EDF Health

Podcast: You Make Me Sick! The mysteries of the epigenome

Each type of cell in our body expresses our genes differently based on many things including what they are (skin or kidney cells) and how old we are (newborn or 65 years old). These differences are controlled by our epigenome – the set of molecular marks along our DNA that dictate which and when genes turn on and off. Turns out our environment can influence and alter these marks!

For this episode we talked to Dr. Dana Dolinoy of the University of Michigan about her work on the epigenome, including how twin mom mice can birth very different looking newborns—either yellow and obese or brown and normal weight—depending on what they ate during pregnancy.

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Podcast: You Make Me Sick! Diversity in the environmental movement

This month on our podcast, we talked with Whitney Tome, Executive Director of Green 2.0, to talk about the importance of diversity in the environmental movement. In talking about our need to have more chairs at the table, we discussed Green 2.0’s new report, Beyond Diversity, which looked at how hiring practices might be reshaped to cast a bigger net, as well as their scorecards on the state of racial and gender representation at major environmental organizations.

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Podcast: You Make Me Sick! Nature-rich lives and the future of environmentalism

For this month’s episode of You Make Me Sick, we broke from our usual discussion of things that might harm your health to talk about an exposure that might help your health. Specifically we talked with journalist and advocate Richard Louv about the ways in which exposure to green spaces can affect your health. Mr. Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods and The Nature Principle and founder of the non-profit Children and Nature Network, sat down with us to discuss the need to design nature rich lives and the future of environmentalism.

Want more? Subscribe to us on iTunes or Google Play, or check out our SoundCloud to listen via desktop! [Image credit Francisco Anzola]

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Podcast: You Make Me Sick! Plasticizers, fast food, and your urine

From the shores of the Puget Sound to the inside of your colon, EDF Health’s You Make Me Sick podcast has been bringing you the latest in environmental health science. In today’s episode, we’re excited to showcase the work of Dr. Ami Zota of the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health.

We sat down with Dr. Zota to discuss her recent study where she looked at how certain chemicals associated with plastics show up in people’s urine after they eat fast food.

 

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Podcast: You Make Me Sick! Cocaine in the Puget Sound!?!

After our episodes on the impact of lead on the developing brain and how microbes teeming inside us shape our health in unbelievable ways, EDF Health is proud to present the latest episode of our podcast, You Make Me Sick. On this episode, we interviewed Dr. James Meador of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency about his research article where he found a soup of chemicals, including cocaine, in the waters of the Puget Sound. He explains how drugs and other chemicals of emerging concern can pass through wastewater treatment plants and end up in the surrounding waters and even the tissues of fish!

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Introducing our new podcast: You Make Me Sick!

[Edited on 17 February 2017. Click here to subscribe via iTunes or Google Play]

Today we are launching the second episode of our podcast, You Make Me Sick! On this episode, we talked with Dr. Brett Finlay, author of “Let Them Eat Dirt”, about the fascinating world of microbes.

Dr. Finlay’s research focuses on how bacteria and other tiny microorganisms living in and on us might not be all bad. We caught up with him in New York City to learn about fecal transplants and asthma, and to get some new evidence in the never-ending dogs vs. cats debate. Click below to listen.

 

[EPISODE 1 – Impact of lead on the developing brain]

Working at EDF’s Health Program, we learn new and fascinating things about the science of environmental health every day. We decided these stories of how chemicals can affect our health are too interesting and important to keep to ourselves. In order to bring you the latest and greatest in scientific research around environmental health, EDF Health is proud to present our new podcast, You Make Me Sick, hosted by yours truly and Dr. Jennifer McPartland.

Over the next few months, this podcast, which will be released every few weeks, will bring you the latest research from experts in the field of environmental health. We will be sitting down with them to discuss where the science has been, is, and will be.

Our first interview was with Dr. Bruce Lanphear, a professor at Simon Fraser University with expertise in children’s environmental health. His research ranges from childhood exposures to pesticides, mercury, tobacco smoke and other chemicals of concern. In this episode, we sat down with him in the EDF Washington office to learn specifically about how lead exposure affects children.

Click below to listen. While you’re at it, make sure to subscribe to us via iTunes or Google Play!

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