Getting scared is part of life. Whether it's animals, heights, the dark, bugs, or flying in an airplane, we all experience fears. Sometimes, you have a bad experience and get scared-- but then when you do it again, you realize it's not actually scary or dangerous. Maybe you visited a haunted house as a kid and you felt nervous, convinced something bad was going to happen, or that you would get hurt. Then, as an adult, you went back to the haunted house and nothing bad happened, so you weren't afraid or anticipating danger anymore.

While this is just an analogy, this is applicable to real life in many different scenarios. Just as there is a neural circuit for establishing fear, there is also one to overwrite a fearful memory with a new memory that signals to you that you are safe.

In this episode, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur discuss a recent paper that figures out what these circuits are, how they work, and how we can eliminate fearful memories faster. In the future, this could possibly lead to more research for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which is a disorder in which a person cannot forget traumatic memories. Tune in to the latest episode of Health 411 to find out more about these recently discovered neural circuits and what makes them so important!

Article Link: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/04/250428220605.htm

This week on Health 411, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur are joined by a Reiki Master, Taylor Smith, from Belmar New Jersey. According to Smith's description of her practice,

"Reiki (pronounced ray-kee) is a Japanese healing practice based on the idea that a universal life force energy flows through all living things. The word itself means universal (Rei) life force energy (ki) . Reiki is about channeling this energy through the hands to bring balance and harmony to the body, mind, and spirit. It’s a gentle, calming practice that helps clear energetic blockages and supports the body’s natural ability to heal, leaving you with a deep sense of peace and relaxation.

From a scientific point of view, Reiki is seen as a form of biofield therapy, which means it works with the body’s natural energy. Studies show that Reiki can help trigger the body’s relaxation response, lower stress, and bring the nervous system into balance. In simple terms, it helps your body shift out of stress mode and into a state where it can rest, restore, and heal itself more easily."

Listen in on this exciting and informative conversation to learn about how Smith became a Reiki Master, the reasons behind her passion, and her incredible journey.

You can find out more about her after the episode on Instagram @RisingSol.Offerings

With more and more new research coming out on cancer treatments, it seems that we're bound to have some sort of breakthrough soon. Today Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur discuss an article that might just be one of the newest and best concepts that we have right now for advancement of cancer treatment. This article was published on October 9th, 2025, in the Cell Reports Medicine journal; since its publication it has become very well-discussed and brought up in the press. So what is this "cancer vaccine"? Does it work for all types of cancer? Is this a viable concept to continue researching in hopes of a cure for cancer? Tune in to this week's episode of Health 411 to find out!

Happy Public Health Workforce Week!

The process to become a medical professional is never easy, nor is it linear. There are so many different positions and areas of study that it can be overwhelming to decide where you want to end up. Dr. Nadeem Obaydou, an Emergency room MD from Capital Health may be able to help. This week on Health 411, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur are joined by Dr. Obaydou to discuss everything from undergrad and medical school, to growing up in Syria during the Civil War, to how the Emergency room operates and what makes this position different from other areas of medical care. No matter if you want to become a doctor, nurse, or just curious about the in-and-outs of the ER and patient care, Dr. Obaydou is here to answer all of the questions you may have. This is the perfect episode to tune into to celebrate Public Health Workers Week!

Down syndrome, also known as Trisomy 21, is a common genetic condition affecting roughly 1 in 700 live births in the United States.

A recent study that came out in February 2025 that studied skin cells from an individual with Down syndrome to determine if it was possible to genetically engineer the extra chromosome out of the DNA. This study's aim was to see if it was possible to use CRISPR-CAS9 (a technology used to modify genetic code and expression), to be able to completely knock out a chromosome. The reason these researchers used the DNA from an individual with Down syndrome was because the third chromosome is a clear marker that they can see easily to determine if they were successful or not.

However, one Press Release article covering this research wrote a piece that incorrectly frames the study as a possible way to "cure" Down syndrome, which is not at all what the researchers were attempting to do. This week, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur go through the details of this study, what the scientists' goals were, and why the Press Release article did not accurately describe anything that the researchers did. Tune in to find out more about this interesting study, possible future research, and practical uses of CRISPR-CAS9 genome editing technology!

As covered on some previous episodes of Health 411, the Press Release version of a Primary Literature article might not always be the most accurate one. This week, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur dive into the differences and similarities between the PR and Primary Literature of a study done on Brain Organoids. What is a multi-region brain organoid, and why should we know the difference between one of these and a full adult brain? What were these scientists trying to accomplish, and did they accomplish it? Tune in to the latest episode of Health 411 to find out the answers to these burning questions and more.

When it comes to being an Emergency Room doctor, every day is something new. You can never really know what to expect each day- and it's more than likely to see a case you've never seen in a textbook before. Having to figure out how to treat patients in the moment to keep them alive is the job of every ER doctor, nurse, and technician. Today, Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur are joined by Dr. Mark Pappadakis from Capital Health to discuss what being an ER doctor is like. From his experiences in college and medical school to his day-to-day in the Emergency room, Dr. Pappadakis describes some of the most important things for you to know about the ER.

August 19th, 2025 was a great day for neuroscience. Why, you may ask? Because a paper published on Nature Aging discussed a breakthrough in being able to pinpoint a specific iron-associated protein in the Hippocampus related to age-related cognitive impairment. While numerous Press Release articles have made this sound like the cure to aging, this is not the case. Dr. Jonathan Karp and student producer Kaya Basatemur break this paper down into the steps these scientists took, and the logic behind their experiments and findings to determine if the PR articles have it right; is this truly the cure to aging, or is the media over exaggerating and generalizing specific findings? Listen in to find out in the newest episode of Health 411!