Joining us today is plant physiologist Nicolas Cafaro La Menza, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Here, he researches the development of agronomic strategies and tools to enhance agroecosystems management.
Based at a research station in West Central Nebraska, Nicolas works in both research and extension.
Nicolas closely studies the nutrients and resource use of crops to enhance plant growth – specifically looking at factors such as sunlight, water, phosphorus, and nitrogen…
Click play to find out:
The importance of maintaining well-balanced nutrient levels in crops.
How nitrogen levels in soybeans can be altered to achieve higher yields.
The kinds of crops that react well to nitrogen fixation.
Why phosphorus is a less mobile nutrient than nitrogen.
Click here to learn more about Nicolas and his research!
These days, there is a new type of trash we are confronted with: plastic and microplastic pollution. Scientists around the world are still puzzled by the impact this problem may have on humans and the environment. Today we sit down with researcher Win Cowger to discuss his thoughts on this important issue.
Win Cowger, Ph.D. is an Environmental Scientist at the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution and Research. Also known as “Dr. Trash”, Win is interested in advancing science on the transport and fate of trash in watersheds and river flow. He believes that by tracking trash, we will be able to identify solutions to plastic pollution while also assessing how well they work…
Join us now to discover:
What ignited Win’s interest in environmental research.
How trash and microplastics move around in the environment.
How trash in rivers differs from trash in garbage cans.
Potential trash solutions for countries like India.
To learn more about Win Cowger and his work with the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution and Research, click here now!
In this episode, we sit down once again with Omar Mo, the Founder and CEO of Nomads Cast. Omar is an expert in digital marketing, podcasting, and content generation.
Using his knowledge in this field, he helps businesses enhance their brand by facilitating the production of lead-generating podcasts and content.
Joining Omar is ChatGPT, an AI chatbot launched in November 2022 that is known for its detailed responses and articulate answers. Today, we analyze what ChatGPT is capable of, its strengths and weaknesses, and its implications for different agencies.
Tune in now to discover:
What ChatGPT can be used for, and the importance of using specific prompts.
The most fascinating features of ChatGPT.
How ChatGPT can be used to facilitate productive conversations.
Could AI tools like ChatGPT be the future of communication and information? Click play to find out now!
You can find out more about Omar and Nomads Cast here, and try ChatGPT for yourself here!
Why do other people seem to get through life so easily, while I struggle with even the smallest things?
That was a question that plagued Holly Barker for years as she went through a major depressive episode—one that made it hard for her to do anything but sleep and shut out the world, including her closest friends.
She shares her journey on today’s show, which includes her experience with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and antidepressants.
Tune in to hear her story and learn:
What aspects of CBT Holly found most difficult, but how the tools have helped her over the years
What Holly’s on-and-off relationship with antidepressants has been like, and the telltale sign that she wasn’t ready stop taking them
How Holly’s struggle with infertility impacted her mental state, and how she dealt with it
“Tapping…works so well and so quickly because we’re actually speaking to the survival system in its native language…it’s listening to your body, it’s not listening to your thoughts…or all the strategies you have or all the skills you’ve built—it doesn’t care about those things,” explains Rachelle McCloud.
She’s describing the emotional freedom technique, which has not only transformed her life but the lives of so many of her clients.
Tune in to discover:
How EFT mitigates the internal conflict between your body’s survival system and your ability to heal emotionally.
The important difference between chemical communication and energetic or electrical communication in the body.
Fight, flight, freeze, faint, fawn: The most common ways our bodies respond to stress.
Rachelle McCloud is a mental health therapist who has spent years helping people work through anxiety, depression, and trauma disorders with an unconventional technique that in many ways is similar to acupuncture. It’s called emotional freedom technique and is commonly referred to simply as “tapping.”
McCloud describes how to use the technique, why it works, and so much more.
“You can’t be afraid of anxiety and depression; you need to approach it head on and realize exactly what it is, and exactly how the mind frames things to keep us involved with…the habits of anxiety and depression,” says Luciani.
Anxiety and depression aren’t usually seen as habitual, but should they be?
Press play to discover:
How someone gets into a habit loop of anxiety and depression
The connection between insecurity (lack of self-trust), the desire to control life, and stress
When and why anxiety and depression begin to replace ‘stress’ or ‘duress’
In what ways people can become victimized by their own mind
Joe Luciani is a clinical psychologist and bestselling author of Unlearning Anxiety and Depression: The 4-Step Self-Coaching Program to Reclaim Your Life. But it wasn’t until he chose to break away from his formal training and look at therapy with a fresh and intuitive standpoint—one that is a matter of engagement between therapist and patient—that he even started understanding the ideas that form the basis of his book.
Once he started seeing anxiety and depression as habits, they became demystified, which allowed him to consider how the mind can unlearn those habits.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s a saying you’ve probably heard before, but today’s episode puts a spin on it and places it in the context of mental health: “If it’s not ‘wrong,’ don’t try to fix it as if it is.”
Tune in to discover:
How and why psychiatric diagnoses have become more like labels that act as consumer brands rather than scientifically-based medical diagnoses
The power of labeling and its effect on self-perception and perception of others
The definition of meta-emotions and how people experience them
How developmental expectations of adolescents and young adults differ between cultures, and the conflict they can create within the person who is held to those expectations
The critical difference between ordinary, understandable emotions and clinical conditions perceived as “wrong” and in need of medical treatment
Dr. Sami Timimi is a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist who has worked at National Health Service in the UK his entire working life. He’s been involved with several research projects involving mental health and cross-cultural issues, and has contributed to the publication of a dozen books, in addition to many papers and journal articles. He frequently appears in national and international conferences on matters of mental health, and teaches and trains others in his area of expertise.
In the early 90s during his medical training, Dr. Timimi completed a placement in child and adolescent psychiatry, a field that at the time saw children and young people as connected to their history and broader environment (e.g., their parents, peer groups, cultural ideas). It was nothing like what he’d seen in general psychiatric wards, which he describes as dominated by a narrow medicalized approach as opposed to a truly therapeutic approach that embraces a broader understanding of how mental health problems are identified, characterized, and addressed.
For over two decades now, Dr. Timimi has immersed himself in this field as a practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist.
In this episode, he discusses everything from the way cultural and societal expectations and assumptions shape the way we perceive our own experience and the experience of others, to how ideas popularized by many in the psychiatric profession actually contribute to increased rates of distress and feelings of alienation in young adults (especially in the context of the current virus situation).
He also explains how certain treatments given for a short-term problem can actually cause it to become a long-term problem.
But it’s not all bad. Tune in to learn about some extremely successful models for addressing even the most serious mental issues; chances are, you’ve never heard of them before.
“The people who listen to my show…want to listen to someone who has been through it, and knows what it’s like…to struggle to get out of bed because you feel like the entire world is closing in on you,” says Jeremy Godwin.
Press play to discover:
How the virus situation has increased loneliness and disconnection from others, and where mental health falls on most people’s list of priorities
The value of practical advice that’s rooted in research when navigating mental health issues
The impact of paying attention to the negative as opposed to the positive things in our environment
In 2011, the pressure from Godwin’s corporate job combined with unresolved family issues, seemingly insurmountable financial concerns, and unaddressed issues from childhood led him into a total mental breakdown. For the following three years or so, he wrestled with all-consuming anxiety and depression. More often than not, he really believed there was no way out.
He joins the show today to share his journey into and out of the darkest period of his life, and explains how he’s come to use those dark times in a way that helps others.
As creator and host of the Let’s Talk About Mental Health podcast, Godwin reaches thousands of people on a weekly basis with his practical, evidence-based strategies for understanding and addressing the many faces of mental illness.
“You’ve got to teach what you’ve learned,” says Bianca Rodriguez, and that’s exactly what she does. Only, it took her decades to truly learn what she’d been through, and how she could use her experience to help others.
Tune in to discover:
The definition of trauma and the many different ways it can occur
Which side of the brain stores unprocessed traumatic memories
How bilateral stimulation and EMDR can help people process painful and traumatic memories
The importance of having some level of emotional stability before trying to process traumatic memories
In addition to emotional, physical, and sexual trauma, Rodriguez knows firsthand that there’s also something called medical trauma, which is when a physical condition or disease causes a person to feel like their wellbeing or life is threatened.
When Rodriguez was just three years old, she developed severe asthma and was hospitalized numerous times. And every time she would have an asthma attack, she truly felt as though she was going to die. But it wasn’t until much later in life that she understood it for what it really was.
She’s since become a licensed holistic psychotherapist and founder of You Are Complete, through which she helps people uncover their true selves, access and work through suppressed memories of past trauma, and integrate their mind, body, and spirit for complete wellness.
She discusses the details of her work as a therapist, including the use of EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), CBT, and holotropic breathwork.
Can attempting to predict the future lead to more harm than good?
Based on recent theory, transcending these uncertainties may lead to a healthier mental state.
Press play to learn:
How uncertainty can harm your mental health
Solutions to limiting beliefs
The best way to cope with challenging conversations
Mel Schwartz, psychotherapist, marriage counselor, author, and two-time TEDx speaker, shares his work and knowledge surrounding the power beliefs hold over you.
While fear and anxiety can often sprout from many external sources, one of the most significant sources may reside inside.
The beliefs we hold about our situation may actually be the limiting factor in our happiness.
Rather than living with these beliefs, it can be profoundly helpful to challenge them and attempt to shift our ways of thinking. Constructive change and conversation can build confidence and allow you to change direction to find the happiness you may not have previously thought possible.
