Yesterday, India reported nearly 380,000 new COVID-19 cases in just one day. And the number of deaths has reached nearly 4,000.

Science Friday

India Suffering Under A Deadly Second Wave Of COVID-19

This was recorded in late October, in the hour before dawn, on the Luangwa River in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.  The first part of the recording features the undulating liquid call of White-browed Coucal. Noisy Egyptian Geese, White-crowned Lapwing and Hadeda Ibis are heard throughout, as is the splashing of Hippopotamus in the river. The track ends with a loud exchange of Hippopotamus grunts.

Telinga SSM microphone, Olympus LS-11 recorder

Morning on the Luangwa River, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia (2013-10-22-0089c)

Cultivate love and compassion as you forgive. This is part 5&nbsp;of a 7-Part Forgiveness&nbsp;Series, Episodes 1073-1079. As always, you don't have to do the meditation techniques -- they are simply there to help you transition from your busy day to a state of stillness. The techniques also help to calm "monkey mind," when your thoughts continuously interrupt your meditation. For free meditation tools to help you start meditating please head over to my website at www.SipandOm.com, and there you'll find a multitude of free resources to help you on your Meditation Journey. Sample from a selection of resources including: *a Free Private Facebook Group to connect with meditators from around the world *a Free Meditation Bundle to get started meditating *a Free Sleep Technique to Sleep Better *a Free Instant Calm Breathing Technique *a Free Guide to Get Started Meditating. &nbsp;If you'd like to receive fresh daily fully guided meditations 7 days a week you can subscribe to Slow Down Nation, a monthly subscription membership site and app. Not only do you receive a brand new daily fully guided meditation, you also receive access to over 800 meditations customized around weekly themes.&nbsp; ***All meditations are Mary Meckley's original copyrighted content unless otherwise stated, and may not be shared without her written permission. Resources: Music composed by Christopher Lloyd Clark licensed by RoyaltyFreeMusic.com, and also by musician Greg Keller. I'd love your feedback! Please let me know how you're enjoying&nbsp;the meditations by leaving me a review on iTunes. To be guided in a daily meditation where you learn a different meditation technique customized around a weekly theme head over to www.SipandOm.com to subscribe to Slow Down Nation daily meditations guided by Mary Meckley. Want to connect with other meditators from around the world who listen to the daily meditations? Join our free private Facebook Group at https://www.SipandOm.com. **All of the information shared on this podcast is for your enjoyment only. Please don't consider the meditation techniques, herbal tea information or other information&nbsp;shared by Mary Meckley or any of her guests&nbsp;as a replacement for any kind of medical or psychological treatment. That being said, please enjoy any peace, energy or clarity you may experience as you mediate!

1077 Love Meditation

Centering Prayer Guided Meditation With Fr. Thomas

Phases

Circular Again

Bamboo rats calling on a calm night deep in the Amazon rainforest. Recorded with unattended drop rig: Sony PCM D100, Clippy mics and WindBubbles. More sounds and stories at https://mindful-audio.com

Amazon Rainforest - Riverside - Calm Night Atmosphere With Bamboo Rat

Kombucha, kefir and other probiotic-crammed foods are marketed as charmers of the human microbiome — and the key to immune, gut and brain health. But how much does the microbiome actually matter, and do probiotics live up to the hype? To learn more we talked with biomedical engineering professor Ilana Brito, immunologist Dr. Yasmine Belkaid, psychiatry professor Ted Dinan, and microbiologist Dr. Namrata Iyer.

UPDATE 8/28/20: An earlier version of this episode said there was a little bit of evidence that specific microbes can help with irritable bowel disease. This should have been inflammatory bowel disease.

Here’s a link to our transcript: https://bit.ly/34ElmvR

This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Nicholas DelRose, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, Michelle Dang, Sinduja Srinivasan, and Hannah Harris Green. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Peter Leonard. Music written by Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord.  A huge thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Professor Martin J Blaser, Dr Kirsten Berding Harold, Professor Andrew Holmes, Professor Eran Elinav, Professor Margaret J. Morris, Professor Tim Spector, Professor Dena Lyra, Professor Eric Alms, Dr Joel Babdor, Joana de Cruz Pereira, Josh Jones and all the others.  And special thanks to Walter Rimler, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

Science Vs

Probiotics: Scam or Superfood?

Jazz & Bar 50

Cloudy Sky

Magic mushrooms have hit the headlines, with people saying that shrooms cured their depression and anxiety. But is this for real? How can taking a trip on psychedelics fix your brain? Today, magic mushrooms ditch their tie dye for a lab coat as we go on a magical journey into the science. We talk to clinical psychologists Dr. Alan Davis and Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, and neuropsychologist Dr. Katrin Preller.

Here’s a link to our transcript: https://bit.ly/37Th8QX

This episode does deal with depression. Here are some crisis hotlines: 
- United States: US National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-TALK (2755) (Online chat available) http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/;
- US Crisis Text Line Text “GO” to 741741: https://www.crisistextline.org/text-us/
- Australia: Lifeline 13 11 14 (Online chat available): https://www.lifeline.org.au/
- Canada: Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention(See link for phone numbers listed by province): https://suicideprevention.ca/Need-Help
- United Kingdom: Samaritans 116 123 (UK and ROI): http://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you/contact-us
- Full list of international hotlines here: https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines 

This episode was produced by Meryl Horn and Michelle Dang with help from Wendy Zukerman, Nick DelRose, Rose Rimler and Hannah Harris Green. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Peter Leonard. Music written by Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord. A huge thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Prof. David Nichols, Dr. James Rucker, Prof. Bryan Roth, Dr. Erika Dyck, Dr. Daniel Wacker, Mary Cosimano, Dr. Fred Barrett, Dr. Natalie Gukasyan, Dr. Jeff Guss, Dr. Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Prof. Harriet de Wit, Dr. Nadia Hutten, Dr. Vince Polito, Dr. Kim Kuypers and Dr. Matt Kasson. Thanks to all the clinical trial participants and ‘psychonauts’ who spoke to us. And special thanks to Lexi Krupp, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

Magic Mushrooms: Trip Through the Science

No-No Boy '1975' out on April 2nd, 2021, available now for pre-order. 

No-No Boy is the musical project of Vietnamese American singer and scholar Julian Saporiti. On his Smithsonian Folkways debut 1975, named after the year Saigon fell, Saporiti investigates his own family heritage as well as life in WWII Japanese internment camps, immigrant detention centers and refugee camps in 2020, and other stories of immigration that illustrate the complexities of becoming American. His songs are the epitome of folk storytelling in the modern era, as he interweaves histories with field recordings from the sites of collective trauma and fragments of Asian American musical tradition, from jazz to rock, to choral musicir). With his plaintive, direct voice, he takes listeners on a deeply human journey through the Asian American experience in the US.

Puente Sonoros

No-No Boy - The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming

Hundreds of thousands of farmers have participated in <a href="https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/01/16/the-failure-of-indias-farm-reforms-is-a-parable-of-mismanagement?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">protests around Delhi</a>, demonstrating against laws that they say threaten their livelihoods. We ask how the standoff will end. Today America will designate Yemen’s Houthi militants <a href="https://espresso.economist.com/417346143631ba772ccbbb20c6c4151b?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">as terrorists</a>, but that is likely only to harm a population already facing starvation. And what’s behind a <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/01/14/new-platforms-are-bringing-african-comics-to-a-broader-audience?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">boom</a> in African comics. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Hell no, we won’t grow: Indian farmers’ mass protests

Science Vs takes on fads, trends, and the opinionated mob to find out what's fact, what's not, and what's somewhere in between. Science Vs is produced by Gimlet Media.