Health
The tradition of chewing coca
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
We’re headed to the Andes for the Geo Quiz. We’re looking for two countries on the South American continent where chewing coca leaves remains popular. It’s been a cultural tradition of indigenous people in Andean countries for centuries. Download MP3Slideshow: Coca products in Peru
China torn on smoking issue
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
China’s government this week announced an expanded ban on indoor smoking in public spaces, but without clear penalties for those who break the rules. That may be because the government is unclear whether it really wants its people to kick the habit. Tobacco is China’s number one source of tax revenue, but it also prematurely kills more than a million Chinese a year. The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports from Beijing. Download MP3
Japan’s contaminated groundwater
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Anchor Marco Werman gets the latest on Japan’s nuclear crisis from The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson. Extremely high levels of radiation were found today in groundwater under the plant. Download MP3
Contamination fears at Fukushima nuclear plant
Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with The World’s environment editor Peter Thomson about news that the core of one of the damaged nuclear reactors in Fukushima, Japan may have been breached, resulting in a release of radioactive substances. Download MP3
Radiation in Japan affects food supply
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
This month’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan has killed more than 18-thousand people, according to police. But the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant is still ongoing, affecting the food supply. Anchor Lisa Mullins talks to the BBC’s Mark Worthington in Tokyo. Download MP3
Radiation health risks in Japan
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, about the risks to human health from the unfolding nuclear crisis in Japan. Download MP3
Japan Should Be First In Line for Potassium Iodide Pills | Union of Concerned Scientists
Anxiety in Tokyo
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
The World’s Mary Kay Magistad reports on the anxiety felt by Tokyo residents about possible radiation exposure from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami damaged nuclear reactors. Many city residents are skeptical of official statements seeking to reassure them. Download MP3
Follow Mary Kay on twitter
Shortage of nurses in Libya
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Libyan rebels are fleeing the oil port of Ras Lanuf after sustained attacks by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Because of the fighting in Libya, foreign workers have been leaving in droves, among them nurses badly needed now. Sean Carberry reports on the shortage of nurses in Libya. (photo: Susan Schulman) Download MP3Slideshow: treating the wounded
From babes to babushkas
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Russia is known for its beautiful women. A number of them have been plucked from obscurity in recent years and reached supermodel status. But there’s another phenomenom in Russia: slim elegant beauties aging fairly quickly into plump babushkas. How does it happen? Reporter Jessica Golloher decided to find out. Download MP3
Slowing down in Australia
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Slow down, or you’ll miss today’s Geo Quiz: We are looking for a tiny little town in southeast Australia. It’s located in the state of Victoria. The commission has convinced the town to change its name for one month in order to raise awareness about road safety. Download MP3Baby Monkey Gangs Reveal Genetic Effects of Loneliness
Loneliness isn’t just a state of mind. It also affects our bodies. A growing number of studies are showing that a feeling of loneliness is associated with heart problems, viral infections, and an increased risk of death. And those health problems, in turn, are associated with huge differences in gene activity. Some genes, like ones involved in inflammation, are more active in lonely people. Others, such as genes that code for antiviral defenses, are less active.
The Bilingual Brain
I have always considered myself a linguistic mutt. I grew up speaking Bengali (my mother tongue), Hindi (India’s national language), and English (a legacy of India’s colonial past). So I was thrilled to learn that the 2011 annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) had a session on bilingualism. It was titled “Crossing Borders in Language Science: What Bilinguals Are Telling Us About Mind and Brain.”
Animals help Russians beat winter blues
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Jessica Golloher reports from Moscow on how some Russians escape the winter blues with the help of zoo animals. Russia’s long, cold and dark winters have been linked with high rates of depression and stress. Download MP3
Forum: The science of kissing
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Why do we kiss? And why does it make us feel so good? Find out in our latest online Science Forum discussion. We’re discussing the science of kissing with Sheril Kirshenbaum, author of the new book “The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us.” Kirshenbaum recently spoke with the The World’s science correspondent, Rhitu Chatterjee. Listen to that interview in the latest World Science Podcast. And join the online conversation with Kirshenbaum. Download MP3Click here to add your questions
Obesity is a global problem
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Worldwide, the percentage of adults who are obese has nearly doubled in the past 30 years. That’s according to a new report in The Lancet. Marco Werman speaks with Professor Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London. He led an international team of researchers who examined health data from 199 countries and territories. Download MP3
Additional funding for PRI's The World is provided by:
