Getting Rid of Brain Bubbles

Guest: Alicia Mazzara, Research Analyst in the Housing Division, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Guest: Tor Wager, Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, University of Colorado Boulder “Exposure therapy” is a real thing that’s been common since the 1950s where people confront the thing they’re afraid of until the fear goes away. But what if, rather than experiencing the scary thing, you could just imagine it and still overcome the fear? Neuroscientist Tor Wager’s lab has found that works, too.

Guest: Edmund Archuleta, Director of Water Initiatives, University of Texas-El Paso From California to Texas, water is a pressing concern. El Paso, Texas was forecast to run dry next year. But more than a decade ago, under the direction of a big-thinking utilities director, the city changed its water destiny. Today it’s a model for conservation. It’s also home to one of the largest desalination plants in the world –which pumps and treats more than 20-million gallons of brackish water from the ground every day. Next, the city is looking to its sewers with plan to take all that used water and recycle it back to household taps.

Guest: Jon Kabat-Zinn, Author of “The Healing Power of Mindfulness,” Professor of Medicine Emeritus and Founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic, University of Massachusetts If you’ve had a therapist or doctor recommend that you get some training in mindful meditation, you can probably thank Jon Kabat-Zinn. Back in the 70s, while pursuing a PhD in molecular biology at MIT, Kabat-Zinn got interested in meditation and yoga. At the time, neither of those interests had anything to do with serious science, but Kabat-Zinn started doing research on the effects of meditation on the body and brain. His findings led him to found the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts and today more than 700 medical centers and clinics around the world use his mindfulness framework to help patients improve their health.

Guest: Rachel Wadham, host, Worlds Awaiting on BYUradio, Education and Juvenile Collections Librarian, BYU