Hour 1 The Obama administration announced last month that it would require religious hospitals, colleges and other institutions, like those affiliated with the Catholic Church, to provide health care coverage for contraception.  The decision has ignited a passionate debate over religious freedom, the conscience exemption and the rights of women to control their own health [...]

Filed under: family issues, health, history, medicine, politics, religion, social issues |

Hour 2 Many people think that our genes tell the story of who we are. But a group of researchers believe that the wiring in our brain may be even more revealing and they’ve set out to make a map of it. Mapping the neural pathways in the brain is an enormous task – a [...]

Filed under: author, health, medicine, science, technology |

Hour 2 Pennsylvania's Geisinger Health System recently announced that starting in February it would no longer hire smokers and will screen for nicotine use among new employees. Pennsylvania is one of 20 states that allow bans on hiring smokers. Around the country more and more organizations, particularly hospitals, are embracing non-nicotine hiring policies as a [...]

Filed under: health, medicine, military, politics, social issues, work |

Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] This March the Supreme Court will review the constitutional challenge to the 2010 health care bill over the provision that requires most Americans to buy health care coverage. EZEKIEL EMANUEL worked on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act when he served as a top health care adviser to President Obama from [...]

Filed under: business, economy, health, medicine, politics, technology |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Philadelphia writer SUSAN MORSE has been taking care of her mother, on many levels, since she was a child. This role has changed over the years as “Ma,” a former portrait artist who has just turned 90, has survived cancer, endured broken bones, and is a recent Orthodox Christian nun. Morse discusses [...]

Filed under: Philadelphia, author, medicine, religion |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] We like to think we’re in charge of ourselves but neuroscientist DAVID EAGLEMAN says that have a lot less self-control than we think. In his fascinating book "INCOGNITO: The Secret Lives of the Brain," Eagleman describes the leading role that our unconscious mind plays in our daily lives, commanding our instincts, emotions, [...]

Filed under: author, crime, criminal justice, health, medicine, science |

Hour 1 Pennsylvania's state Senate passed legislation last week that places new restrictions on abortion clinics. The bill is largely in reaction to the horrific case of Kermit Gosnell, who ran an abortion clinic in West Philadelphia and has been charged in the deaths of seven babies and one adult patient.  The bill, which still [...]

Filed under: Pennsylvania, family issues, health, medicine, parenting, politics, social issues |

Hour 2 [REBROADCAST] Philadelphia writer SUSAN MORSE has been taking care of her mother, on many levels, since she was a child. This role has changed over the years as “Ma,” a former portrait artist who has just turned 90, has survived cancer, endured broken bones, and is a recent Orthodox Christian nun. Morse discuss [...]

Filed under: Philadelphia, author, medicine, religion |

Hour 1 Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled a recommendation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that would have allowed the emergency contraceptive Plan B One-Step to be sold over-the-counter, including to girls under the age of 17.  Women 17 and over will now still need to go to the [...]

Filed under: family issues, health, medicine, politics, science, teens |

Hour 1 [REBROADCAST] “Just as the twentieth century was the age of physics, the twenty-first is the age of biology,” says our guest, visiting University of Pennsylvania bioethics professor, JONATHAN MORENO. The editor of Center for American Progress’ online magazine grounds his science in the cultural and historical contexts of controversial issues like stem cell [...]

Filed under: author, culture, economy, health, medicine, politics, science |