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Past Shows
May 27, 2006
 Download an MP3 of the entire program (22MB) (available Saturday, two hours after broadcast).
Happiness
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The science of happiness |
Research into happiness hasn't been a traditional subject for psychology, but it's become something of a hot topic. We speak to several scientists on the cutting edge of happiness research.
Dr. Daniel Nettle, a reader in Psychology at the University of Newcastle, is the author of, Happiness, the Science Behind your Smile.
Dr. Daniel Gilbert is a Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of, Stumbling on Happiness.
Dr. Angela Clow is in the Psychology Department at the University of Westminster in London and studies the physiology of emotion, including happiness.
Dr. Richard Davidson is the Vilas and William James Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and studies the neurology of happiness.
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Blind Chickens
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Dr. Sue Semple-Rowland with a Rhode Island Red - Courtesy, Kristen Bartlett/University of Florida |
It would be difficult, to say the least, to be born a chicken that can’t see. How would you peck or eat? But a type of Rhode Island Red chicken carries a genetic defect that causes it to be blind when it hatches. Nearly 20 years ago, neuroscientist Dr. Sue Semple-Rowland identified that genetic defect that causes the blindness. Now, she and her team at the University of Florida’s McKnight Brain Institute have managed to restore sight to some of the animals using gene therapy. And she believes her animal model can provide important information for eventually developing a therapy for humans who are born blind because of a rare genetic defect.
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Undersea Volcano
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Plumes of ash billow from the volcano - Courtesy, NOAA |
For the last three years, Dr. Verena Tunnicliffe and her colleagues from the US and Japan have been observing a spectacular undersea volcano near the Northern Mariana Islands, north of Guam. This volcano spews ash, rocks and molten sulfur at a depth of 550 metres of water. Using remote submersibles, the scientists have been able to look at a volcano in a way that's never been done before. The geologists on the team are thrilled, but Dr. Tunnicliffe, who's with the department of Biology and the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria, is particularly interested in the strange and hardy organisms, including strange shrimp, that can live in the hostile and acidic conditions around the volcano.
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Question of the Week: Asparagus Pee
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This week we have a question from Jim Fraser in Cambridge, Ontario. He writes: I really enjoy roasting a bit of asparagus on the BBQ from time to time. A little oil and sea salt -- it’s a thing of beauty! Well, at least until it becomes necessary to relieve oneself. What causes that pungent odour? Or is it just me?
For an answer to this odoriferous inquiry, we called up Dr. Dave Stanley, a retired professor from the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Guelph.
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