Bob Barrett

For many people getting back to nature means planting a garden, and that’s actually a really good place to start. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, saving the planet, one garden at a time.

Scientists and Alzheimer’s disease have been doing battle for decades and so far, the disease has been winning. But there are strides being made for earlier and non-invasive ways to detect the condition. Now there is new technology ready for clinical testing that could provide that elusive biomarker. The research on the device was spearheaded by Dr. James Arruda, a professor of Psychology at the University of West Florida. We'll talk about this new technology.

Being an adolescent comes with temptations, frustrations and a ton of mixed messages. So going it alone shouldn’t really be an option. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about the importance of having that one trusted adult.

After school programs around the country are having the same issue as a lot of business: finding enough qualified staff members. This was a problem even before the pandemic, but a new survey from the Afterschool Alliance shows 87% of afterschool programs are concerned about finding and keeping staff, and more than half have had to put interested families on waiting lists. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, a discussion on the current state of after school programs.

What makes you happy? It’s a question that has an unlimited number of answers. But the real question should probably be what makes you happier? That’s the one that Randye Kaye asks in her new book called “Happier Made Simple - Choose Your Words, Change Your Life." In the book she asks questions and offers some guidance not to find total happiness…but to find ways to find a bit of happier.

When Betsy Ross designed that flag with 13 stars and 13 stripes, everyone at the time knew there was a lot more land out there and there would likely be additions coming. However, at the time, there was already a functioning 14th colony on the Gulf Coast and it had changed hands between Spain and Great Britain a few times…with France in there around the edges. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we open up our own history class and take another look at West Florida, the forgotten 14th colony.We’ll also spend an Academic Minute with some transgender history.

Teachers are getting burned out and leaving the profession in droves. A new survey released this month from the National Education Association illustrates this problem with hard data. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about the problem with the leader of the nation’s largest teacher’s union.

With extending the child tax credit still a big topic on the news, a report from an ongoing clinical trial suggests that children of mothers who get regular cash assistance have enhanced brain development…and the more cash the better. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear from one of the study’s authors.

At-home testing for infectious diseases is a hot topic. The President has authorized the purchase of millions of at-home COVID-19 tests for Americans, but at-home testing is not new. At home tests for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections are already available, although they are a bit controversial. A number of questions remain regarding at-home test accuracy and ability to impact patient outcomes and public health while protecting patient privacy. Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll have a discussion with two laboratory scientists about the good, the bad, and the "we don't quite know yet" of at home testing.

Let’s get this part out of the way first: yes, Dr. Mark Vonnegut is Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s son. And today we are going to talk about a new book that he has written. But this isn’t the great American novel, this is the story of his 40 years as a pediatrician. In those years he has seen massive changes in the American medical system, both good and bad. The name of the book is “The Heart of Caring – A Life in Pediatrics”. Dr. Vonnegut is still a practicing pediatrician living in Milton, Massachusetts.