Medicine & Health

Professor Ken Brusica discusses the field of music therapy.

Dr. Robert Giuntoli, gynecologist, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Herbert Blough, virologist, of the University of Pennsylvania and the Scheie Institute, join the show to discuss the new treatment they have developed for genital herpes.

Terry Gross speaks with activists, sociologists, and medical professionals about the social, health concerns, and mental well-being of overweight individuals.

Terry Gross invites three blind people from different professions to discuss their experiences.

Sociologist Ann H. Beuf explores the reasons for the negative experiences children have in hospitals in her new book, Biting Off the Bracelet. She tells Fresh Air host Terry Gross about how the expectations of hospitalized children often conflict with positive ideas off child rearing.

Morgan and Johanna Sibbett discuss the moral, ethical and legal implications of rational suicide. As a married couple, they have decided such an option would be best if either of them faced terminal illness.

Researchers Katherine Whitlock and Regina Pfeiffer teach women how they can gauge various biological signs to determine when they are most likely to conceive.

Psychologist Timothy Leary is the father of the psychedelic movement of the 1960s and its experiments with mind-altering drugs. In 1960, Leary joined the faculty of Harvard at the Center for Personality Research, where he analyzed the effects of psychedelics and personality. As part of his research, introduced L.S.D. and other psychedelic drugs to many, and also used them himself. Leary was eventually asked to leave the university, and later served time in jail on drug charges. After his release, Leary went a tour debating one of his nemeses, G. Gordon Liddy.

As a member of the Public Citizen Health Research Group, Dr. Sidney Wolfe cowrote a book which looks at the safety and efficacy of brand-name and generic over-the-counter drugs. He answers questions from Fresh Air listeners.

Writer Germaine Greer is suspicious of both the safety and sexually liberating power of birth control. In her new book, she suggests women look beyond intercourse and seek different social, emotional and physical paths toward sexual pleasure.