- How our minds make lasting memories out of a pandemic haze
Wednesday, April 21st 2021
Picture the moment Covid-19 became real to you—when you left to work from home, or sports shut down, or someone you know got sick. How accurate is that memory? Now, what do you remember about the days, weeks and months that came afterward? When you tell these stories to your grandchildren one day, how will you frame them?
The past year has been unbelievably hard, and if you've lost something it can often feel like it was needless and hopeless. But what we learn from studying memory is that those aren't the stories we end up telling ourselves about difficult struggles...
GUEST: Melissa Fay Greene for The Atlantic
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- Canada’s Vaccine Hunters have tips to help you book your shot
Tuesday, April 20th 2021
In one week, the @VaxHuntersCan Twitter account has grown from a few thousand followers to more than 85,000. By the time you read this it may be close to 100,000. And that's because the account has one simple mission: find available Covid-19 vaccination appointments in clinics, hospitals and pharmacies across Canada, and find people ready to take them.
In the middle of a vaccine rollout that has been convoluted and sometimes confusing, the Vaccine Hunters have been a godsend. But what does it say about our government that they're needed at all? How did this project come together and evolve? And what have they learned while doing it that can help you book your vaccine?
GUEST: Josh Kalpin, Vaccine Hunters Canada
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- We may have just realized how little we understand about our universe
Monday, April 19th 2021
In the middle of a world gripped by plague, a major scientific discovery passed nearly unnoticed. If it's verified, it means one of the most important models we use to understand particle physics is incomplete. And that would open a doorway to a world of things we can't explain yet. If you've spent that past few days gripped in a cycle of Covid-19 rage and anxiety, come and rediscover the wonder of the universe...
GUEST: Dennis Overbye, Science Reporter, New York Times
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- Why does nobody talk about the dangers of meditation?
Friday, April 16th 2021
In recent years, meditation has become a huge business in the western world—with millions of people testifying it has helped them calm their minds, improve their mood or even work through bouts of mental illness.
There is no shortage of press about the positive effects of meditation on people, and there are plenty of studies to back them up. But there is also evidence—evidence that's been growing for decades—that prolonged meditation can have a drastic negative impact on some people. This doesn't make the practice bad, or invalidate the help it has given to many ... but ask yourself if you've ever heard anything about the possible dangers of meditation. Why is that?
GUEST: David Kortava (Read David's piece in Harper's Magazine)
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- Is in-person worship an essential service?
Thursday, April 15th 2021
Last weekend, protesters clashed with police over the closing of GraceLife Church in Alberta. It's not the first time that houses of worship have been a flashpoint for anti-lockdown action. Why has religion, and in particular evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity been so opposed to restrictions on in-person gatherings, even in provinces run by conservatives? How have churches of all denominations handled a year of virtual worship? How do you keep faith in a time of plague, when some of your fellow Christians seemed determined to spread it?
GUEST: Michael Coren, Anglican cleric, author, broadcaster
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