Crime & Brain Injury, CTE & Contact Sports, Oldest Stardust, Solar StormsConstant Wonder • Season 2022, Episode 360
Feb 12, 2020 • 1h 41m
Brain Damage and Criminal Behavior
Guest: Kim Gorgens, Professor, Graduate School of Professional Psychology, University of Denver
Traumatic brain injuries are much more common in prison populations than in the population at large. What does this teach us about rehabilitation and recividivism?
CTE and Contact Sports
Guest: Kevin Bieniek, Assistant Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, and Director, Brain Bank, University of Texas Health, Science Center at San Antonio
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease that is caused by repeated brain injury. People often focus on its prevalence in pro-athletes, but new studies show that players of any contact sport are at risk.
Stardust Found In an Australian Meteorite Dated Older Than the Solar System
Guest: Philipp Heck, Associate Curator of Meteoritics and Polar Studies, Field Museum of Natural History, and Associate Professor, University of Chicago
In a small Australian town in 1969, smelly meteorite fragments fell from the sky. Decades later, researchers discovered that stardust particles within the pieces are older than our solar system.
The Apocalypse May Be Just One Sun Flare Away
Guest: Paul Sutter, astrophysicist, The Ohio State University, author, and host, "Ask a Spaceman!" YouTube channel and podcast
Solar storms can impact our communications, electrical systems, and tech infrastructure, resulting in damages that can take years to recover from--and there’s not much we can do to stop one. Can we prep for a storm from space?