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Dr. Scott Swartzwelder is a neuropsychologist at Duke University who studies how alcohol and other drugs interact with the brain, particularly in adolescence. He has published over 130 scientific papers, written four books for a general audience including Buzzed, and trained more than 50 scientists and clinicians.

Dr. Aaron White is a biological psychologist focused on the effects of alcohol and other drugs on the adolescent brain, as well as on adolescent substance abuse treatment and prevention initiatives. He is part of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), where he oversees publicly funded studies on college and underage drinking prevention.

Both Dr. Swartzwelder and Dr. White are prolific lecturers and educators, and they worked together to create AlcoholEdu, an online alcohol education course that has been completed by more than 2 million students.

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Quantified Self is a movement of people tracking and quantifying their own lives. They often know the answers to questions such as, What is your current heart rate? Average amount of REM sleep? How many steps did you take today? How many minutes did you spend on Facebook? On this episode, we talk to a self-quantifier who is a local leader of the movement.

George Saines is Project Manager at Caktus Consulting Group, which builds websites. Right out of college he created a web startup called Skritter, which helps students of Chinese and Japanese better remember their characters. Aside from his work as a web developer and graphic designer, he blogs about startups, self quantification and internet culture at GeorgeSaines.com. He heads the Quantified Self meetup in the Research Triangle Area. Join our conversation to learn how to track yourself and why it is worth it.

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Image source: In2media

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Here are a couple relevants facts we looked up after the interview:

Antigua, Guatemala was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. It is a popular tourist destination in part because of its well-preserved Spanish Baroque colonial architecture. Guatemala as a whole is overwhelmingly Christian, split almost evenly between the historically dominant Catholics and the growing Protestant (or “Evangelical”) movement.

Join us as we learn how and why counseling works on a boat trip, what past participants have to say, and how the Kayes’ cute four-pound dog adds to the experience.

Click the play button above, or download the podcast here.

Download the podcast here.

By popular demand, Anoo came back for a Round Two that further explores her insights. She also offered an intuitive life-path reading to listeners, and despite technical issues we welcomed on a couple callers. Listen here:

Download the second interview here.

For more of his most popular videos, check out his website.

Recently, Kotecki brought of his signature blend of serious laughs to the presidential nominating conventions in his ebook, I’m Here All Week: Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up Comedy at the 2012 Conventions. As Kotecki points out, the only event that drew more reporters this summer was the Olympics, and yet barely anything happened at the conventions. That is why, as he explains in the interview, he resorted to visiting strippers, cavorting with potheads and joining a bickering group of Occupy protesters. He reads a sample of the Occupy section for us, which includes a discussion of their high standards for dumpster-diving and leads to this golden zinger:

It occurs to me that there’s literally no fresh story left to write about the dwindling Occupy movement, leaving only easy mockery. Shooting hippies in a barrel, or perhaps a dumpster.

Join us to find out why perception is reality, what it is really like in the mind of a politician and why someone as short and unattractive as Barney Frank made it into office.

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Download the podcast here.

The core of Dr. Wedge’s book and of our conversation is her approach, called “strategic child-focused  family therapy”. She aims to solve a child’s problem in just one or a few sessions, and she is willing to craft creative interventions. Often she works closely with parents and involves other influences such as siblings, extended family, pediatricians, clergy, school counselors and teachers. We discuss some of her most drastic interventions and touch on some basic advice for parents. For example, parents need to coordinate to provide consistent discipline and make enforceable threats. Dr. Wedge also shares many stories from her practice of young clients on the brink of being misdiagnosed with ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, and so on. Join us!

Download the podcast here.

Download the podcast here.