Radio Curious

What is your cat or dog thinking? Understanding animal behaviour and what makes them respond in different situations can ensure good relationships with animals around us, whether they are farm stock, pets or wild animals. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Temple Grandin, a person with autism and a Ph.D. in animal science. Autism made school and social life difficult for Dr. Grandin, but it made working with and understanding animals easy. In her book “Animals Make Us Human” Grandin lays out the emotional needs that all animals share and how we as human beings can respond to their needs . In this interview she explains how a cat can be trained to go through a dog agility course; successful ways for humans to avoid conflict with wild animals and provides insight on how animals brains and thought processes differ to our own.

We visited with Temple Grandin by phone from her home in Colorado on August 4, 2009 and began by asking about her experience in observing animal behaviour and using her observations in animal training.

The book Dr. Temple Grandin recommends is “Perfect Rigour,” by Masha Gessen.

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The development of the large human head and broad shoulders provide many evolutionary benefits for our species but also require assistance for a safe birth, sometimes presenting life threatening complications in the birth process. Yet gorillas, our 300-pound primate cousins, give birth without assistance in approximately 15 minutes. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with pediatrician Dr. Mark Sloan, author of “Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth.” In this conversation Dr. Sloan explains how our transition from being four legged creatures to two legged ones has forced us to cope with unique physical and cultural differences. We explore what some of the benefits of cesarean deliveries can be as well as the possible, but unverified consequences this birth form present.

This interview was recorded on July 3, 2009 speaking with Dr. Sloan from his home in Santa Rosa, Californa. The conversation began with an explanation of why the human birth process was more difficult than in other primates.

The book Dr. Mark Sloan recommends is “The Discovery of France” by Graham Robb.

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Why do smart people do stupid things? This is the question asked by Laurence Gonzales, author of “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why” and “Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things.” Gonzales examines the mental scripts we follow as we live our lives and how these scripts prescribe our response to a situation based upon our past experiences. The problem is that sometimes these scripts result in wrong and possibly dangerous actions based on insufficient evidence or memory in our past experience. Gonzales’ work demonstrates how these scripts can sometimes lead to us being our own worst enemy.

To break from this cycle and encourage full understanding of a situation and wise decision making, Gonzales encourages “curiosity, awareness, and attention.” He writes, “Those are the tools of our everyday survival… we must all be scientists at heart, or be victims of forces that we don’t understand.”

In a series of two Radio Curious visits with Laurence Gonzales we discuss how our mental scripts are created both genetically and from our personal experiences and how to keep them from getting us in trouble.

I spoke with Laurence Gonzales from his home near Chicago Illinois on January, 19 2009.  Our conversation began when I asked him how human behavior today has been shaped by that of our ancestors many thousands of years ago.

The book he recommends is “Survival in Auschwitz” by Primo Levi

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What is in the air that we breathe? We all know that there are various forms of air pollution that affect our health and the health of our environment, but what do we really breathe?

In this edition of Radio Curious, recorded in our studios on January 9, 2009 we visit with Dr. Dean Wolbach, former Air Pollution Control Officer for Mendocino County. Our conversation focused on the different types of air pollution and how they affect us both globally and at the local level.

We began by asking Dr. Wolbach to provide an overview of air quality issues across history, through to the present day here in Mendocino.

The books he recommends are “Dreams Of My Father” and “The Audacity Of Hope,” by Barack Obama,  “Samuel Adams: A Life,” by Ira Stoll and “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

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The ways different creatures, especially people use their senses has for a long time attracted my curiosity. I have wondered about the dreams of blind people or deaf people.  From time to time I’d see an attentive woman walk past my office with a young person who carried a white cane with a red tip. Laura Fogg is this woman, the author of “Travelling Blind: Life Lessons From Unlikely Teachers,” and our guest here in the studios of Radio Curious. Laura Fogg has worked as an Orientation and Mobility Instructor for the blind in Mendocino County since 1971. In doing so, she has pioneered the use of the white cane with blind students who are very young or who have multiple impairments, traveling from student to student through the rather special backroads between their homes. Laura Fogg visited Radio Curious on December 1st, 2008 and talked about some of the life lessons she has learned.

The book Laura Fogg recommends is “My Year Of Meats” by Ruth Ozeki

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How many of us are lonely? What is loneliness and how does it affect us? Approximately 25 years ago, when asked the number of friends in whom we could confide, most people in the United States said “three.” When that question was asked recently most people said “none.” Inquires reveal that twenty per-cent of people, — 60 million in the Untied States alone — are feeling lonely at any given moment. And, it appears that chronic loneliness may well compete with smoking, obesity and lack of exercise as a significant health risk.

In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with William Patrick, the founding editor of The Journal of Life Sciences and co-author of “Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection,” along with University of Chicago psychology professor John Cacioppo.  My conversation with William Patrick, recorded on October 13, 2008, began when I asked him to define loneliness as used in their book.

The book William Patrick recommends is “The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins,” by Burton Mack.

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State guidelines for growing and possessing medical marijuana, were issued by the California Attorney General on August 25, 2008. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit again with Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, who participated in the development of these guidelines, to discuss their implementation. This interview was recorded August 27, 2008, in the studios of Radio Curious.

The book that Tom Allman recommends is, “Reagan’s War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism,” by Peter Schweizer.

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Behind the scenes in Per Se, a four star restaurant in New York City, a sister restaurant to The French Laundry in Napa, California, is one of the topics in this edition of Radio Curious.  Phoebe Damrosch, author of, “Service Included: Four-Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter,” was the first female captain (head waiter) at a New York four-star restaurant. A graduate of Columbia University’s Barnard College, she shares surprising episodes and charm in a story relayed from the always-pleasant server’s point of view that some people spend several hundred dollars each to witness from the diner’s perspective. However, Phoebe sees things that the diners don’t. Phoebe Damrosch was born in a small rural mountaintop cabin next to a pure water lake several hours north of New York City, and grew up partly in Vermont and rural Haiti.

This conversation, recorded on July 15, 2008, began when I asked her to explain what a restaurant must do to receive the four-star nomination.

The book she recommends is “Drown,” by Junot Diaz.

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To Kill or Not To Kill: That is the question still presented to juries in capital cases in the United States, one of the few countries remaining in the world to employ the death penalty. In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit with Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served as chaplain for the Texas Department of Corrections from 1982 to 1995 and counseled 95 inmates on their way to death by lethal injection. “At the Death House Door: No Man Should Die Alone,” is a independent film documentary, directed and produced by Steve James and Peter Gilbert, that presents a personal and intimate look at the death penalty in Texas through the eyes of Pastor Pickett, a Presbyterian minister. Over the years, after each of the 95 executions, Pickett would record his experiences with that person on the tape he used to practice his sermons. Although he never listened to those tapes, they became the thread and primary source for the movie. I spoke with Pastor Carroll Pickett on May 23, 2008 from his home in Texas, after hearing him speak at a special hearing on capital punishment in San Francisco, CA, while he was on a break from a national publicity tour. We began when I asked him to explain what brought him to work with condemned men and be with them in their last hours. This program was originally broadcast on June 25, 2009.

The book Carroll Pickett recommends is “Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist,” by Mike Farrell and Martin Sheen.

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