The Armen Show

Welcome Dr. John Marzluff, Professor of Wildlife Sciences at the College of the Environment at the University of Washington in Seattle, to episode 254 of The Armen Show. Dr. Marzluff “studies how humans affect birds through habitat fragmentation and increased urbanization, as well as the challenges of conserving birds on islands. Most of his focus is on ravens, crows, and jays, which are in the bird grouping known as “corvids”, and he looks at how birds affect people, such as with our art or language. Many of his books have focused on birds, including his latest book In Search of Meadowlarks: Birds, Farms, and Food in Harmony with the Land. “In recognition of his work, he has been awarded the H.R. Painton Awards from the Cooper Ornithological Society, as well as the Washington State Book Award for general non-fiction.” In this episode, we discuss his latest non-fiction piece. Show notes: the current moment, with the world slowing down due to the pandemicthe career trajectory that Dr. Marzluff took to getting into decades of ornithological workhow we can take a look around our world with a relaxed pace, so as to maintain our Earth in good conditionthe kind of research that Dr. Marzluff does, and places he has performed bird analysis atwhat birds can represent about the impact that humans have hadthe impact of corn and soybean subsidies, and what the farmland in the US would look like without those subsidieswhy meadowlarks were chosen for the title of the bookfarming as related to water consumption and planninga closing message Thanks to Dr. Marzluff for joining on this episode. You can check out In Search of Meadowlarks on Amazon, or take a look at his faculty page.

With the world in a state of rapid adaptation due to health concerns, I discuss some of the elements connected to the scenario in episode 253. There are the straightforward health concerns, along with financial impacts, social impacts, relationship-based impacts, and impacts between countries. Though it has been a bit disturbing to see the current moment arising from a couple of months ago, based on much I had read from scientists I follow, it is worth knowing how it will go. Show notes: the current viral scenario, and what it means for the globehow rapidly it is changing, and what adaptation to the moment really meanssome of the global impacts of a virus that has no current cure, and transfers readily, silently, and with a lagging period of symptomsthe social impacts of such a virus, and how it can affect creation of new relationshipsthe direction of our global society over the next couple monthsthe power of resilience and character in these key months, separating people by power-of-willhow the good and bad of preparation before such an event are both amplified once the event arisesand more Glad to have you check out this episode. The virus has thrown off a lot of the routine of the world, but we as people are resilient and respond to whatever comes our way. To more.

As Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Allan Ropper is able to relayed his decades of neurology experience to students, and as deputy editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, he is able to help edit, guide, and shape the selection of articles that meet the criteria for one of the top science journals of our time. He is also lead editor for one of the top neurology textbooks of current time, Principles of Neurology, now in its 11th edition. Dr. Ropper joins on episode 252 to discuss his recent book How the Brain Lost Its Mind: Sex, Hysteria, and the Riddle of Mental Illness. It covers a history of hysteria, syphilis, and conditions that represent the deviation between the brain and the mind. Our discussion includes topics in the book, Dr. Ropper’s career, neurology as a whole, and how past responses to mental illness have functioned. Show notes: how Dr. Ropper got to be in the field of neurologyhow the mind and brain are connected, and why the book relates the twothe way that Dr. Ropper influenced the field of neurological intensive carewhat it is like being an editor for the New England Journal of Medicine, including some details about the editing processthe field of research that is in its current moment, with an increase in research and published papershow individuals would like to get control of their aging or life conditions, but how we have only come so farthe difference between neurology and neurosurgery, including some of the disorders of eachwhat separates a brain disorder from a mind disorderthe potential over-medicalization of every-day lifethe issues of syphilis and hysteria as detailed in the bookhow people come into the doctor with a broad description, and a neurologist has to reverse engineer the nervous system issuewhat Moya Moya is, and the details of this specific conditionwhy many conditions of neurology do not have a known sourcehow so much is described as though A or B is wrong with a persona message regarding the theme of the book and Dr. Ropper’s link of that to brain conditions It was great to have Dr. Ropper on the show. He is an educating individual who is receptive and perceptive. You can check out How the Brain Lost Its Mind on Amazon.

From his start as a pediatrician, to serving as Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand for nearly a decade, Sir Peter Gluckman has represented category of science and society. He joins on this episode to discuss his career, along with his recently released book Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation. As President-elect of the International Science Council, Sir Gluckman will continue to provide value in the fields of science, health, global impacts, and more. His book Ingenious focuses on how our innovation has led to impacts we did not plan for, and how we can work with these consequences, and help to prevent unwanted future consequences. Show notes: how Sir Gluckman’s career has panned out over time, and how he started out as a pediatricianhis experience as Chief Science Advisor for the Prime Minister of New Zealandwhat it means to be a “knowledge broker”, and how connecting people to the right people is an important skillthe ways that Sir Gluckman has written about or focused on reduction of obesity, as well as being co-chair of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesitypartnering writing books with his co-author Mark Hanson, and what each brought to the table across the decadeshow the early experience between parent and child affects so much of a person’s lifethe important of psychological resilience, and how it separates segments of individualshow evolutionary thinking is a unifying element of biologythe global impacts we are facing now, which we did not have in place 200 years agothe belief or non-belief by citizens that their governments can help to take care of basic societal needsdealing with misinformation that is released, and how governments or public companies can adaptthe level of research put out by smaller countries, versus the percentage put out by some of the larger countries, along with some specific exampleswhether a centrally-situated response wins out against solutions around the world, to global issuesa message about how to cope with rapid environmental, social, and technological changes which are taking place You can check out Sir Peter Gluckman’s Wikipedia page, University of Auckland page, or Ingenious on Amazon. Glad to have him on~.

Welcome to episode 250 of the show~. This returns to the style of me speaking by myself, doing some impressions, telling some story, and updating on recent content. There is great material to cover in March, and we look towards continued growth and improvement. Show notes: the interconnection between guests and episodesusing Zoom for recordings, and how it has beenthe Kobe memorial, and what he represents as related to what I dothe fun of getting books in the mailmade up storiesimpressions of various podcast types

When it comes to cancer treatment, Dr. Azra Raza of the MDS Center at Columbia University has been working with patients for decades. She is an expert on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which are disorders caused by poorly formed or otherwise nonfunctional blood cells, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which affects 1/3 of MDS patients. This type of cancer, along with the stories of many patients and the progressions of their treatment, is detailed in Dr. Raza’s book The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last. Dr. Azra Raza is the Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine and Director of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Center at Columbia University. She has previously held positions at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, University of Cincinnati, Rush University, and the University of Massachusetts, and has been published in numerous notable journals like The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Blood, and Cancer. One of the items I found most interesting was that Dr. Raza has collected a repository of over 50000 tissue samples from MDS and acute leukemia patients, beginning in the early 1980s. We talk about this in the episode, but I find a lot of value in being the firsthand resource in some specific category or field. Show notes: how Dr. Raza got into her career in the first place, and specifically into the field of MDS treatmentthe 50000+ patient tissue samples that Dr. Raza has collected, and what they mean to potential research that can be done todaywhy mouse models do not provide a good representation of how a treatment will work in peoplehow Dr. Raza’s tissue sample data compare with the collection of samples presented in a Nature article/study of many types of cancerthe search for valid biomarkers that represent an issue or non-issuehow being the individual who does the most in one specific category makes you the prime sourcewhat the reductionist philosophy can do if it is taken too far in responding to a health-disturbing pathogencancer not being of one type, but instead quickly altering generation by generation, leads to a variety of cancer cells showing upwhy the first cell is the most important one in the production of cancerthe likelihood of treating an average cancer patient in 2020, and the associated mortalityhow there is much value in early testing for cancersthe difference between something working in spite of something or because of somethingsome of the experience shared with fellow lab mate Siddhartha Mukherjee, and a message from his research insighta great closing poem by Dr. Raza It was wonderful to have Dr. Raza on the show. You can check out The First Cell on Amazon, Dr. Azra’s Columbia University page, or a talk she gave with fellow lab mate researcher Siddartha Mukherjee.

In the Department of Biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Dr. Nicholas P. Money brings his expertise to teaching about the world of fungi/mushrooms, as well as related organisms like yeast and microbes. In his book, The Selfish Ape: Human Nature and Our Path to Extinction, Dr. Money leads us through some of what has led humans to where they currently are, and as well, to our potential positive or negative paths down the line. Show notes: how Dr. Money got into mycology in the first place, and what kind of work he has done with fungi and mushrooms in recent decadesthe way that fungi and mushrooms relate with the lives of humans, and what kinds of takeaways we can take from their evolutionwhat it means that food comes from entropy and ends with sugarsome of the evolution that has occurred in a non-linear fashion, along with features passed on for different future functions than originalinformation about some of the high-speed camera work Dr. Money worked on early on to see fungi releasing spores in slow detailhow we are more closely related to fungi than we are to plants or other animalswhether we have a potential good path out of upcoming extinction, due to global warming and related industrial pollutionwhat population growth means to the potential of human success on Earthsome of the scientists that Dr. Money liked or worked with Glad to have Dr. Money on the show. You can check out his faculty page, personal page at The Mycologist, or The Selfish Ape on Amazon.

Episode 247 is on the scene with science journal Lydia Denworth, author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond. It covers the basis behind why we as people become friends, and how it can be so powerful. Some of the greatest things done by people came from strong friendships. Lydia Denworth has contributed to Scientific American, and writes the ‘Brain Waves’ blog for Psychology Today. Her work is regularly across such publications as Scientific American Mind, Parents, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News. Regarding Friendship, Dr. Nicholas Christakis of episode 232 said “If you care about what really matters in life, read this fantastic natural history of human friendship.” Show notes: what led to Lydia getting into the field of science journalismanalyzing and discussing the concept of friendshiphow science benefits from reaching out to other work in related fieldswhy friendship is the piece of the relationship story that was left out for a long timewhere long-running research in field sites is done on animals like macaques to see their social patternshow neuroscientists can see differences in brain activity in early years of a person’s life, representing rapid growth/adjustmenthow empathy and theory-of-mind is developed at a certain age rangewhat macaques do to subjugate other ones, and how stress responses are a part of the social win/loss paradigmthe way that public speaking or math can be used to examine stress levelwhat loneliness represents about the person in that position, regarding their mental healththe lunch time that exists in middle school, and what it represents for socialization and internal battlessome of the illumination on women in science in the book, as well as one way that expanded a direction of researchthe types of friendships that are more valuable in the long-term, and how many close friends the average person hashow there needs to be back-and-forth in a successful long-term friendshipwhat face-to-face interaction means for friendship and its growth Having Lydia on the show was a nice opportunity to learn about friendship and its value. You can check out her TED Talk “The Science of Friendship”, her home page and updates, or look at Friendship on Amazon.

When it comes to sustainable energy solutions, Larry Rogero has been implementing them for corporations for decades. I first met Larry through his wife Christel, who is my friend and mother of episode 208 guest nutritionist Erika Stowe-Madison. Larry brings a focus and deliberation to what he does that is necessary for long-lasting results. Larry is Chief Operating and Strategy Officer at Summit Inspection Services, and has worked in environmental affairs for decades. He got his Masters in Environment Management at Yale University, and his Bachelors in Biological Sciences from my institution of higher learning, UC Santa Barbara. Show notes: a superb intro by Christelwhat led Larry into the field of environmental concern in the first placehow wind power has been used in recent years, and where it is going in coming yearsthe ways that Larry has contributed to his organization, and what it takes to get a wind power project in place and goingsome of the issues with installing wind turbines in new placesenvironmental concerns in coming years, and the amount of renewable energy we currently have in placea reverse interview with Larry asking me many questions about the show and my ideas behind itbooks read by both of us, and people we both look to as representative people to check out or followand much more It was great to have Larry on the show, and it was neat to explore his methodical nature that he has displayed in his field for decades.

We dive into the collective consciousness of humans on episode 245 with Dr. Sarah Rose Cavanagh, author of “Hivemind”. The book takes us through how group elements and stories spread among people, the ways that people can build each other up or tear each other down via the internet, vulnerabilities of certain groups of people, and lessons for people to take through their days. Dr. Cavanagh is Associate Professor of Psychology at Assumption College, and got her PhD in Experimental Psychology from Tufts University. Her research is on how patterns of emotional reactivity illuminates trajectories of risk and resilience in individuals. Show notes: how Dr. Cavanagh got into psychology in the first placethe way that elements can spread from group to groupwhat the hivemind represents, and how we operate as a collective consciousnessthe way that stories can propel a fiction or nonfiction from a small form to a societal beliefthe impact that online frameworks have had on people, whether to build them up or tear them downwho is most vulnerable to manipulation due to their current life condition and physiologyhow many are walking through life in the form of a constant form of minor fight-or-flight responsea lesson about how serendipity can be built or supported in one’s existence Glad to have Dr. Cavanagh on the show, and you can check out her faculty page, Hivemind on Amazon, or follow her on Twitter.