Had Enough Of Elections Yet? Us Either! Continuing To Follow 2022 Local, State Returns
Votes are still being counted across Southern California and we’re continuing to follow all the results
Today on AirTalk, KPCC civics and democracy correspondent Frank Stoltze is back with us to help make sense of the races that have been decided and those that are still up for grabs, and KPCC/LAist Orange County Reporter Jill Replogle swings by for an update on races for mayor and city council in Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Irvine, as well as the races for OC Board of Supervisors and congressional seats. Plus, we’ll check in with Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page about how the vote counting process is going and what is happening in that process as we speak. And also with us is UCLA Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies Raul Hinojosa
Is The ‘Maternal Instinct’ Real?
Many new moms share a similar experience after giving birth. That experience is an absence of an instinct that we’ve agreed women have: the “maternal instinct.” New moms have been told that after giving birth, all these magical “instincts” should kick in. But what happens if they don’t? Does that mean someone is missing that “instinct”? Or did we get the whole notion of a “maternal instinct” wrong in the first place? That is what health and science journalist Chelsea Conaboy explores in her new book “Mother Brain: How Neuroscience is Rewriting the Story of Parenthood.” Coming up, she joins us on AirTalk to discuss the science behind parenting, and how we need to reshape outdated narratives of what it means to be a mom.
What’s Going On At COP 27, The United Nations Climate Change Conference Meets In Egypt
The first full day of the year’s most important summit on climate change, known as COP27, got underway on Monday with urgent calls by leaders to slash greenhouse gas emissions as the planet warms and severe weather events become more frequent and destructive. Scores of presidents, along with thousands of diplomats, climate negotiators, business leaders, activists and journalists descended on the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh to take part in discussions and negotiations slated to go through Nov. 18. Here to tell us about what the conversations are focusing on at the conference this year and how they relate back to the State of California is Mark Hertsgaard, executive director of the global media collaboration Covering Climate Now. Also with us are Ethan Elkind, Climate Program director at UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Energy & the Environment; Matt Petersen, former Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Los Angeles who is in Egypt right now.
With Files From The Associated Press
Could Mindfulness Meditation Be As Effective At Treating Anxiety In Adults As Medication? A New Study
Mindfulness meditation worked as well as a standard drug for treating anxiety in the first head-to-head comparison. The study tested a widely used mindfulness program that includes 2 1/2 hours of classes weekly and 45 minutes of daily practice at home. Participants were randomly assigned to the program or daily use of a generic drug sold under the brand name Lexapro for depression and anxiety. After two months, anxiety as measured on a severity scale declined by about 30% in both groups and continued to decrease during the following four months. Study results, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, are timely. In September, an influential U.S. health task force recommended routine anxiety screening for adults, and numerous reports suggest global anxiety rates have increased recently, related to worries over the pandemic, political and racial unrest, climate change and financial uncertainties.
Today on AirTalk, Larry speaks with study author and psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Hoge of Georgetown University Medical Center, where she also directs the Anxiety Disorders Research Program.