Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in North America, and the number of reported cases has been steadily climbing over the last decade. We’re joined by Brian Fallon, associate professor of clinical psychiatry and director of the Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center, and Dr. Carolyn Britton, associate professor of clinical neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, and chief neurologist for the Lyme research studies conducted by Columbia’s Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center. They’ll discuss how the disease is spread, diagnosed, and treated, and how we can protect ourselves while we’re outside this summer.

As summer nears its close, many of us are flying away to get our last taste of summer vacation, but nothing ruins a good jaunt to Europe like a bout of jet lag. In fact, jet lag was once considered such a problem that Congress set up a special unit at NASA devoted to studying the condition. Joining us to explain why jet lag occurs and how we can prevent it are Dr. Kevin Gregory, a former scientist at the NASA Jet Lag Center and the current senior scientist at Alertness Solutions Inc., and Dr. David M. Rapoport, Director of the Sleep Medicine Program at NYU Medical School.

Wondering what to do with this summer's bounty? This week's Please Explain is all about canning, pickling, and preserving. We're joined by  Katherine Alford, director of the Test Kitchen at The Food Network, and food writer Eugenia Bone.

This week's Please Explain will answer all of our caffeine-related questions, from whether or not we should drink coffee before we run a marathon to how caffeine differs from other stimulants. Bennett Alan Weinberg, co-author of the book The World of Caffeine: The Science and Culture of the World's Most Popular Drug, explains how the world's most popular drug affects us.

Do you have a question about how caffeine affects you? Ask it as a comment!

This summer’s high temperatures have brought headaches and heat advisories. On today’s Please Explain, we’re taking a look at some of the health risks that extreme heat brings—from dehydration to heat stroke. Dr. Susi Vassallo, Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, explains how heat affects the body.

Deirdre Barrett, assistant clinical professor of psychology in Harvard Medical School’s Psychiatry Department, and Rosalind Cartwright, professor Emeritus in the Division of Neuroscience at Rush University Medical Center, discuss how dreams are studied, what they reveal about us, and what therapies can treat nightmares and other disorders. Dr. Barrett's latest book is Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose, and she's the editor of Trauma and Dreams, and the author of The Committee of Sleep, and Rosalind Cartwright is the author of The Twenty-four our Mind: The Role of Sleep and Dreaming in Our Emotional Lives.

On today’s edition of Please Explain, Dr. Monica Halem, Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology at Columbia University New York Presbyterian Hospital, discusses what happens to our skin when it’s exposed to too much sun, and how UV rays can cause irreversible damage.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in North America, and the number of reported cases has been steadily climbing over the last decade. We’re joined by Dr. Brian Fallon, associate professor of clinical psychiatry and director of the Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University Medical Center, and Dr. Carolyn Britton, associate professor of clinical neurology at Columbia University Medical Center, and chief neurologist for the Lyme research studies conducted by Columbia’s Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center. They’ll discuss how the disease is spread, diagnosed, and treated, and how we can protect ourselves while we’re outside this summer.

Leaves of three, let them be! Today’s Please Explain is all about poisonous plants. We're joined by Dr. Michael J. Balick, Vice President for Botanical Science and Director and Philecology Curator at The New York Botanical Garden Institute of Economic Botany, and Dr. Lewis Nelson, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, and Director of the Fellowship in Medical Toxicology at New York University School of Medicine and the New York City Poison Control Center.

Algorithms are used to solve problems. They’re used in math, computer programming, and on Wall Street, but we also use algorithms to tie our shoes or to bake a loaf of bread. On this week’s Please Explain, Daniel Bienstock, Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, at Columbia University, and Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at Harvard, tell us what algorithms are and how they work to solve problems both simple and complex. Harry Lewis is the author of Blown to Bits and Excellence without a Soul: Does Liberal Education Have a Future.

Batteries help power our world. They’re in everything from watches to iPods to smoke detectors to electric cars. On today’s edition of Please Explain, we’ll find out what they’re made of and how they work. We're joined by Jeremy P. Meyers, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering/Materials Science & Engineering, University of Texas at Austin; and M. Stanley Whittingham, Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering, and Director, Institute for Materials Research, SUNY at Binghamton.

Summer brings barbeques, potato salads, and lots of leafy green salads—and the potential for food-borne illness. On this Please Explain, we’ll find out where these bugs come from and how can we avoid getting sick from the foods we eat.

We’ll look into the science of baking the perfect cake on today’s Please Explain! We'll be joined by  John Barricelli , owner of the SoNo Baking Company and author of the SoNo Baking Company Cookbook . We'll also talk with  Nick Malgieri the author of many books including,Perfect Cakes , he also teaches at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

 

With the recent disclosures that Richard Blumenthal did not serve in Vietnam, Adam Wheeler tricked his way into Harvard, and Columbia's valedictorian plagiarized his commencement speech, this week's Please Explain is all about lying.

Please Explain is all about matter, anti-matter, and dark matter. Lisa Randall, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Harvard University; Michael Tuts, Professor of Physics at Columbia University and Mordecai Mark Mac-Low, Chair of the Department of Physics at the American Museum of Natural History tell us all about what it is and what it means.

On this week’s Please Explain we’re looking at the art and science of art conservation.

We’ll find out the difference between brown body fat and white, how fat forms and functions, where its stored, how its burned, and how much is too much. Maudene Nelson, registered dietitian, New York State Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist, and a Certified Diabetes Educator at the Institute of Human Nutrition, joins us.

With the recent explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the oil slick heading toward the shore, on today's Please Explain, we're looking into how offshore drilling is done how much oil might be discovered under the Atlantic now that the Obama administration is ...

Our latest Please Explain is all about plastic recycling! Eric Goldstein, senior attorney in the Natural Resource Defense Council's New York office and co-director of NRDC's urban program, joins us to explain what happens after plastic is tossed into the recycling bin and goes through the process ...

Sugary cereals claim to be "heart healthy" and packages that say a food is "all natural" still have a list of mysterious ingredients. On today’s edition of Please Explain, Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health and Professor of Sociology at New ...