Bob Barrett

Unintended consequences. That’s what seems to be happening to a number of morbidly obese patients who get bariatric surgery...and end up developing problems with alcohol abuse.  On today’s Health Show, we’ll talk to the lead author of a study on the topic and find out if there is any real relationship between weight loss surgery and alcohol use disorders.

We’ll also learn about a company called “A Place For Mom”...who help care givers around the country find the right place for an elder relative in need of special care.

This computer ‘question answering system” took the country by storm when it won on a popular game show.  What is Watson?  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear how clinical laboratories are converting this computer technology into Dr. Watson.

We’ll also hear how students with Autism are being given help to make their way independently through life.  Find out about the importance of music education in school...and spend an Academic Minute learning how a musician’s wife paved the way for his lasting musical legacy.

Think about what a family would have to go through if one of their children needed a heart transplant.  The doctor visits, the waiting for a donor, the surgery and recovery.  Now, multiply that by two.  On today’s Health Show we’ll hear about a pair of brothers in Northern New York who are both living with other people’s hearts...and how they are spreading the word about organ donation.

We’ll also hear from a heart transplant surgeon about what it’s like on the other side of the operating table.  And we’ll learn about an effort by 4-H to keep kids around the country healthy.

Survival of the fittest.  British philosopher Herbert Spencer coined that phrase back in the 18 hundreds and its been used as an interchangeable description of Darwin’s term “natural selection”.  But there are new theories that say life flourished on earth by cooperating...not competing. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our Origins of Life series takes a look at survival of the most cooperative.

The court challenges are over, the decision has been handed down and now the arguing about the Affordable Care Act is finally over.  Ah, if wishing made it so.  On today’s Health Show we’ll take another look at the Supreme Court’s decision and look ahead to what another 30 or 40 million people with insurance means for the health care system.

Plus we’ll talk to a health provider in Massachusetts about that state’s experience with health reform...and we’ll find out if the country’s farm policy is making us fat.

Today, we’re going to talk about civics.  Now wait, before you get ready for a snooze or worse, change the station...hear me out.  There’s a new book out that says the only way to bridge the education gap between the rich and inner city schools is to realize that there is also a gap in those student’s life experiences.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, why schools should say No Citizen Left Behind.

We’ll also find out why a group known for farm life and education is building robots...and spend an academic minute helping older drivers.

Medical errors is a pretty general headline on a lot of different problems.  From lost documents and test reports to hospital acquired infections and amputation errors...the problem goes from bad to extremely bad.  And some of the efforts made to solve the problems haven’t really helped.  On today’s Health Show, we’ll talk to an editor of the new book “First Do Less Harm “First, Do Less Harm - Confronting the Inconvenient Problems of Patient Safety”.

We’ll also explore the concept of shared living...and how it’s helping seniors remain independent by relying on each other.

I think it goes without saying that on this program, we value knowledge.  The fact that we put that word in the title of the show is probably a dead giveaway.  But today we are going to hear from a Columbia University professor who thinks that ignorance hasn’t been given its due.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, is ignorance the driving force behind science?

We’ll also head to Minnesota and meet a high school chess champion...and we’ll spend an Academic Minute learning how cooperation is just how us humans roll.

Nothing like opening up the show with a barrage of numbers...but these are some seriously eye opening numbers.  The Alzheimer’s Association has estimated that by the year 2050, more than 16 million Americans will be living with Alzheimer’s Disease at a cost to the economy of over a trillion dollars...a year.  On today’s Health Show we’ll talk about Alzheimer’s Disease from a scientist’s point of view...and with some people from the association.

You can’t see them...but they’re there.  Billions of microscopic life forms just waiting for their chance to grab hold of something and start to grow.  And that includes you.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our astrobiology series gets small with a look at the tiniest life on the planet...and how it fares while off the planet.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute dealing with the issues caused by space travel.