Bob Barrett

Think about some of the conditions on the newly formed planet Earth.  Volcanic activity, temperatures around 100 degrees Celsius...not exactly a garden spot for life.  But research now is discovering new species of bacteria that can thrive in those conditions...and they are still around today.
Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our Astrobiology Series returns with a look at the discovery of new species of life on earth in the hot spots of the planet.

Bullying has been an unfortunate part of the school culture for, well, probably as long as there have been schools.  But in recent years, there have been organized efforts get end bullying, even as the practice has gone high tech. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we present the first installment in a five part series on bullying.

It seems like you can’t turn on the radio or read a health blog anymore without finding something else that will eventually kill you.  Sunshine, artificial sweeteners, natural sweeteners...there’s no escaping it, they are all gunning for you.  But according to a new book...it’s even worse than we thought.  On today’s Health Show, a conversation with an author of the Encyclopedia Paranoiaca.

Think about what happens when someone has a traumatic health condition.  The condition is stabilized, treated...and then the patient goes through rehab.   It’s the same from car crashes to strokes.  But what about rehab for cancer patients?  On today’s Health Show we’ll talk about the growing field of cancer rehab,

We’ll also talk about how many US horses that were given drugs that are dangerous for humans are winding up in the European food supply.  And we’ll hear how the new farm bill is making it tough for some organic farmers.

Do you constantly split infinitives, start sentences with “and or “but” and end sentences with a preposition?  Have no fear, you’ve done nothing wrong.  It seems many of the grammar rules that we’ve been following over the years are completely bogus. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk to an English professor about the seven bogus grammar errors that you don’t need to worry about...and a lot more about the state of writing in general.

Plus we’ll spend an academic minute finding out what goes on in our brains to create language in the first place.

In 1977, the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released with the tag line: “we are not alone”.  You know what, we really aren’t.  And it has nothing to do with aliens.  There are thousands of tiny organisms living in our bodies right now and we couldn’t live without them.  On today’s Health Show we’ll take a look at the Human Micro Biome.

If you turn on a light, send a text message or watch TV with any device made in the last few years, you’s using LED technology.  Advances in LEDs are happening rapidly...and some of those breakthroughs are coming from unexpected corners. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll meet a college student who invented a new type of LED...and won a prestigious competition along the way.

We’ll also hear how schools need to be turning out more lab technicians than they are now...and spend a academic minute talking about lizard’s tails.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t think the name “Superstorm Sandy” would stick.  But it has...and as the areas that were affected by Sandy continue to rebuild there is another consequence of the storm literally growing under people’s noses.  Mold.  On today’s Health Show we’ll talk with an expert in environmental medicine about what is being called Sandy’ second wave.

Earlier this year we told you about a law passed in the state of Massachusetts that gives the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education authority over any virtual schools that begin operating in the state.  At the time, there was only one such school...and that’s about to change.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear why a virtual school is literally closing.

Over the years there have been two words that have summed up the most effective weapon in the fight against cancer...all cancer: early detection.  Now researchers are trying hard to make early detection quicker, easier...and earlier.  

On today’s Health Show we’ll hear about advances in the early detection of cancer...and hear from a clinical researcher about the feasibility of finding warning signs for cancer in blood.  We’ll also focus on one of those tests that is generating a lot of controversy: the PSA test for prostate cancer.