The Academic Minute

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Astronomy to Zoology www.academicminute.org

  1. 8h ago

    Samantha Pettey, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts - Term Limits Open Doors for Women Candidates

    Term limits in politics open doors for more women candidates. Why is this? Samantha Pettey, professor of political science at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, examines the data. Faculty Bio: Samantha Pettey is a Professor of Political Science in the Department of History and Political Science at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, an M.A. from the University of Rhode Island, and a Ph.D from the University of North Texas. At MCLA, she teaches a wide variety of courses in American Politics, some of which include Women and Politics, Campaigns & Elections, and Political Psychology. Her research interests are a blend of gender politics, campaigns and elections, and US institutions both at the state and national levels. Her forthcoming manuscript titled “Run, Women, Run!: Term Limits and Women’s Paths to Power in the States” examines how term limits shape women’s emergence and representation in the states. Transcript: When I recorded an Academic Minute in 2019, women held about 28% of state legislative seats. Today, they hold a third of the seats, and while that progress is meaningful, it’s not parity. In my research, I examined nearly 170,000 state legislative candidates in all 50 states from 1990 through 2022. Given the unique quasi-natural experiment created by term limits, I test many of the book’s hypotheses using difference-in-differences—which compares states with and without term limits before and after they are implemented. I find term limits encourage more women to run, which roughly equates to 4 additional candidates for every 100 women running. Further, at an individual level, term limits increase a woman’s probability of winning and ultimately lead to more women being elected at the state level. For example, in state senates that have term limits, I find 10 additional Republican women winners for every 100 women candidates and 5 additional Democratic women. Leaving the abstract, Massachusetts and California offer a useful comparison. In terms of women’s representation, the Center for American Women in Politics ranks California 4th while Massachusetts ranks 33rd. This is puzzling given the states are similar on many economic and political measures. But California has term limits and women hold nearly half of the seats, while Massachusetts does not have term limits and women make up about 31% of the legislature. This comparison does not mean term limits alone explain the difference, given that one factor rarely does. Instead, my research’s central argument is that term limits matter because they create predictable openings and force turnover in institutions where incumbency has historically favored men. But the broader political environment also matters and when these openings are paired with favorable state environments, more women are ready to take strategic advantage of these openings to run, win, and move through the political pipeline. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  2. 1d ago

    Ross Channing Reed, Missouri University of Science and Technology - Why the Greek Virtue of Sophrosyne Matters for Us Today

    What is the Greek virtue of sophrosyne and why is it important today? Ross Channing Reed, assistant teaching professor of philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, tells us. Faculty Bio: What is the Greek virtue of sophrosyne and why is it important today? I’m Dr. Lynn Pasquerella, president of The American Association of Colleges & Universities, and today on The Academic Minute: Ross Channing Reed, assistant teaching professor of philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, tells us. Transcript: Texting while driving. Bullying others on social media. Buying into the latest conspiracy theory. Passing off AI generated work as your own.This might seem like a random list of 21st-century vices. But I’d argue they’re all examples of the loss of one particular ancient Greek virtue: sophrosyne. For the Greeks, sophrosyne was an intellectual and moral virtue key to self-knowledge, wisdom, and the good life, representing excellence of character, moderation, and self-control. Sophrosyne was connected to phronesis—practical wisdom. Sophrosyne stood in marked contrast with hubris—excessive pride, dangerous overconfidence, and lack of self-insight. As a philosopher and philosophical counselor, my research centers on the intersection of virtue and happiness. I’ve noticed a pronounced connection between sophrosyne and happiness. Evidence indicates that sophrosyne is a requirement for human flourishing.Sophrosyne is not inborn but must be learned through sustained guidance and individual initiative. Aristotle, for example, maintains that you develop sophrosyne like you would learn to play a sport or a musical instrument.The loss of sophrosyne has led to an increase in incivility, a diminished attention span and ability to focus, and is associated with screen addiction, rejection of science, the rise of extreme beliefs, political polarization, the loss of trust in people and institutions, and the global decline of democracy.There are a number of factors, I’d argue, that have led to the loss of sophrosyne, including a decrease in funding for education, greater economic inequality, and the decline of mentoring relationships. Today, mentors have largely been replaced by celebrities and hero culture, with the rich and famous held up as examples worthy of emulation.Temperance, moderation, self-control, discernment – qualities such as these add up to a timeless excellence of character that cannot be faked. Research shows that becoming such a person requires guidance, practice and consistency. Read More: [Psychology Today] - Ross Channing Reed [The Philosophical Salon] - About Ross Reed [The Conversation] - Ross Channing Reed [Bloomsbury] - Precarity, Trauma, Addiction, and Love in Philosophical Counseling This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  3. 4d ago

    Nicolas Decat, Paris Brain Institute - Dreaming While Awake

    Do you have to sleep to dream? Nicolas Decat, PhD student in cognitive science at the Paris Brain Institute, examines this question. Faculty Bio: I am a PhD student in the DreamTeam of the Paris Brain Insitute. My research takes the wake-to-sleep transition as a playground to understand how our mental life evolves across vigilance states. I like the idea of using big data and data-driven methods to uncover latent structures that are not captured by traditional methods. Transcript: What crosses your mind when we fall asleep? It’s a strange question to ask ourselves, but think about it: how do you go from an ordinary thought to a dream? When we set out to explore this, we found something intriguing. You can dream before falling asleep, and plan your day ahead after drifting off.We recorded the brain activity of 103 people as they napped in the lab. As they drifted off, we interrupted them and asked a simple question: what was going through your mind just before the alarm? We collected hundreds of reports and, rather than deciding for ourselves what counted as a thought or a dream, we let a machine learning algorithm sort these experiences into groups, based on dimensions the participants scored, for instance how bizarre it was. Four groups emerged: fragments of memory, thoughts about the surroundings, dreamlike imagery, and deliberate reflection.And here is the surprise: all four appeared everywhere from wakefulness to sleep. One participant, wide awake, reported ants climbing on them with crossword puzzles in the background. Another, deeply asleep, simply said: I was thinking about work.When we looked closer at their brain activity, we found a brain signature for each kind, and it was the same whether the person was awake or asleep. The brain can generate the same kind of experience no matter which state we are in.And you, how do you fall asleep? This episode comes with a link to an online study, Drifting Minds, that lets you discover your own sleep-onset profile and compare yourself with 5,000 people worldwide. Take part!And tonight, as you close your eyes, you will once again pass through that strange corridor. Pay attention to that moment and what’s going through your mind just before you drift off… You might be surprised. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  4. 5d ago

    Yuri Nakagawa, University of Toyoma - Breastfeeding and Better Sleep at One Year

    Do babies fed breast milk sleep better? Yuri Nakagawa, public health researcher at the University of Toyama, compares the data with formula fed babies. Faculty Bio: Yuri Nakagawa-Miyazaki, M.D., D.D.S., is a plastic surgery resident and public health researcher at the University of Toyama, Japan. Her research focuses on maternal and child health, pediatric sleep, breastfeeding, and population-based epidemiology using nationwide birth cohort data. Transcript: Our study analyzed data from more than 82,000 mother-child pairs participating in the Japan Environment and Children’s Study, one of the world’s largest nationwide birth cohort studies. We examined whether infant feeding during the first six months of life was associated with sleep duration at one year of age. We found that children who received breast milk—including those who were fed both breast milk and formula—were less likely to experience short sleep at one year of age than children who were exclusively formula-fed.Our study cannot determine exactly why this association exists. Breast milk contains biologically active components, such as melatonin and tryptophan, that may help regulate infant sleep. It is also possible that other factors, including the gut microbiome. Importantly, our findings also provide reassuring news for families who use both breast milk and formula. Mixed feeding was also associated with a lower likelihood of short sleep compared with exclusive formula feeding.We hope these findings will help parents make informed feeding decisions without unnecessary guilt or pressure, while encouraging further research into the biological factors that support healthy infant sleep. Read More: [Nature] - Breastfeeding and children’s sleep duration at 1 year of age: A nationwide birth cohort - The Japan Environment and Children’s Study [CP24] - Breastfeeding or formula? Japanese researcher was ‘really surprised’ by results of this study [University of Toyoma] - Breast Milk, Best Sleep: Nationwide Japanese Study Finds This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  5. 6d ago

    Janna Helfrich, Yale School of Medicine - What Happens to Your Brain Under Anesthesia? It's Not Quite Sleep, Not Quite a Coma

    What happens to your brain under anesthesia? Janna Helfrich, assistant professor at the Department of Anesthesiology at Yale University, says it’s not quite what we expected. Faculty Bio: Janna D. Helfrich is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Anesthesiology at Yale University. She has completed her residency training in anesthesiology at the University Medical Center Tuebingen, Germany. In addition to her clinical training, she did a postdoc in neuroscience at the University of California at Berkeley, USA. In her research, she studies the neurophysiological underpinnings of physiological, artificial, and pathophysiological forms of unconsciousness, such as sleep, anesthesia, or coma, and their impact on higher cognition. Dr. Helfrich uses a variety of methods to study the brain, including scalp and intracranial EEG in humans as well as cross-species approaches. She is deeply dedicated to teaching anesthesiologists and advancing their understanding of EEG, thereby enhancing the safety and efficacy of anesthetic practices through education and research. Transcript: Every year, millions of people undergo surgery under general anesthesia. The drugs work — patients become unresponsive, have no memory, and feel no pain. But despite decades of use, we still don’t fully understand what anesthesia actually does to the brain. Is it like sleep? Is it like a coma? Or something else entirely?Working with teams at UC Berkeley, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the University of Oslo in Norway, we recorded electrical brain activity from the scalp — using a technique called electroencephalography, or EEG — in patients under propofol anesthesia, healthy volunteers during sleep, and patients in a coma in the intensive care unit. We then created detailed “fingerprints” of brain activity across dozens of frequency ranges and time points, and compared them to each other.What we found was striking. The anesthetized brain isn’t simply one thing — it borrows features from multiple states at once. Its slow, low-frequency activity most closely resembles a coma. The characteristic alpha waves — generated by deep brain circuits about ten times per second — look like the sleep spindles seen in deep sleep. And perhaps most surprisingly, certain high-frequency patterns actually mirror rapid eye movement sleep, the stage in which vivid dreams occur.In other words, general anesthesia is a mosaic of brain states — part coma, part sleep, with its own unique signatures on top.Why does this matter? The monitors clinicians use today to track anesthesia depth only capture a narrow slice of brain activity, often distilling it down to a single index number. Our findings suggest that simply isn’t enough to appreciate the full complexity of what the brain is doing under anesthesia.More importantly, our results point toward a potential path for making anesthesia healthier. By steering the brain toward a more sleep-like state — and away from a deeper, coma-like one — through tailored drug combinations or modified anesthetic protocols, we may be able to reduce some of anesthesia’s side effects, including postoperative memory problems and delirium.The brain under anesthesia has been a black box for far too long — and opening it up may be one of the most important steps we can take toward making surgery safer for everyone. Read More: [Frontiers for Young Minds] - What Is Anesthesia? [Quanta Magazine] - Brain’s ‘Background Noise’ May Hold Clues to Persistent Mysteries [The Science Breaker] - Awake or dreaming: how brain ‘noise’ tells the difference [Wall Street Journal] - Your Brain on Anesthesia: Could Be More Like a Coma Than You Think [Hartford Courant] - CT researchers studied the impact of anesthesia on human brains. Here’s what they found This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  6. Oct 27

    Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, University of Pittsburgh - Cannabis and Sleep: The Quiet Trap

    Many people use cannabis as a sleep aid, but can it be dangerous? Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse, associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, examines the risks. Faculty Bio: Dr. Joanna Fong-Isariyawongse is an Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, specializing in Sleep Medicine and Epilepsy. She is a nationally recognized advocate for sleep health and brain health, working to turn scientific evidence into actionable public policy. Her efforts focus on issues like later school start times for adolescents, adoption of permanent standard time, and improved care and education for people living with epilepsy.Clinically, Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse provides expert care for individuals with epilepsy, including those undergoing surgical evaluation for drug-resistant seizures. She also sees patients with a wide range of sleep concerns, helping individuals improve sleep quality to enhance cognitive function, emotional resilience, and overall performance. In addition, she leads critical care continuous EEG services across eight UPMC hospitals, ensuring timely neurological monitoring for patients in intensive care. Her commitment to patient-centered care has earned her UPMC’s Excellence in Patient Experience Award and recognition as a Pittsburgh Magazine Best Doctor since 2019.She serves on national advocacy and health policy committees for the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), where she helps shape legislation and healthcare priorities at both state and federal levels. She is a board member of the Pennsylvania Neurological Society, a physician advisory board member for the Epilepsy Association of Western and Central Pennsylvania, and a professional advisory board member for the Epilepsy Foundation of Eastern Pennsylvania.Dedicated to public education, Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse speaks widely on the science of sleep and its role in learning, mood, seizure control, athletic performance, and public safety. Her outreach spans school districts, athletic teams, first responders, and public transportation workers. She also serves as a neurology consultant to the Pittsburgh Steelers.Whether in the clinic, the classroom, or the Capitol, Dr. Fong-Isariyawongse is committed to building a healthier, more well-rested future for all. Transcript: Picture a 15-year-old girl staring at the ceiling past midnight. Her bus comes in six hours. Melatonin didn’t work, so tonight she tries a cannabis gummy a friend recommended. Twenty minutes later, she’s asleep.Now picture a 34-year-old veteran, jolted awake by nightmares for months. The VA sleep clinic has a six-month waitlist. The dispensary is six blocks away.Both will tell you cannabis works. And that’s exactly the problem.As a sleep neurologist, I see patients whose sleep has quietly unraveled after months or years of cannabis use. Here’s what’s happening inside the brain when the lights go out.THC does help people fall asleep faster, at first. But the body adapts quickly, so the same dose does less, and people need more. And falling asleep faster is not the same as sleeping well. Brain recordings show that chronic cannabis users spend more time awake at night and get less restful sleep, REM sleep, the stage where the brain processes emotion, locks in learning, and rebuilds resilience is especially disruptedThen comes the trap. When people try to stop, withdrawal hits: rebound insomnia, vivid disturbing dreams, anxiety, irritability. The symptoms that drove a person to cannabis come roaring back, often worse. So they return to it, and the cycle continues. For teenagers, whose brains are still under construction, and for veterans with PTSD, the stakes are highest.But there is good news: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia outperforms every sleep aid, including cannabis. It treats the root cause of insomnia, and research shows it can both improve sleep and redice cannabis use.Sleep is the foundation of memory, mood, and judgment. Everyone lying awake tonight deserves a real solution, not a trap. Read More: [The Conversation] - Using cannabis for sleep isn’t harmless – a neurologist explains how it can trap people in a cycle of dependency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  7. Oct 26

    Kitty Lui, University of California San Diego - Poor Sleep Tied to Alzheimer’s Risk in Older Women

    Poor sleep is tied to Alzheimer’s risk in older women. Kitty Lui, doctoral student in clinical psychology at the University of California San Diego, discusses these findings. Faculty Bio: Kitty is a doctoral student at the San Diego State University / UC San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology track). She is particularly interested in understanding why women are at elevated risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Her doctoral research has focused primarily on the sex-specific impacts of sleep disturbances on Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers, in hopes that this work could inform intervention and prevention for the disease for each sex. Transcripts: We recently published a study that found sleep complaints may be an important Alzheimer’s disease risk factor in older women with a higher genetic predisposition to the disease. The findings suggest that women with a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s who reported poorer sleep also showed greater memory difficulties and more Alzheimer’s-related brain changes.We examined 69 women aged 65 years and older participating in the Women Inflammation Tau Study, an ongoing project at UC San Diego focused on aging and Alzheimer’s disease risk. Participants completed questionnaires about their sleep quality, underwent memory testing and received brain scans that measured tau, a protein that accumulates abnormally in Alzheimer’s disease.We found that poorer self-reported sleep was associated with worse visual memory performance and greater tau accumulation in brain regions affected early in Alzheimer’s disease — but only among women with higher genetic risk. Women with lower genetic risk did not show the same relationship between sleep complaints, memory and tau buildup. The results add to growing evidence that sleep disturbances and Alzheimer’s disease may reinforce one another over time. Previous studies have suggested that disrupted sleep can contribute to the buildup of abnormal tau proteins, while Alzheimer’s-related brain changes may also interfere with healthy sleep patterns. Because women account for nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer’s cases and frequently report poorer sleep quality than men, sleep may represent an important and potentially modifiable risk factor in older women.Self-reported sleep assessments are inexpensive and easy to administer, raising the possibility that sleep complaints could help identify people who may benefit from closer monitoring or early intervention. Improving sleep could become a target for future Alzheimer’s prevention strategies, particularly for women at elevated genetic risk. Overall, it might be important to take sleep complaints seriously for older women as it may be relevant to their brain health. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

  8. Oct 23

    Jenny Whilde, University of Florida - How One Bottle of Water Can Reveal the Secrets of an Entire Ecosystem

    One bottle of water can reveal the secrets of an entire ecosystem. Jenny Whilde, adjunct research scientist at the University of Florida, explains how. Faculty Bio: Dr. Jenny Whilde holds a PhD in Animal Behavior, focusing on social group dynamics in zoo-housed animals, including elephants and orangutans. She has many years of experience in scientific writing, editing, and proofreading across a broad range of disciplines including cancer research, marine biology, and behavioral ecology and has contributed significantly to scientific publications, successful grant applications, and mainstream media articles. Transcript: Ireland is a land of storytellers, and it’s not just the people. The rivers, too, have stories to tell. In fact, a single water sample can be used to identify every living thing that has been in the area, including wildlife, humans, and even the pathogens that impact them.The key that unlocks this information is environmental DNA, or eDNA for short. This is DNA that any living organism has shed into its surroundings. It can come from skin cells, pollen, waste matter, even a cough or a sneeze. eDNA that is filtered from a water sample provides a snapshot of exactly what is living in and around the water. Typically, researchers use an approach called metabarcoding to decode eDNA. This is a powerful method if you are looking for a particular set of species, but it finds only what it is designed to find and ignores everything else.Our research team used a different technique, called long-read shotgun metagenomic DNA sequencing. This technique sequences all of the collected DNA from every species, from viruses to vertebrates and everything in between. Our team, led by Professor David Duffy, took water samples from different locations along the Avoca River, in Co. Wicklow, starting near its mountain source right through to where the river runs into the sea.The DNA we filtered from the water samples came from: the obvious, like ducks, sheep, and humans; the more elusive, like leatherback turtles and octopi at the river mouth, and from microscopic invertebrates and even viruses.We could identify the genetic origins of some species, and also found evidence of wastewater pollution. Within 24 hours, it is now possible to obtain a readout of all the eDNA in a water sample from any location, unlocking the secrets of an entire ecosystem. Read More: [The Conversation] - Fishing for DNA – how a cup of river water can reveal secrets about human health, pollution and biodiversity [Oxford Academic] - Long-read nanopore shotgun metagenomic DNA sequencing for river biodiversity, wildlife, pollution, and environmental health monitoring This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.academicminute.org

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Astronomy to Zoology www.academicminute.org

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