When meditation goes wrong

It’s big business to sell us meditation and mindfulness, but there are significant side effects no one is talking about. Olga Khazan, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why a study showed 10% of meditators experience some adverse effect from their practice, why some people should consult mental health professionals before a long meditation retreat, and why this research is unpopular in the mindfulness community. Her article is “The Dark Side of Mindfulness.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The idea of nuclear deterrence—possessing weapons so that others don’t attack—doesn’t mean building up the arsenal makes us safer. Erin D. Dumbacher is Stanton Nuclear Security Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense and National Security Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why having too many weapons makes us a target, why modernizing the existing stockpile makes more sense than making new ones, and why, she believes, President Trump’s strategic goals are misguided. Her article “American doesn’t need more nuclear weapons” was published in Foreign Affairs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Mid-life doesn’t need to mean crisis. Instead, it can be a chance to lean-in to all your strengths and grow. Allison Aubrey is science and health correspondent for NPR News and a contributor to CBS Sunday Morning. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what she calls “the third turn,” a time when you assess your best qualities and turn them into actionable ideas for the future, why she hates the word “retirement,” and why taking on mid-life head-on can be both rewarding and fulfilling. Her book is “Your Turn: How to Create a Midlife You Love.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

 There are 15,000 satellites orbiting planet Earth. Just one accident could be calamitous. Jonathan O'Callaghan joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the enormous numbers of satellites being launched into space, what this means for traffic at low-Earth orbit altitude and space trash, and why, despite concerns, there are plans to launch 2 million more in the next few years. His article “Battle for the Night Sky” appears in Scientific American.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Are you one of many Americans stuck in the loneliness epidemic? There’s an app for that. Vox correspondent Allie Volpe joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how tech is offering solutions to social isolation (a problem it created), the many online apps that are promising connection offline, and why previous generations were just better at making friends. Her article is “Can you spend your way out of loneliness?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Did consciousness lead to us having feelings, or was it the other way around? Antonio Damasio is David Dornsife Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Philosophy, and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why he believes consciousness came before feelings and why feelings came early in the evolutionary process. Plus, we’ll ponder how many other organisms are aware of their existence. His book is “Natural Intelligence and the Logic of Consciousness.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The legacy of the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn reverberates in politics today. Kai Bird is a Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer and journalist and executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the life of the man who first prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage – which catapulted his career into the spotlight – his mentorship of a young Donald Trump and his eventual disbarment for unethical conduct. Bird’s book is “American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Twenty-five years after the world-altering terrorism of 9/11, is al-Qaeda still a threat? Graeme Wood is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss whether the terrorist organization al-Qaeda has been lying low or regenerating power in the background, why analysts are split on the answer, and how disparate jihadist groups have been essentially allowed to “franchise” the name. His article is “What Happened to al-Qaeda?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Paris used to be a cool 70 degrees in summer. Now it’s often 95 and climbing —with no A/C to help. Eric Klinenberg is Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how Europe is warming at twice the rate of other continents due to global warming, what this means for people suffering – even dying – in these heat waves, and why air conditioning can’t be the ultimate answer. His article “The End of the European Summer” was published in The New Yorker. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Days or even hours before death, some dementia patients become lucid again – and scientists want to know why. Journalist Billy Brennan joins host Krys Boyd to discuss “paradoxical lucidity,” where dementia patients seem to “wake up” and interact right before they decline again, what this “rally” means about our consciousness and brain activity before death, and why this happens more often than scientists realized. His article “Why Do Some Dementia Patients ‘Return’ Just Before They Die?” was published in The New York Times Magazine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices