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Unfold, a UC Davis podcast about science, innovation and discovery, unfolded through storytelling. We make complex topics relatable and reveal answers to questions you’ve always been curious about. Each episode takes you into the field with leading researchers who are working to tackle big picture problems – like how we’re going to feed a growing population, adapt to climate change and improve the health of people, animals and the planet. Hosted by public radio veteran Amy Quinton. Co-hosted by Kat Kerlin and Marianne Russ Sharp. Sponsor free. Learn more at ucdavis.edu/unfold.
Episodes
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Connecting Health Care to People and Their Pets
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
Tuesday Nov 01, 2022
About 1,000 people live in Knights Landing, California, a rural agricultural area in Yolo County. Because of its small size, the community lacks most services, including doctors and veterinarians - except on one Sunday every month. In this episode of Unfold, learn about the Knights Landing One Health Center, where veterinarians, physicians and their students team up to help some of the most vulnerable and underserved animals and people in the county.
In this episode:
Kristin Jankowski, faculty director, Knights Landing One Health Clinic and access-to-care chief at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Susan Adams, associate professor, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis Health
Erik Olstad, assistant professor, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Tiaira Washington, nursing student, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis Health
Sydney Rasmussen, nursing student, Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis Health
Izzie Hack, veterinary student, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Carlos Ayala, Knights Landing One Health Clinic client
Santos Lopez, Knights Landing One Health Clinic client
Stephanie Hernandez, Knights Landing One Health Clinic client
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Halloween Encore: Murder, Suicide and the Macabre
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
Tuesday Oct 25, 2022
In this special Halloween encore episode from last season's Unfold, we discuss a macabre trend from the 1700s in Germany. To avoid eternal damnation for the sin of committing suicide, a number of people began committing child murder so they could be forgiven by a priest before being executed. In this Unfold episode, we look at how imagined child murders can create a culture of actual killings. Warning: this subject matter might not be suitable for all audiences.
In this episode:
Kathy Stuart, associate professor, UC Davis Department of History
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
How Dogs Could Help Doctors Find the Next Cancer Treatment
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Tuesday Oct 18, 2022
Dogs 10 years and older have a 50% chance of dying from cancer. They also develop the same types of cancers that humans do because their immune system is closely related to ours. Now human oncologists are studying cancer in canines in the hopes of benefiting both animals and humans. In this episode of Unfold, you’ll learn how UC Davis veterinarians and physicians are collaborating to help human cancer patients and their furry best friends.
In this episode:
Robert Canter, surgical oncologist with UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center
Michael Kent, radiation oncologist and director of the UC Davis Center for Companion Animal Health, School of Veterinary Medicine
Danae Unti, owner of Boone, dog who completed a cancer clinical trial
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Hope For a Spina Bifida Cure, Part 2
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Tuesday Oct 11, 2022
Spina bifida is the most common cause of lifelong childhood paralysis in the United States; approximately four children are born with this spinal defect every day. Standard care usually involves surgery, but it still leaves more than half of children unable to walk. But a combination of surgery and stem cell treatment may offer hope to children. In this episode of Unfold, we examine the world’s first human clinical trial using stem cells before birth to treat the most serious form of the disease.
In this episode:
Diana Farmer, pediatric surgeon and chair of surgery at UC Davis Health
Maya Evans, medical director of the Shriners Spina Bifida program and associate professor in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UC Davis
Michelle Johnson, mother of baby enrolled in spina bifida clinical trial
Jeff Maginnis, father of baby enrolled in spina bifida clinical trial
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Hope For a Spina Bifida Cure, Part 1
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Tuesday Oct 04, 2022
Spina bifida is the most common cause of lifelong childhood paralysis in the United States; approximately four children are born with this spinal defect every day. Standard care usually involves surgery, but it still leaves more than half of children unable to walk. Dogs are also sometimes born with spina bifida and most are euthanized at birth. But a combination of surgery and stem cell treatment may offer hope to both children and dogs. In the first of two episodes of Unfold, we examine the first clinical trial to treat bulldogs with spina bifida.
In this episode:
Beverly Sturges, professor emeritus, neurosurgeon at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Aijun Wang, biomedical engineer with UC Davis School of Medicine
Diana Farmer, pediatric surgeon and chair of surgery at UC Davis Health
Katie Teykaerts, owner of Myrtle, a dog with spina bifida enrolled in a clinical trial
Friday Sep 30, 2022
Unfold Season 4: Advancing Health Worldwide
Friday Sep 30, 2022
Friday Sep 30, 2022
Season 4 of Unfold explores the most cutting-edge technologies and treatments that advance the health of both people and animals. Hosts Amy Quinton and Marianne Russ Sharp unfold the story of a courageous couple going through the first human clinical trial that uses surgery and stem cells to treat their developing baby’s spina bifida. You’ll hear how veterinarians and physicians are working together to fight cancer. You’ll learn why amputees often abandon their high-tech prosthetic devices and how surgeons and engineers are working together to solve that problem. You’ll hear lots of remarkable and hopeful stories about health in Season 4 of Unfold.
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Cockroaches for Dessert
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Tuesday Nov 23, 2021
Just when you thought Unfold was done for the season, we decided to bug you with one last episode. UC Davis boasts one of the largest insect collections in North America, so how could we not take you on a tour? The Bohart Museum of Entomology holds more than 7 million specimens, from the beautiful to the downright terrifying. Its entomologists have even helped homicide investigations, thanks to the bug scrapings left behind. You’ll hear about beautiful butterflies, jewel beetles, murder hornets and cuckoo wasps — as well as why we’re calling this episode “Cockroaches for Dessert.”
In this episode:
Lynn Kimsey, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and director of Bohart Museum of Entomology
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
The Poet‘s Voice
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Tuesday Nov 16, 2021
Scholars who write about or analyze poetry read out loud usually do so in a subjective and impressionistic way. But UC Davis experts have empirically analyzed the complexities of these vocal performances, based on pitch patterns and speed, volume, pauses, repetition and other characteristics. Now researchers are analyzing the performances of 101 African American women poets. In this episode of Unfold, we discuss why they embarked on the project and what they’ve discovered.
In this episode:
Marit MacArthur, lecturer with the UC Davis University Writing Program and faculty affiliate with the Performance Studies Graduate Group
Howard Rambsy, professor of literature, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
Science of Superheroes
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
Tuesday Nov 09, 2021
In this episode of Unfold, we mix comic book superhero action and science. No better pairing, since many of the heroes and villains in comics started out as scientists or are connected to scientists. The things they create and the materials they use can tell us a lot about the real world too — everything from physics to engineering. We’ll talk with Ricardo Castro, who teaches engineering students to think outside the box and to contemplate the unlikely, but not always impossible, real-world applications of materials science based on the powers of superheroes.
In this episode:
Ricardo Castro, associate dean of research and graduate studies, UC Davis Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Gary S. May, UC Davis chancellor
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Chonk the Axolotl: How Life Is Super Amazing
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
Tuesday Nov 02, 2021
In this episode of Unfold, you’ll hear about Chonk, a pink, baby-faced axolotl who has become a bit of a superstar on Twitter. This fully aquatic salamander is helping developmental biologists understand neural crest cells. These cells help form our face, skin color and peripheral nervous system. Discovering more about these cells can help researchers understand congenital disorders and certain types of cancer.
In this episode:
Crystal Rogers, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology at the School of Veterinary Medicine