Breathless Choir

Guest: Quinn Mecham, PhD, BYU Professor of Political Science  It’s the time when people start looking back at the year that was and making predictions for 2016. In that spirit, BYU Political Science professor Quinn Mecham joins Top of Mind to look at how well he predicted things would play out on the international stage this year.

Guest: Vinay Prasad, MD, Medical Oncologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Knight Cancer Institute and Oregon Health and Science University  This next conversation has the potential to be a game changer—a breakthrough, even. How often do you hear words like that used by the media to describe the latest cancer drug or treatment? Quite a bit, it seems. Medical oncologist Vinay Prasad from the Knight Cancer Institute and Oregon Health and Science University recently co-authored an analysis about who is guiltiest of using superlatives that make cancer discoveries sound more impressive than they really are. While the media aren’t the only culprits, we’re at the top of the heap.

Guests: Michael Halassa, PhD, Professor at New York University’s Langone Medical Center; Jim Gnadt, PhD, Program Director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health  Distraction is a constant in our daily lives. Sometimes by choice—like when you scroll through your Facebook feed while watching TV while carrying on a text conversation with a friend. Sometimes by circumstance—think about everything that comes at you when you drive—the traffic signals, the weather, the pedestrians, other cars around you and whatever you’re listening to on the radio.  How our brains are able to filter out unnecessary information and zero in on what matters is a mystery researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health are getting closer to unlocking.

Guest: Bruce Forbes, PhD, Chair of the Philosophy and Religious Studies department at Morningside College and author of “America’s Favorite Holidays”  Every year we hear the lament: Santa Claus is a commercial invention. Christmas is about Christ. We’ve forgotten the true meaning of the holiday. And there are calls to return to the pure spiritual roots of Christmas.  Except, the true roots of Christmas have nothing to do with Jesus Christ. And once the holiday was considered so pagan it was banned in America. Anyone caught observing Christmas in any way could be fined five shillings in Massachusetts. That was back in 1659 when the Puritans ruled the roost.  So how did Christmas become America’s favorite holiday?