40: Dogs and Wellbeing

The Useful Science team unveils the many benefits of dogs on our well-being. Researchers in Canada found that therapy dogs can positively impact patients’ experiences in stressful hospital settings plagued by long wait times. And in an observational study of families with young children, researchers found that pre-schoolers who played with the family dog three or more times per week displayed fewer conduct problems, and more prosocial behaviors, compared to children who had little or no dog-time in their lives.

Music by Solomon Krause-Imlach.

Hosts: 

Duncan Bell

Duncan is a science educator at Fizzics Education, an Australian organization that puts on science shows and workshops for kids. Coming from a social research background, Duncan joined the growing Fizzics team in 2018 to further his passion for all things science and currently co-hosts the FizzicsTWIST podcast. A physics fanatic, a chemistry casanova, and a biology buff, Duncan’s enthusiasm for science literally knows no bounds.

Susan Rogers Van Katwyk

Susan Rogers Van Katwyk is the Research Director for global antimicrobial resistance at the Global Strategy Lab at York University. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Ottawa and her work focuses on generating evidence-informed policy recommendations for global health threats. She loves hiking, curling, and craft beer.

Cameron Spencer

Cameron is a designer and web developer. He is the founder of Lab 43.