about plutonium isotopic fingerprinting techniques: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopic_signature Research articles and public work by Dr. Michael Ketterer can be found through Google Scholar. Listen to the full episode for an in-depth understanding of how fallout from historical nuclear testing impacts communities today and gain insights into the ongoing efforts to map and mitigate these effects. Don't miss upcoming episodes for more on desert protection and advocacy initiatives!Become a desert defender!: https://90milesfromneedles.com/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How street vendors tangle with the law in São Paulo, Brazil. With a little initiative and very little startup money, an outgoing individual might sell you a number of delights and conveniences familiar to city dwellers—from cold water bottles while you're sitting in traffic to a popsicle from a cart on a summer afternoon in the park. Such vendors form a significant share of the workforce in São Paulo, Brazil, but their ubiquity belies perpetual struggle. Some have the right to practice their trade; others do not. All of them strive to make it—or stay afloat.In The Edge of the Law: Street Vendors and the Erosion of Citizenship in São Paulo, (U Chicago Press, 2025) Jacinto Cuvi introduces us to the world of street vendors and teases out the relationship between the construction of legality and the experience of citizenship. As São Paulo's city government undertakes a large-scale plan to cancel street vending licenses and evict street vendors, Cuvi reveals how the rights of informal workers can be revoked or withheld and how the lines can be redrawn between work that is “legal” and work that takes place under constant fear of law enforcement. Alongside the mechanics of disenfranchisement, Cuvi captures the lived experience of criminalization, dissecting the distribution of (shallow) rights among vendors who continually reinvent strategies to eke out a living while dealing with the constraints and pressures of informal citizenship at the edge of the law. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and a study on belongingness in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
How street vendors tangle with the law in São Paulo, Brazil. With a little initiative and very little startup money, an outgoing individual might sell you a number of delights and conveniences familiar to city dwellers—from cold water bottles while you're sitting in traffic to a popsicle from a cart on a summer afternoon in the park. Such vendors form a significant share of the workforce in São Paulo, Brazil, but their ubiquity belies perpetual struggle. Some have the right to practice their trade; others do not. All of them strive to make it—or stay afloat.In The Edge of the Law: Street Vendors and the Erosion of Citizenship in São Paulo, (U Chicago Press, 2025) Jacinto Cuvi introduces us to the world of street vendors and teases out the relationship between the construction of legality and the experience of citizenship. As São Paulo's city government undertakes a large-scale plan to cancel street vending licenses and evict street vendors, Cuvi reveals how the rights of informal workers can be revoked or withheld and how the lines can be redrawn between work that is “legal” and work that takes place under constant fear of law enforcement. Alongside the mechanics of disenfranchisement, Cuvi captures the lived experience of criminalization, dissecting the distribution of (shallow) rights among vendors who continually reinvent strategies to eke out a living while dealing with the constraints and pressures of informal citizenship at the edge of the law. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and a study on belongingness in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies
Edward Miguel is Distinguished Professor of Economics, the Oxfam Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, & Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 2000. He earned S.B. degrees in both Economics and Mathematics from MIT, received a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University, where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow, and has been a visiting professor at Princeton University and Stanford University. Ted's main research focus is African economic development, including work on the economic causes and consequences of violence; the impact of ethnic divisions on local collective action; interactions between health, education, environment, and productivity for the poor; and methods for transparency in social science research. He has conducted field work in Kenya, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and India. He has published over 130 articles and chapters in leading academic journals and collected volumes, and his work has been cited over 50,000 times according to Google Scholar.
Existing portrayals of women who drink typically fall into two categories: disturbing stories of women hitting “rock bottom,” resulting in ruined careers, families, and futures, or amusing stories of fun and harmless “girls' nights out,” with women drinking and overindulging as a temporary escape from a never-ending list of work and family demands. Drawing on original research and extensive interviews with a diverse group of women, author Susan Stewart challenges these stereotypes, revealing women's complex relationships with alcohol and factors associated with its use. In On the Rocks: Straight Talk about Women and Drinking (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022), Susan Stewart asks a question others might prefer stay buried: what about women's lives have changed such that they drink more alcohol? Stewart's participants share stories of the many social forces that encourage women to drink: increased marketing of alcohol to women, the growing presence of alcohol in the workplace, pressure to drink from friends and family, and that drinking provides an easy “time-out” from children and housework. Stewarts' unvarnished examination of women and drinking challenges readers to think through its implications to individuals, families, and society. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and a study on belongingness in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Why can't we seem to agree on facts? In this succinct volume, sociologist Joel Best turns his inimitable eye toward the social construction of what we think is true. He evaluates how facts emerge from our social worlds—including our beliefs, values, tastes, and norms—and how they align with those worlds' standards. He argues that by developing a sociological perspective toward what we think we know, we can better parse the use of facts and untruths around us.Just the Facts: Untangling Contradictory Claims (U California Press, 2025) by Joel Best examines how facts are created and supported through science, government, law, and journalism, revealing that facts are actually claims. These claims are malleable and can change over time through fact-checking, revision, and sometimes rejection. Best guides us through these processes so that we can question our assumptions and understand why disputes happen in the first place. In a time of increasing social and political divide, Just the Facts urges us to resist defensiveness over our facts and approach disputes in critical new ways. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and a study on belongingness in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Existing portrayals of women who drink typically fall into two categories: disturbing stories of women hitting “rock bottom,” resulting in ruined careers, families, and futures, or amusing stories of fun and harmless “girls' nights out,” with women drinking and overindulging as a temporary escape from a never-ending list of work and family demands. Drawing on original research and extensive interviews with a diverse group of women, author Susan Stewart challenges these stereotypes, revealing women's complex relationships with alcohol and factors associated with its use. In On the Rocks: Straight Talk about Women and Drinking (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022), Susan Stewart asks a question others might prefer stay buried: what about women's lives have changed such that they drink more alcohol? Stewart's participants share stories of the many social forces that encourage women to drink: increased marketing of alcohol to women, the growing presence of alcohol in the workplace, pressure to drink from friends and family, and that drinking provides an easy “time-out” from children and housework. Stewarts' unvarnished examination of women and drinking challenges readers to think through its implications to individuals, families, and society. Michael O. Johnston, Ph.D. is a Assistant Professor of Sociology at William Penn University. He is the author of The Social Construction of a Cultural Spectacle: Floatzilla (Lexington Books, 2023) and Community Media Representations of Place and Identity at Tug Fest: Reconstructing the Mississippi River (Lexington Books, 2022). His general area of study is at the intersection of space, behavior, and identity. He is currently conducting research about: escape rooms, the use of urban design in downtown historical neighborhoods of rural communities, and a study on belongingness in college and university. To learn more about Michael O. Johnston you can go to his personal website, Google Scholar, Bluesky (@professorjohnst.bsky.social), Twitter (@ProfessorJohnst), or by email. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies
William Ridley, Ph.D. https://ace.illinois.edu/directory/wridleyWilliam Ridley, Ph.D. on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Qjox4QIAAAAJ&hl=enToday's episode is timely and thought provoking in my opinion. The farm economy is struggling again this year, and while there's no one cause for all of that struggle, exports certainly play a role. A major role. I'm very pleased to welcome Dr. Bill Ridley onto the show. Bill is an international economist studying global markets and trade policy at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research explores pressing market and policy issues relating to international agricultural trade, economic integration, trade disputes, and the implications of globalization for the environment and natural resource use.I wanted to bring Bill on the show to ask about the implications of tariffs and trade disputes for the farm economy, his perspective on the current trade relationship with China, his work on the virtual water trade which is an interesting concept measuring how much domestic water gets used to export food out of the country, and his thoughts on the path forward from here. If you're hoping for a rosey picture of how this all plays out, I'll warn you now - you may be disappointed. But it's certainly an important topic to be thinking deeply about how this impacts your business for all of us in agriculture.
The info storm continues! Part 1 covered the anatomy of a cyclonic storm, the bizarre histories behind the category system, and where hurricanes come from, but this week's conclusion with Matt Lanza and Dr. Kim Wood gets you covered on emergency preparation for any disaster occasion, climate change trends and despair, the latest on the government funding drama, if you should trust a waffle house more than a weather person, and literally what is on the horizon in the future. Also: Sharpiegate. Read Matt Lanza's tropical weather forecasts at The Eyewall and Houston-based forecasts at Space City WeatherFollow Matt Lanza on Instagram and BlueskyVisit Dr. Wood's website and follow them on Google Scholar and BlueskyDonations went to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country's Kerr County Flood Relief Fund and The Trevor ProjectMore episode sources and linksOther episodes you may enjoy: Meteorology (WEATHER & CLIMATE), Oceanology (OCEANS), Nephology (CLOUDS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Fulminology (LIGHTNING)400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topicSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow Ologies on Instagram and BlueskyFollow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTokEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake ChaffeeManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling Producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn
Hurricanes. Typhoons. Cyclones. Tropical storms. Tropical depressions. What does it all MEAAAN? Let's dive in. Career meteorologists Dr. Kim Wood of the University of Arizona and Space City Weather's Matt Lanza join for a two-guest two-parter to address the “deadlier” female-named hurricanes, why hurricane season happens, the category system, where hurricanes come from, why they have eyes, and how we track cyclones' paths so we can stay out of them. Next week we'll be back with Kim and Matt to chat about climate change, emergency preparation – for any disaster occasion –, the latest on the government funding drama, if you should trust a waffle house more than a weather person, and literally what is on the horizon in the future. Also: cows. Read Matt Lanza's tropical weather forecasts at The Eyewall and Houston-based forecasts at Space City WeatherFollow Matt Lanza on Instagram and BlueskyVisit Dr. Wood's website and follow them on Google Scholar and BlueskyDonations went to the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country's Kerr County Flood Relief Fund and The Trevor ProjectMore episode sources and linksOther episodes you may enjoy: Meteorology (WEATHER & CLIMATE), Oceanology (OCEANS), Nephology (CLOUDS), Disasterology (DISASTERS), Fulminology (LIGHTNING)400+ Ologies episodes sorted by topicSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesSponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow Ologies on Instagram and BlueskyFollow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTokEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake ChaffeeManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling Producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn
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