A perfect storm of factors has led to huge racial disparities in maternal healthcare. In the U.S., as abortion clinics continue to close, this inequity is projected to widen. In this podcast from Nature and Scientific American , we hear from leading academics unpacking the racism at the heart of the system. From the historical links between slavery and gynec ... Show More
Aug 22
Could Peanut Allergies Be Cured?
Peanut allergies have surged dramatically in recent decades, and scientists are still working to understand why. In this episode, journalist Maryn Mckenna, who recently authored an article on the subject, and host Rachel Feltman explore the latest research on causes, treatments a ... Show More
20m 29s
Aug 20
Nature’s Sexual Spectrum Breaks the Binary
Biologist Nathan Lents joins Science Quickly to explore the vast sexual diversity found across the animal kingdom. His new book, The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships, challenges the binary framework that has long shaped ... Show More
15m 17s
Jul 2023
The Black Maternal Mortality Crisis and Why It Remains an Issue
The U.S. has the worst maternal mortality rate of high-income countries globally, and the numbers have only grown. According to a new study published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association – maternal death rates remain the highest among Black women, and those hi ... Show More
15m 24s
Oct 2019
Canaries in the Mine: Latham Thomas on Doula Work and Maternal Mortality Rates in the U.S.
We are a country built upon a foundation of slavery, and the truth is that that has affected every aspect of our culture. We live in an era of #blacklivesmatter and #metoo, spurred by the need to, once and for all, stare down the face of inequality, of institutionalized racism, s ... Show More
37m 16s
Mar 2023
This Racism Is Killing Me Inside
This week, we revisit an episode from 2018 that looks into how discrimination not only degrades your health, but can cost you your life. We hear the story of Shalon Irving, who died after giving birth to her daughter. Black women like her are 243 percent more likely than white wo ... Show More
29m 18s
Jul 2019
How we can improve maternal healthcare -- before, during and after pregnancy | Elizabeth Howell
Shocking, but true: the United States has the highest rate of deaths for new mothers of any developed country -- and 60 percent of them are preventable. With clarity and urgency, physician Elizabeth Howell explains the causes of maternal mortality and shares ways for hospitals an ... Show More
15m 18s