Radio Health Journal
Each week, Radio Health Journal breaks down important news in medicine, science and technology with the help of world-renowned experts. Our three weekly segments will help guide you to a happier, healthier life – with some fun facts to share at dinner parties. Can magic mushrooms cure your depression? Have we outrun natural selection?
Hosted by Elizabeth Westfield, Greg Johnson and Maayan Voss de Bettancourt and produced by Kristen Farrah and Amirah Zaveri. New shows posted each Sunday by 5 a.m. EST. Subscribe, listen, and rate. If you’re looking for older episodes, you can find our entire segment catalog on our website radiohealthjournal.org. Also, check out the latest on Facebook and Instagram @radiohealthjournal and on X @RadioHealthJrnl.
626
How Covid Masks Have Affected Children’s Langua...
Infants, toddlers, and grade school children use many cues to learn language. Some of them are visual, involving seeing the mouth move. Some depend on clearly hearing speech. Both have been impacted by mask wearing during the pandemic. Experts now...
17 min
627
Tasty Food vs. Healthy Food: Finding A Balance
Many Americans believe that healthy food doesn’t taste good, and tasty food isn’t healthy. A chef who is also a cardiologist discusses how to find a balance by seeking out healthy ingredients rather than whole categories of foods.
13 min
628
Medical Notes: Week of June 6, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of June 6, 2021 including: Scientists have come up with a test that can tell in less than an hour whether you’re sick with a virus or bacteria. Then a study finds that there are changes in the blood...
2 min
629
Undiagnosed Mystery Diseases
Hundreds of patients nationally have diseases that have confounded doctors and yielded no diagnosis and no reliable treatment. Today the Undiagnosed Diseases Network, founded and funded by the NIH, helps these patients, but its funding is uncertain...
18 min
630
Clinical Trials And Trust In Underserved Commun...
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, public health experts have looked to vaccines with the goal of creating “herd immunity,” where so many people are vaccinated that the virus stalls out. Now it is clear we will not reach that goal, meaning the...
12 min
631
Missing the Goal of Herd Immunity
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, public health experts have looked to vaccines with the goal of creating “herd immunity,” where so many people are vaccinated that the virus stalls out. Now it is clear we will not reach that goal, meaning the...
17 min
632
Medical Notes: Week of May 30, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of May 30, 2021 including: A large new study shows people are in more pain than ever before. Then, one of the hallmarks of diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS is a mis-folding of...
1 min
633
Keeping Generic Drugs Safe
Since the 1980’s, almost all production of generic drugs has moved overseas, where FDA inspectors have a much tougher time making sure they’re following rules for safety. An investigative journalist describes the ways she’s found that many...
18 min
634
Covid and Kidney Disease
Covid-19 is usually a respiratory disease, but it can affect virtually any organ in the body. The nation’s top kidney disease expert discusses how Covid can prompt life-threatening kidney effects in the previously healthy, and how those with kidney...
12 min
635
Medical Notes: Week of May 23, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of May 23, 2021 including: The stress of the pandemic on healthcare workers has been enormous, but a new study shows critical care nurses were already burning out in large numbers even before it hit....
2 min
636
The Changing Face of Colon Cancer
Colon cancer is striking much younger people than it used to, leading experts to lower the age on screening recommendations. A noted colon surgeon discusses screening and treatment options, and the way COVID-19 has changed patients’ approach to getting
12 min
637
The Covid Baby Bust
The US birth rate has been declining since the Crash of 2008, but it took an even larger decline during the pandemic to levels unseen since the Great Depression. Today fertility rates are below replacement levels, which could have big impacts on...
16 min
638
Medical Notes: Week of May 16, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of May 16, 2021 including: A study showing that even Covid survivors who were never sick enough to be hospitalized have a 60 percent higher risk of death from other diseases. Then Most people assume...
1 min
639
The Distorted Smells of Covid-19
Many of those who’ve had COVID-19 have suffered from a temporary loss of their sense of smell, but some have had what seems to be an even worse symptom weeks or months later—a distorted sense of smell, where everything, from coffee to flowers,...
18 min
640
Research Ethics Now Vs. Then: A Case Study
In the mid-1960’s, many Ivy League and Seven Sister colleges as well as prestigious prep schools allowed researchers to photograph incoming students naked as part of work on a now-discredited theory linking physical characteristics to leadership...
13 min
641
Medical Notes: Week of May 9, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of May 9, 2021 including: The injection of nanoparticles deep into the brain can produce relief for those with chronic pain and depression. Then, diagnoses for the four most common cancers take a...
1 min
642
Covid and PTSD
Studies show that as many as a third of people who were very ill with COVID-19 later develop PTSD. Caregivers and health care workers may be afflicted as well. An expert discusses how this develops and what people can do to get better.
9 min
643
Bottled Water and Trust in Our Institutions
Bottled water sales have skyrocketed, in part because many people believe it is safer than tap water. Actually, bottled water faces few of the safety regulations that tap water does. The disconnect, according to a new study, comes from society’s...
15 min
644
Medical Notes: Week of May 2, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of May 2, 2021 including: Doctors are preparing for the possibility of COVID-19 variants that vaccines don’t prevent. Then, a new drug that shows promise against pancreatic and triple-negative breast...
1 min
645
Brain Aneurysm Through the Eyes of a Survivor
Brain aneurysms—bulging in a brain blood vessel, like an inflated balloon—affect 1 in 50 people and are generally without symptoms until they burst. This occurs in about 30,000 people per year in the US, accounting for 3-5 percent of all new...
9 min
646
How High Drug Prices Lead To Drug Misuse
Millions of Americans cannot afford the medications they’ve been prescribed. Many skip doses, split pills or don’t fill prescriptions at all as a result, with sometimes even fatal consequences. But doctors are often unable to consider cost very...
15 min
647
Medical Notes: Week of April 25, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of April 25, 2021 including: New research shows that reopening schools can be safe. Then, The brain cancer glioblastoma has no cure… but that may be changing. And finally, as air pollution from cars...
1 min
648
Tracing Covid in Animals & Water
Scientists are testing hundreds of different kinds of animals as well as waste and stormwater for Covid-19, looking for reservoirs for possible mutation. They’ve learned even pets can possibly harbor the virus but probably aren’t a threat. An...
4 min
649
Giving Cash To The Homeless
Homelessness continues to be a stubborn problem despite many well-intentioned programs. A new experimental study finds that giving homeless people thousands of dollars in cash helps get many of them off the streets for good, calling into question many...
15 min
650
Medical Notes: Week of April 18, 2021
A look at the top medical headlines for the week of April 18, 2021 including: A new study finds COVID-19 was likely circulating undetected for nearly two months before late December 2019. Then, a study indicating weight loss surgery significantly cuts...
1 min