Month: January 2012

Dedicated to my sports-crazed husband. J-E-T-S! (maybe next year)

From the Distillations website:

Whether it’s football season, baseball season, or basketball season, one thing is constant: a good chunk of the population has sports on the brain. On today’s episode of Distillations we explore why this is the case. First, producer Lindsay Patterson follows a high school basketball team to learn about the role chemistry plays in winning a big game. Then we check in with the fans at home, learning what happens in your brain when you’re cheering on your favorite team. One word: Dopamine! (Thanks to Ric Seaberg for the great song.)

Image courtesy of Flickr user seantoyer.

The latest Distillations is all about the genome. This from the Distillations website:

“Each of us is made of more than 20,000 genes that determine everything from our tendency towards baldness to our likelihood to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. On today’s episode of Distillations we look at how researchers have sought to identify our individual genomes and how they can be interpreted. First, we learn how advances in DNA sequencing technology are increasing the likelihood that soon we will all have our genomes mapped. Then we talk to an expert in personalized medicine about the pros and cons of having such sensitive information available.”

Image courtesy of Flickr user skreck.