Petrie Dish

Latest Episodes:

Could Kennedy's vaccine advisory board purge lead to reduced vaccine choice? Jun 17, 2025

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HHS Secretary Kennedy's decision to purge all 17 members of the CDC vaccine advisory board concerns public health experts. Some fear a new board will change vaccine recommendations, leading to reduced access for all and a surge in vaccine-preventable diseases.

Science & Medicine: A fountain of youth for the immune system Jun 15, 2025

Show notes

Human immunity wanes as we age, but what if it could be restored? A UT Health San Antonio researcher who studies the thymus has confirmed that a certain protein can restore its size and function in mice, leading to a larger and more diverse T cell population that more closely resembles the T cells of youth.

Science & Medicine: Omega 3 fatty acids to fight Alzheimer’s Jun 08, 2025

Show notes

If you’re in your 40s or 50s, there may be something you can do right now to fight Alzheimer’s disease. It involves Omega 3 fatty acids—the good stuff in fatty fish and fish oil, which has been linked to lower rates of dementia for a while.

Science & Medicine: Tinnitus and PTSD Jun 01, 2025

Show notes

Tinnitus is the number one service-connected disability within the Veterans Administration, and for those with PTSD, it can cause significant distress. A UT Health San Antonio researcher who suffers from chronic tinnitus is studying the connection between the two and how to improve treatment.

Science & Medicine: Go to the dentist May 25, 2025

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When people think about things they can do to stay healthy, they don’t think about their teeth nearly enough.

CDC alerts U.S. doctors and travelers to Mexico: Watch for dengue May 24, 2025

Show notes

Mosquito season has begun in earnest, and until November, there is an increased risk for mosquito-borne illnesses, including dengue fever. CDC has urged U.S. doctors to watch for dengue, particularly in people who've traveled to countries where the virus is endemic. But several states, including Texas, have reported locally acquired cases of dengue over the last fifteen years.

Science & Medicine: The Center for Brain Health could revolutionize how we think about dementia May 18, 2025

Show notes

A newly constructed center for studying and treating diseases of the brain will open in San Antonio at the end of the year. The Center for Brain Health could revolutionize how we understand disorders like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS.

Psychedelics and the Texas Trip Part 3: The Road Ahead May 11, 2025

Show notes

In the final installment of this three-part series, Bonnie Petrie and reporter Robin Berghaus go from an isolated stretch of desert along the Rio Grande, where wild peyote grows, to the exuberant rooms at SXSW, where they consider the future of psychedelics-as-medicine, and back to the hallowed halls of the Texas Legislature, where the future of the so-called Ibogaine Bill is uncertain.

Science & Medicine: An app for detecting dementia decades early May 11, 2025

Show notes

A digital tool that uses artificial intelligence to analyze speech patterns could help doctors detect dementia in patients when other signs and symptoms are not perceptible.

Science & Medicine: Fighting antibiotic-resistant infections with viruses May 04, 2025

Show notes

A San Antonio collaborative is developing treatments for antibiotic-resistant infections using viruses known as phages. The effort is urgent as infections that don't respond to antibiotics are projected to kill 39 million people by 2050.

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