With Good Reason

Back pain is the leading cause of disability among Americans who are less than forty-five years of age. A new therapy offers what could be the answer to the prayers of many suffering from the pain of degenerating discs. Micheal Depalma (Virginia Commonwealth University Spine Center) is participating in cutting edge research involving the use [...]

After teaching courses on marriage and family relations to community college students for 40 years, it’s clear to Russ Crescimanno (Piedmont Virginia Community College) that most couples don’t have a clue on how to compromise.  There is, he says, a science to love and intimacy, and many rocky marriages could thrive if couples would just [...]

With Good Reason invites you to a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but nearly everything on the table is grown, made, or brewed, within 100 miles of Charlottesville, Virginia.  The dinner host, Tim Beatley (University of Virginia),  introduced the 100-mile Thanksgiving idea to his students after reading The 100-mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating.  About 95 [...]

Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald (left) had a celebrity marriage during the Jazz Age of the 1920s.  However, from 1930 until her death in 1948, Zelda was in and out of mental hospitals.  Karen Tatum (Norfolk State University) is exploring the possibility of a link between the medication Zelda took for eczema and her debilitating [...]

The Elizabeth River is one of the most polluted waterways in the country and the world’s first floating wetlands classroom–‘The Learning Barge’–is coming to her aid. Phoebe Crisman (University of Virginia) developed the floating field station, which is powered by solar and wind energy and utilizes recycled materials. The barge allows students to study and [...]

A Nintendo game is a hot new exercise video for seniors.  Nancy King visits with some “Wii Bowlers” and recreation therapists Susan Lynch and Cathy Roy (Longwood University). Meanwhile, researchers are creating virtual-reality scenery and games to encourage therapy patients to extend their workouts on a treadmill.  Martha Walker’s team is seeing success with adults [...]

While the media may cover mega-celebrity Angelina Jolie’s pregnancy with loving attention to every detail, mere mortal women still face prejudice and even outright hostility in our society during pregnancy. Eden King (George Mason University) says this is not only counter-productive; it’s illegal. Also, Nicole Karjane (Virginia Commonwealth University) offers insights into pregnancy and labor [...]

Historians have long held that children of 17 th and 18 th century Europe were thought of as incomplete adults who were not yet worthy of love or compassion. However, historian Michael Galgano (James Madison University) says actually children were understood to be in a different stage of life, and they were celebrated and loved. [...]

One in every 150 American-born children is diagnosed with an autism-spectrum disorder. Christofer Foss (University of Mary Washington) has examined how autism is portrayed in contemporary literature and film and says it is time to re-think difference, dignity, discrimination, and other disability issues. Also: Nicole Myers (University of Mary Washington) says with proper training, teachers [...]

Of the two giants of psychology, Freud and Jung, the latter’s groundbreaking investigations into the workings of the mind have not always been fully appreciated. In his new book, Carl Jung, Darwin of the Mind, Thomas T. Lawson redresses the imbalance and offers new insights into the evolution of consciousness. Also: One popular image of [...]