Bay Nature Magazine: How to Forage For and Prepare Bay Nuts

How to Forage For and Prepare Bay Nuts

by Ali Budner on October 12, 2016

for Bay Nature Magazine

Bay Nature Magazine: A Taste of Bay Laurel: Going Nuts for the Fruits of a California Native

A Taste of Bay Laurel: Going Nuts for the Fruits of a California Native

by Ali Budner on October 17, 2016

for Bay Nature Magazine's October print issue

NZ Herald: Your health: Natural products to assist asthma sufferers

By Sandra Clair, October 23, 2016

"Plant medicines, if used regularly, can safely and effectively assist with symptom relief whilst helping to prevent the respiratory tract infections that can trigger and worsen asthmatic attacks. I do not recommend plant medicine as a substitute for a prescribed inhaler. Plant medicines can be used alongside conventional medication to support and alleviate symptoms and improve overall health. This will lead to improved asthma management over the longer term."

Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=11732590

The Guardian: Inspired by nature: the thrilling new science that could transform medicine

By Laura Parker, October 25, 2016

"Jeffrey Karp is at the forefront of a new generation of scientists using nature’s blueprints to create breakthrough medical technologies. Can bioinspiration help to solve some of humanity’s most urgent problems?"

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/oct/25/bioinspiration-thrilling-new-science-could-transform-medicine

The Atlantic: How To Get High On Soil

By Pagan Kennedy, Jan 12, 2012

"I'm holding a bowl of dirt up to my nose, in hopes of getting high on the fumes of my backyard compost pile. The microbe that I'm after today is M. vaccae, a living creature that acts like a mind-altering drug once it enters the human body. It has been shown to boost the levels of serotonin and norepinephrine circulating in the systems of both humans and mice. In other words, it works in much the same manner as antidepressant pills. And yes, it is possible to dose yourself by simply breathing in the smell of good dirt.

The drug-like effects of this soil bacteria were discovered, quite by accident,about a decade ago. A doctor named Mary O'Brien created a serum out of the bacteria and gave it to lung-cancer patients, in hopes that it might boost their immune systems. Instead, she noticed another effect: The hospital patients perked up. They reported feeling happier and suffered from less pain than the patients who did not receive doses of bacteria. Further studies in mice confirmed the mood-boosting effect of the soil bugs."

Link: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/how-to-get-high-on-soil/251935/

NY Times: Rosemary and Time: Does This Italian Hamlet Have a Recipe for Long Life?

NY Times: Rosemary and Time: Does This Italian Hamlet Have a Recipe for Long Life?

Oct. 19, 2016 By Bryant Rousseau

"In and around Acciaroli, Italy, a particularly pungent variety of locally grown rosemary — said to smell 10 times as strong as the norm — is a daily part of the diet. Residents raise and consume their own rabbits. Anchovies hauled in by the town’s fishermen feature prominently on dinner plates.

Abundant sunshine and clean air keep people outdoors, swimming at beaches or climbing the steep hills that ripple along the Cilento Coast, south of Naples.

Do these environmental factors and food choices — a hyperlocal twist on the Mediterranean diet, which also includes olive oil and fresh vegetables — explain why so many people here, both men and women, live past 90?"

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/world/what-in-the-world/rosemary-and-time-does-this-italian-hamlet-have-a-recipe-for-long-life.html?_r=0

University of Queensland: Medicine will grow on trees at UQ

University of Queensland, 18 October 2016

"The future of medicine could be as simple as nibbling a sunflower seed or drinking a cup of tea, with the opening of a new facility at The University of Queensland on 18 October.

The Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Facility for Producing Pharmaceuticals in Plants at UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience has the potential to provide inexpensive medications to patients, which will have a significant impact locally and internationally

Head of the new state-of-the-art laboratory, Professor David Craik, said his team would use the Ramaciotti Facility to transform plants into ‘biofactories’ that produced potent next-generation pharmaceuticals.

“The new drugs will be incorporated into novel plant products such as seeds, medicinal teas and foods, where they have the potential to dramatically improve the lives of patients who cannot afford current medications, or cannot tolerate the effects of their complicated treatment regimes,” he said."

Link: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2016/10/medicine-will-grow-trees-uq

Kaiser Health News: Kratom Gets Reprieve From Drug Enforcement Administration

October 13, 2016 KERA, Kaisher Health News, and NPR

Reporter: Lauren Silverman 

"It’s been a wild ride for kratom lately.

Since Aug. 31, when the Drug Enforcement Administration announced its intention to classify the plant as a Schedule I substance, a group of kratom vendors filed a lawsuit against the government to block the move, angry advocates took to social media in protest and scientists questioned whether they would be able to continue kratom research.

Now, the DEA is withdrawing its notice of intent to put kratom in the most restrictive category of controlled substances, with drugs like LSD and heroin. The DEA says it will instead open an official public comment period — to last until Dec. 1, 2016 — for people to share their experiences using kratom as a medical treatment. It has also requested that the Food and Drug Administration expedite scientific research."

 Full article: http://khn.org/news/kratom-gets-reprieve-from-drug-enforcement-administration/

The Guardian: Herbal life: traditional medicine gets a modern twist in Iran

April 11, 2016 in The Guardian

Reporter: Denise Hassanzade Ajiri

Story Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/apr/11/iran-traditional-medicine-herbs-regulation-tehranbureau

PBS: How to Grow an Ebola Vaccine with a Tobacco Plant

November 23, 2015 on PBS News Hour

Reporter: Mary Jo Brooks

Story link: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/how-to-grow-an-ebola-vaccine-with-a-tobacco-plant/

The New Yorker: THE DRUG OF CHOICE FOR THE AGE OF KALE

September 12, 2016 in The New Yorker Magazine, by Ariel Levy

Story Link: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/12/the-ayahuasca-boom-in-the-u-s

NPR: Kratom Advocates Speak Out Against Proposed Government Ban

September 12, 2016 on NPR's All Things Considered

Reporter: Lauren Silverman of KERA, Dallas

Link: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/09/12/493295493/kratom-advocates-speak-out-against-proposed-government-ban

PRI's The World: A muralist is painting weeds to represent the margins of society

This (my first non-narrated story) aired on PRI's, The World in August 2016. 

Bay Nature Magazine: A Ribwort Plantain Grows, Four Stories High, in San Francisco

I've spent 10 years as a radio producer, but this here is my first story published in print! Thanks to Bay Nature Magazine and muralist, Mona Caron.

Link: http://baynature.org/article/ribwort-plantain-grows-three-stories-high-san-francisco/

KCRW 24 Hour Radio Race: Suspenders Don't Get You Into Heaven

This is the first year I entered KCRW's 24 hour Radio Race (along with co-conspirator, Erik Neumann) and it was an exhausting and exciting whirlwind! We were up against the ticking clock as we tried to create sound design for the piece, so it suffered a bit. But Steve Fisher's journey is amazing nonetheless. So take a listen below if you have a minute!

Suspenders Don't Get You Into Heaven:  https://soundcloud.com/user-733231868/suspenders-dont-get-you-into-heaven

Also, congrats to the top 10 radio racers. You can hear those stories here: http://curious.kcrw.com/2016/08/2016-top-ten-radio-race-finalists

The Kitchen Sisters: Cry Me A River: Stories From the Heart of the Land

I was a production assistant on this beautiful documentary from The Kitchen Sisters. Here's what they say about the piece" Mark Dubois, co-founder of Friends of the River, Earth Day and International Rivers Network, began as a river guide who opened up rafting trips to disabled people in the 1970s. Dubois protested the damming and flooding of the Stanislaus River by hiding himself in the river canyon and chaining himself to a rock as the water rose. Katie Lee, born 1919, a former Hollywood starlet, ran the Colorado through Glen Canyon long before it was dammed and in 1955 was the 175th person to run the Grand Canyon. An outspoken conservationist, singer and writer, she has spent her life fighting for rivers. Ken Sleight, now 83, is a long time river and pack guide and activist in southern Utah who fought the damming of Glen Canyon and filling of Lake Powell. An inspiration for Ed Abbey's, Monkey Wrench Gang, Sleight is currently working on the campaign to remove Glen Canyon Dam."

You can listen to the full piece HERE (on The Kitchen Sisters' Sound Cloud Page) 

PRI's The World: How this Yemeni American keeps up the family business thousands of miles from home

Khaled Almaghafi, an immigrant beekeeper from Yemen, now lives in Oakland, California, but keeps up his family's traditions as civil war tears them down back at home.

WHYY's The Pulse: Could Precision Medicine Advance Goals of Racial Equality in Health Care?

With President Obama's support, precision medicine is gaining ground. A new $215 million initiative plans to study a million patients nationwide to advance understanding of how to target specific treatments to specific individuals based on their type of disease, lifestyle, environment, and DNA. But there are questions about who will benefit and who may be left out. People of color have historically been left out of clinical research. So can precision medicine bring them into the fold? For some diseases, like asthma, it may be critical to do so. This is a story I reported for The Pulse at WHYY in Philadelphia.

Latino USA: DACA Doctors

Getting in to medical school is hard enough.  If you're undocumented, it's even harder.  But recipients of Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) are pushing open the doors of med school.  This piece first aired on NPR's Latino USA. 

California Healthline: Health Care for Undocumented Complicated By Cost Questions

In a California Healthline report by Ali Budner, experts discussed the possible pitfalls and promise of SB 4, a recently introduced legislative bill that would provide health coverage to the uninsured. The effort comes on the heels of two major shifts in low-income programs -- the expansion of Medi-Cal to include millions more Californians, and the recent federal executive action that extends temporary work status and other benefits to millions of the undocumented immigrants in America, including the roughly 1.5 million undocumented in California.

Link: http://californiahealthline.org/news/health-care-for-the-undocumented-complicated-by-cost-questions/