Episodes
Wednesday Feb 16, 2022
How can blue foods help tackling malnutrition?
Wednesday Feb 16, 2022
Wednesday Feb 16, 2022
How can blue foods help tackling malnutrition? Part 1
In this episode, I feature a paper by Golden and colleagues who provide a thorough assessment of the nutritional value of aquatic or blue foods. They found that some blue foods are actually nutritionally better than beef, lamb, chicken or pork. However to increase their intake, economic strategies are needed to foster production and therefore decrease prices.
Full citation:
Golden, C. D., Koehn, J. Z., Shepon, A., Passarelli, S., Free, C. M., Viana, D. F., ... & Thilsted, S. H. (2021). Aquatic foods to nourish nations. Nature, 598(7880), 315-320.
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
How does misuse of colour jeopardize science communication?
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
Tuesday Feb 08, 2022
How does misuse of colour jeopardize science communication?
In this episode, I feature a paper by Crameri and colleagues who bring awareness to the critical role that colour plays in science communication. In particular, they warn us about the ways in which misuse of colour in figures of scientific papers can distort meaning and therefore lead to manipulation of data.
Full citation:
Crameri, F., Shephard, G. E., & Heron, P. J. (2020). The misuse of colour in science communication. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-10.
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
How long does it take for a voice to become familiar?
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
Wednesday Feb 02, 2022
How long does it take for a voice to become familiar?
In this episode I feature a paper by Holmes and colleagues who investigated the extent to which recognition and intelligibility of a voice improve after different lengths of voice training. And they found that speech intelligibility can be dramatically improved with as little as 1 hr of training. An important insight for training aircraft pilots, for instance, who need to perceive speech accurately despite the noises around them.
Full citation:
Holmes, E., To, G., & Johnsrude, I. S. (2021). How Long Does It Take for a Voice to Become Familiar? Speech Intelligibility and Voice Recognition Are Differentially Sensitive to Voice Training. Psychological Science, 0956797621991137.
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
How are early adulthood depression and dementia associated?
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
Wednesday Jan 26, 2022
How are early adulthood depression and dementia associated?
In this episode, I feature a paper by Brenowitz and colleagues who used innovative statistical methods to discover that having depression in your 20s-40s increases the odds of suffering from dementia later in life. Hence, they highlight the importance of bringing happiness to your life in early adulthood.
Full citation:
Willa D. Brenowitz, Adina Zeki Al Hazzouri, Eric Vittinghoff, Sherita H. Golden, Annette L. Fitzpatrick, Kristine Yaffe. Depressive Symptoms Imputed Across the Life Course Are Associated with Cognitive Impairment and Cognitive Decline. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 2021; 1 DOI: 10.3233/JAD-210588
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
How can origami help us think about storage space or emergency shelters?
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
Wednesday Jan 19, 2022
How can origami help us think about storage space or emergency shelters?
In this episode, I feature a paper by Melancon and colleagues who explained how they drew on origami - the Japanese art of paper folding - for engineering design. In their work, origami principles served as inspiration for designing and building inflatable structures that stay in place after deployment and that can be switched between a variety of shapes. A desirable property for emergency shelters and even for space exploration.
Full citation:
Melancon, D., Gorissen, B., García-Mora, C. J., Hoberman, C., & Bertoldi, K. (2021). Multistable inflatable origami structures at the metre scale. Nature, 592(7855), 545-550.
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
What does the maple tree have to do with designing electronic microfliers?
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
Wednesday Jan 12, 2022
What does the maple tree have to do with designing electronic microfliers?
In this episode, I feature a paper by an international team of scientists led by Northwestern University engineers who described how the seeds of the maple tree inspired them to design miniaturized, wireless electronic devices useful for environmental monitoring, population surveillance, disease management among other applications. It all comes down to how slow they fall to the ground.
Full citation:
Kim, B. H., Li, K., Kim, J. T., Park, Y., Jang, H., Wang, X., ... & Rogers, J. A. (2021). Three-dimensional electronic microfliers inspired by wind-dispersed seeds. Nature, 597(7877), 503-510.
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Season finale - Time to say THANK YOU
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Monday Dec 20, 2021
Research in 90 seconds was born a year ago. After 54 episodes, season 1 is coming to a close. To my fellow scientists, to my listeners and to my big supporters from behind the scenes - Lori, Mike and the CERI team - THANK YOU all so much to helping me make this initiative a reality. It takes a village, no doubt...
Season 2 starts on January 11. Enjoy the Christmas holidays and until then.
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
What’s one thing a mentor has given you that you will always treasure?
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
Wednesday Dec 15, 2021
What’s one thing a mentor has given you that you will always treasure?
In navigating the death of two mentors, Varpio offers a heartfelt reflection about the indelible impact of mentors. To honour them, she wrote “So lucky: an elegy”.
Full citation:
Varpio, L. (2021). Reflections on the loss of mentors. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 26(1), 329-333.
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
What happens when simulation becomes the new reality, as opposed to a copy of it?
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
Wednesday Dec 08, 2021
What happens when simulation becomes the new reality, as opposed to a copy of it?
In this episode, I feature a paper by Johnston and colleagues, who invite us to think reflexively about the educational value of simulation in healthcare. While many benefits have been demonstrated in the last few years, this paper uses the concept of "simulacra" - a copy that is indiscernible from the original and comes to replace it - to help us think about some unforeseen consequences of the rapid uptake of simulation.
Full citation:
Johnston, J. L., Kearney, G. P., Gormley, G. J., & Reid, H. (2020). Into the uncanny valley: Simulation versus simulacrum?. Medical education, 54(10), 903-907.
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
What‘s the role of economic affluence in environmental degradation?
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
Wednesday Dec 01, 2021
What's the role of economic affluence in environmental degradation?
In this episode, I feature a paper by Wiedmann et. al., who make us aware of the need for humanity to reassess the role of growth-oriented economies and the pursuit of affluence if we are to address environmental breakdown. Some countries have managed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions while still growing their economies. However, evidence shows that such strategy will not be sustainable in the long term.
Full citation:
Wiedmann, T., Lenzen, M., Keyßer, L. T., & Steinberger, J. K. (2020). Scientists’ warning on affluence. Nature communications, 11(1), 1-10.