Breast Cancer Awareness for You and Me!

October 25th, 2018

This past month I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Kristi Funk, founder of the Pink Lotus Foundation, breast surgeon, and author of the book, “Breasts: An Owner’s Manual”.

It was inspiring to hear her personal story of how she came to be a breast surgeon, and how she wants to help women maintain their best breast health.

I was fascinated to hear how the majority of breast cancer is NOT the result of genetics (at least, not specific mutations, that we know of), and that lifestyle choices play a major role in this disease. Isn’t it true for so much illness these days? It seems the “Mad Men” lifestyle is not sustainable or even suggested. Too bad, although I don’t really feel so great after a three martini lunch anyway…

Dr. Funk recommends the usual suspects to stay healthy and avoid breast cancer: exercise, sleep, reduce stress, and diet. All of these are great ideas generally. And, from all that I have read, making these adjustments reduces inflammation in the body, which has been implicated in the development of many health disorders.

Now, while taking steps to lifestyle change can reduce inflammation and improve health, it is not a silver bullet. Some people have propensity to cancers, and that’s just the way it is. We still don’t know enough to say who will get it and who won’t. It’s a game of risk reduction and probabilities.

So, even though I appreciate the advice from Dr. Funk that the best way to reduce breast cancer risk is to become vegan, that is not a dietary choice that works for me, personally. I don’t eat a lot of meat (only chicken and fish, and not regularly), and because of lactose intolerance don’t eat much cheese. I love grains and fruits and vegetables… meals made from foods that people call “whole”. But, I’m going to continue to eat eggs, and the occasional slice of pizza (who am I kidding? The occasional half a pizza) because that works for me.

I want to be healthy, but I’m not going to make myself crazy trying to manage every aspect of my and my family’s diets. Life, for me, is a balance. And, I don’t think the stress of vegan meal-planning is worth the slim percentage of cancer risk reduction that diet might provide.

My favorite advice from Dr. Funk, that I will definitely make a concerted effort to follow, is to spend time with people you love. And even though they may be a source of stress for some, friends and family are a support network. They are a release valve for built-up tensions. They are people who love you in return. And, that in itself, is something to invest in.

Filed under Esoterica, Women in Science | Comment (0)

The Science Hour Provides Newsy Minutes

February 14th, 2012

For several months now I’ve been putting together a brief summary of the week’s science news stories at the top of Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour. I feel like it is a great way to get the science juices flowing before jumping into the main interview, and a little variety seems to spice things up for everyone.

During some of my precious free-time between tapings of the Science Hour, I had a thought that the science news portion of the show could stand on its own. So, starting this week, we will be releasing a new program called ‘Science News Weekly with Dr. Kiki’ via YouTube and the regular RSS channels for you to enjoy!

Science News Weekly will always be a brief review of the science headline news, so you will be able to enjoy it in minutes rather than having to put aside an entire hour. And, for those of you who are wondering if this means anything different for the Science Hour, rest assured that DKSH will be business as usual.

Look for Science News Weekly with Dr. Kiki!

Filed under DKSH, TWiT | Comments (3)

You Tell Me

June 30th, 2010

Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour just reached its one year anniversary… yay!!!

What do I do now?

Well, I’d love you to tell me. What have you enjoyed about the show over the past year? What are its strong points? What would you like to see more of? Who would you like me to interview? Is there anything I should change?

All these questions, and more, I am asking of you since this show is for you.

To answer these questions and leave comments for me, you can do several things:

  1. send me an email (drkiki at drkiki dot tv),
  2. leave a comment here,
  3. send me a video message through youtube, or
  4. call me and leave me a message (yup, I’m giving you a phone number… 650-741-KIKI).

I will play and read your responses on Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour tomorrow afternoon. This anniversary is about you.

I want to make Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour even better this year, and I would love your help to make it happen.

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Viruses Are Cool

May 25th, 2010

And, yes, they cause colds. But, when it comes down to it viruses are the sneakiest survivalists around… especially considering that they aren’t even alive.

Last Friday, I got to talk with Dr. Vincent Racaniello, Dr. Rich Condit, and Dr. Alan Dove (PhD turned science writer), virus experts the lot of them, on their show, This Week in Virology. Ostensibly, I was invited on the show to discuss my transformation from scientist grad student to scientist media person, but I was really just there for the virus science.

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to this podcast, I highly suggest giving it one. The hosts are Columbia University professors, and they eloquently discuss the finer details of the viruses that make you sick. However, it’s not a show for the scientifically faint of heart. These guys really dig into the nuts and bolts of the living dead. The conversation is fairly high level, but they do a great job of making it interesting. I found myself hanging on their words wanting to learn how the little things work.

But, I am a certified geek. I thrive on the details because to me they add nuance to the scientific story unfolding around my ears.

You will just have to see what you think for yourself. Check it out at www.twiv.tv.

Filed under Esoterica, Reads and Watches, The Afterlife | Comment (1)

DKSH Gives You Choices

April 15th, 2010

Just a quick note that the TWIT Network recently released Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour in video on iTunes!

That means you can now watch Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour live, or subscribe to either an audio or video version of the show, OR watch it whenever you like on YouTube.

Isn’t choice a wonderful thing?

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This Week in Science Community Brainstorm

July 14th, 2009

This Week in Science has been a labor of my love for ten years. I have enjoyed every one of them, and expect to enjoy many more.

The show has enabled me to meet so many people, and created a community of science minded folks who I hope to count as friends (even though we call them minions).

However, the community could be better. The show and our website are still run based on the old media ways of pushing content out when they should be created with a mind for the community who want to pull the information in. So, we are thinking about how to change our ways, to make even better science content that can contend with what the major publishers are pushing out, and how to foster the growth of a truly awesome science-y community.

It’s actually been a dream of mine for a long time to create a community-driven science media channel based on TWIS. We started to develop the idea with our TWIS-tributions; asking minions to record TWIS-y news stories for the show. But, it didn’t get the response I was hoping for, and so fell by the wayside.

Naomi Most (nthmost on Twitter) brought me back to the idea today (seriously, I think she is data mining my brain), and specifically peaked my re-contemplation with a couple of her comments:

“Ah, but w/ TWIStributions, the show always goes on regardless whether of ppl contribute… If you set up a system of continuous expectation of involvement w/ appropriate reward, superfans emerge.” 

And, this is a crucial point. The community needs ownership and investment for the entire endeavor to thrive. And, so far that is limited.

So, this is where I am. I want to create what Naomi termed an incubator for science reporting through TWIS. I want to rebuild the TWIS website to reflect the community and its many interests, and allow the growth of parallel scientific content in the form of blogs, audio, and video programming. I want to find the science reporting superstars among the minions, and have them call TWIS their home.

Is that too much to ask?

Interested in sponsoring the endeavor?

Have any ideas?

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