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The AIH Transcript for July 29, 2020

Hosts: Susan Bonner and Chris Howden

Prologue

SUSAN BONNER: Hello, I'm Susan Bonner, sitting in for Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening. I'm Chris Howden. This is As It Happens.

[Music: Theme]

CH: Tonight:

SB: Large and in charge. Today, the CEOs of some of the world's biggest tech companies defended their size and power at anti-trust hearings in the U.S. We reach a former Facebook advisor who says it's time to rein them in.

CH: Changing our toonie. On what would have been his 100th birthday, the Royal Canadian Mint honours the legacy of Haida artist Bill Reid. Mr. Reid's granddaughter explains why it's about more than a two dollar coin.

SB: It's in you to test. A new blood test could make it cheaper, easier and faster to diagnose patients with Alzheimer's disease. One of the researchers says it could be a game changer.

CH: He couldn't have planet any better. An Alberta professor tells us being part of NASA's latest mission to Mars is a childhood dream come true.

SB: Medical advice. A study warns medical professionals to steer clear of posting unprofessional photos on social media. So our guest and hundreds of other female doctors flood their feeds with bikini shots.

CH: And Houston you have a problem. After their cheating scandal, the Houston Astros were probably happy baseball stadiums are empty. But last night's game proved they're still not safe at home. As It Happens. The Wednesday Edition. Radio that knows it gets pretty hot when you have no fans.

[Music: Theme]

Part 1: Tech Washington testimony

Tech Washington testimony

Guest: Dipayan Ghosh

CH: They represent companies worth some 6.5-trillion dollars Canadian. And yet the heads of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google spent most of the afternoon today arguing that they really aren't that big after all. The testimony concludes a yearlong investigation by the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Anti-Trust -- an investigation that looked into whether those companies stifle competition and innovation, raise prices and pose a threat to society. Mark Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook. Here's part of his opening statement.

MARK ZUCKERBERG: We're here to talk about online platforms, but I think the true nature of competition is much broader. When Google bought YouTube they could compete against the dominant player in a video, which is the cable industry. When Amazon bought Wholefoods, they could compete against Kroger and Walmart. When Facebook bought WhatsApp, we can compete against telcos who used to charge 10 cents a text message, but not anymore. Now people can watch video, get groceries delivered, and send private messages for free. That's competition.

CH: That's Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, who spoke virtually today as part of an anti-trust hearing on Capitol Hill. Dipayan Ghosh is the co-director of the Digital Platforms and Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. He's also a former privacy and policy advisor for Facebook. We reached Mr. Ghosh in Cambridge, Massachusetts, earlier today.

SB: Mr. Ghosh you just heard your former boss, Mark Zuckerberg, make the case that Facebook and these other tech giants aren't bad for competition, they're actually good for it. Is he right?

DIPAYAN GHOSH: Well, when you think about how important social media is in the context of the national and global economy today and Facebook's position in that market, it absolutely has monopoly power and that's dangerous.

SB: Well, that is one of the central questions in today's hearing is whether these four companies are just too big. Can you flesh out the evidence that their size and their power is having a negative impact on their competitors, on consumers, and on society at large?

DG: If we look at the markets that Apple and Amazon and Facebook and Google occupy in Internet search or in social media or in online commerce or in the smartphone markets, these are huge consumer market places that have a huge impact on the national economy. And there's typically one or two big players in each of these markets. And there is very little capacity for competition to develop against any of those dominant players. Think of Facebook in social media or Google in email or Internet search or online video. And when one company kind of controls a bottleneck, it starts to often misuse that bottleneck in ways that harm consumers. For instance, by exploiting their wealth, exploiting their data, exploiting their attention, raking wealth away from the rest of society and collecting it within their companies. And we can't really see that all the time. We can't feel that on an individual level. But it's happening on a societal level. And that's really what this hearing is about today.

SB: So the word anti-trust might sound like it's about corporate structure, but you are arguing that it really goes to the heart of how a society functions.

DG: Absolutely. Absolutely. Anti-trust suggests break up, suggests reining in the power of a company. But this is really about democracy. This is really about distribution of wealth across society in ways that serve everyone, not just big wigs in Silicon Valley.

SB: You know, these CEOs that are testifying today, they sit atop the great American corporate success stories and they argue that they're good for the economy. They're providing jobs, fueling economic growth. And they suggest that any regulation would actually benefit China and Chinese companies like Tiktok. What do you make of that argument?

DG: Yeah, this is a really strange argument. When we look at people like Mark Zuckerberg or Eric Schmidt, they have made this argument that, look, if you break us up, if you impose strong privacy protections, then what you're really going to be doing is diminishing American competitiveness and empowering Chinese companies, our biggest global competitors, because they don't and potentially won't have to live by these same regulations enforced by their government. This is a really misleading argument and really holds very little water, because what we're seeing is that democratic governments around the world are starting to reject Chinese technology because it's too privacy invasive. We can look at India, which has rejected Tiktok, which is a very privacy invasive application. What does that mean? That means that these third countries, countries outside of China and the United States, want a system of regulated capitalism. They don't want this radically open market that enables the exploitation of personal information and algorithmic bias.

SB: So what is the best case scenario here, then, to do something about which you call this radically open market?

DG: I think what we are increasingly seeing is that we need to rein it in. We need to investigate the ways that their business models work by looking at how they collect data, how they use that data to profile people and curate content and target ads, how they pursue aggressive platform growth at the expense of would be rivals. We need to look at these things and effectively regulate against them. And I think that's where this hearing is going -- toward developing a new sort of digital regulatory framework by which you can hold this industry accountable.

SB: What do you say to the cynics who say we've been talking about this for years and nothing's happened, what's taking so long?

DG: Well, years ago, these companies didn't have as much power. But this is really how the American economy has always worked. Like in the case of railroads or telecommunications firms or electric utilities in the past.

SB: But don't these digital companies infiltrate more aspects of our lives, of our societies, of our democracies?

DG: Absolutely. And I think that's exactly why we need a new sort of regulatory regime for them. Digital companies are very different and they have very specific and novel economic features. Because when you think about the resource that they're collecting, the resource they're harvesting is a complex combination of our data and our attention. And that's sort of a currency that we've never thought about from a regulatory lens before, which is why this makes it such a difficult problem for Congress to address. But I think this hearing is sort of something positive.

SB: Mr. Ghosh thanks for your insight today.

DG: Of course. Thanks so much for having me.

CH: Dipayan Ghosh is the co-director of the Digital Platforms and Democracy Project at the Harvard Kennedy School. He's also a former privacy and policy advisor for Facebook. We reached Mr. Ghosh in Cambridge, Massachusetts, earlier today.

[Music]

Mars rover

Guest: Chris Herd

CH: By the time he was 13 years old, Chris Herd knew he wanted to study Mars. Now he's a geologist, a professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Alberta. And his childhood dreams of studying the red planet have materialized. Professor Herd is one of hundreds of scientists who are part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission. As part of that mission, tomorrow the rover called Perseverance will leave this blue planet for the red one. It's set to arrive in February of next year. We reached Chris Herd in Edmonton.

SB: Professor Herd, if the weather cooperates, you will be watching this rover leave Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7:50 a.m. tomorrow. What do you think you'll be feeling at that moment?

CHRIS HERD: [Chuckles] Well, a tremendous amount of anticipation and excitement and maybe some trepidation all kind of rolled into one, hoping that everything goes smoothly as planned.

SB: What is the main goal of this particular Mars mission with the Perseverance Rover?

CHRIS HERD: This is the most capable rover that NASA has ever sent to Mars. And its goal is to look for signs of ancient life on the planet.

SB: I understand this particular machine is pretty high tech with some top-of-the-line features, a very expensive internationally developed rover. What stands out to you for what this rover can do?

CHRIS HERD: This is an amazing machine. It can do all kinds of amazing things in exploring the surface of Mars. Shooting lasers at rocks from up to seven metres away to tell us what it's made of and full colour images and looking for mineral signatures at a distance. But the thing that really stands out for me is that it's equipped with an arm that can reach out to a rock and core a piece of that rock out and collect it as a sample. The idea is that at most we will get at least 20 samples, hopefully more like 30 or 35 samples from this landing site that we will catch on the surface, leave on the surface for eventual return to Earth.

SB: Tell me about that. Why do it that way?

CHRIS HERD: If you're going to send the mission to look for life, you really do need the samples. That's really what it comes down to. We can use the rover to find the rocks that tell us that the environment that reflected in the rocks was habitable. There was liquid water and it was a relatively warm temperature, et cetera, at the time when the rocks were deposited. In this case, we think about three and a half billion years ago. And we might even be able to see the signatures of organic molecules and maybe layering in the rock that could be ascribed to life. But in order to say definitively, we need a sample of that back in labs on Earth so we can throw everything we have on it, everything we know about trying to detect life into rocks on the Earth to these ancient rocks on Mars, to say definitively whether life was actually there.

SB: And when you're talking about whether life was actually there, you're talking about a long long time ago.

CHRIS HERD: Yes. This landing site of Jezero Crater was once a crater lake that is a crater filled with water, maybe up to several tens of metres, with a river running into it. The river deposited sediments in what's called a delta. We had access to all of those things as the rocks now deposited. Our understanding is that -- our estimates are that the lake was there about three and a half billion years ago and during a time when Mars was, generally speaking, warmer and wetter and more hospitable for life.

SB: You mentioned these samples and how important and interesting they are to you. What's the plan for getting these samples back to Earth?

CHRIS HERD: Well, Perseverance Rover is the first stage. Our job is to collect up these samples. There's going to be sealed in tubes and left on the surface. But there'll be a series of follow on missions. One will be a fetch rover that would land in about the mid-2020s and would zip around and pick up those samples and put them onto a rocket inside a capsule on a lender. And that will then launch into orbit around Mars. Put that capsule into orbit around Mars, where it will be caught up by another orbiting spacecraft, which will then turn around and bring that home. The idea being that the earliest that those samples could come back to Earth would be 2031.

SB: How is this mission working to lay the foundation for possible future human exploration of Mars?

CHRIS HERD: There's a lot that we can learn. The mission includes an experiment onboard that will take in carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere and make oxygen from it. A scaled down version of what you might need if you were to send humans to Mars to have a source of oxygen for breathing and for fuel. Of course, the other key thing is that we're not just going to collect the rocks, we're going to make sure we have a sample of the soil. And there's a lot that we don't know about the Martian soil, about the soil and the dust, including even its toxicology. You know, is there anything in there that we need to be concerned about if astronauts are living and working with it and potentially breathing it in when they're living on the surface? So it lays a lot of the groundwork in terms of what we're going to do with humans also because the whole campaign involves bringing samples back from Mars, you know, eventually we are going to want to send astronauts and bring them back from Mars. Now, there's a lot of information that we can learn from that process too.

SB: You think you'll be getting any sleep tonight?

CHRIS HERD: [Chuckles] Oh, I hope a bit, but it's pretty early here in Edmonton to actually to get up to watch the launch. But I'll be there.

SB: If your 13-year-old self knew that he'd be participating in something like this someday, what do you think he would have thought?

CHRIS HERD: A dream come true. That was the age I decided I want to work on samples from Mars. And I don't think that I ever really could foresee the sort of path that it took to get to this point and that I'd be even involved in such a mission. So it's absolutely thrilling. So, yeah, I mean, [chuckles] it's definitely a dream come true for that 13 year old.

SB: Well, we'll all be watching. Thank you professor.

CHRIS HERD: Thank you.

CH: Professor Chris Herd is a University of Alberta geologist. He is a returned sample scientist on the NASA mission that plans to launch its rover Perseverance tomorrow.

[Music]

Doctor bikinis

Guest: Yalda Safai

CH: Buried in the Hippocratic Oath is this little known covenant: medical professionals shall refrain from posting photos of themselves wearing bikinis on their Instagram page. That is, of course, not a thing. But a team of researchers recently suggested it should be a thing. A study published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery concluded that patients choosing a surgeon may be turned off if that surgeon posts unprofessional content on their social media. Top of the list of that unprofessional behaviour: sharing bikini photos, along with drinking alcohol, using bad language or wearing Halloween costumes. Doctors responded by posting photos of themselves in bikinis, along with the hashtag #MedBikini, to which the researchers responded by apologizing. The journal has since said it will retract the study. Dr. Yalda Safai is a psychiatrist in New York City. That's where we reached her.

SB: Dr. Safai, what prompted you to join this #MedBikini trend?

YALDA SAFAI: When I was in medical school, I used to compete in a lot of beauty pageants. So a big portion of my life involves being in a bikini on stage. And I remember back then, I would get a lot of comments from coworkers, from family members, from students in my class, that these pictures are undermining our profession, they are not professional, I shouldn't be posting them on social media. I was always wondering, like, what does one have to do with another? Like, this is a hobby I have that I very much enjoy outside of school, outside of work. Why is it that I'm getting criticized for not being professional when it really has nothing to do with my intellectual ability and my capabilities to be a good doctor? So when I saw this trend going on, when I saw this study online, it just hit a nerve.

SB: Right. Because the study described how patients changed their views of a surgeon based on the surgeon's social media profiles. And they called some of these posts unprofessional. Is that the word that you take issue with?

YS: They categorize certain behaviours on social media into two categories: unprofessional and possibly unprofessional. The description of the unprofessional acts were like drug use or taking pictures while using drugs or like posting private information about patients, which really nobody in our profession does. And then they have this other category of possibly unprofessional. And that included taking pictures with alcohol in hand taking pictures with swimwear in a bikini or posting controversial comments on stuff like gun control and abortion. So I think the problem was doing drugs and posting private information about patients, it's not on the same level as taking a picture of yourself in a bikini on vacation. I think that's why it really hit a nerve for a lot of people.

SB: And hit a nerve for a lot of women. And yet 68 percent of the profiles the study looked at were men. What do you think it was about the bikini example that prompted such a backlash from women doctors?

YS: I mean, let's not kid ourselves when they were talking about pictures on swimwear and bikini, they were clearly talking about women. They didn't have to spell it out. Nobody will ever criticize a male in their trunks on the beach in a photo. It's talking about women in bikinis. The terminology they use was swimwear/bikini. I mean, it angered a lot of women and not so much men because we all know they were talking about women.

SB: How did they conduct this study?

YS: What these researchers did was they made fake social media accounts and went in and observed the behaviours and pictures of a lot of doctors without their consent. So these doctors didn't know they were part of a study. It violates the first principle of research, and that's called informed consent. It was unethical to begin with. And I think that was a big part of them retracting the study.

SB: One of the researchers, Dr. Jeff Siracuse, apologized for the study and he claimed that the intent was to empower surgeons to be aware and then personally decide -- that's a quote -- what to post on social media. Do you accept his apology?

YS: So I don't think there's much of an apology. So I don't believe him because they clearly listed what behaviours they thought were unprofessional. If they had interviewed patients and heard directly from the mouths of patients that if they see their doctor in a bikini it might have a negative impact on their decision to follow up with that doctor, that's another thing.

SB: Well, what do you think patients would say about that? You're a psychiatrist but you're, as you say, also a former beauty pageant competitor and model. What do you think your patients would say about photos of you and other female doctors in bikinis?

YS: You know, it's funny because a lot of my patients Google me, right. So when they Google me, a bunch of pictures of me pop up competing in pageants. And every single comment I've gotten from patients was positive like "Oh, my gosh, I can't believe you did this. Like, it's so great that you have this hobby that's so different from medicine. You looked really nice in here." Just like positive, encouraging comments. So, no, I don't believe that wearing a bikini and taking a picture of it will negatively impact my patient's perception of me.

SB: Why do you believe that there is sexism in medicine?

YS: Well, this is a clear example of it. And for example, I'm a doctor, right, I look very young -- so every time patients interact with me in the hospital, they think I'm a nurse. So there's this perception that a doctor has to be male, a surgeon has to be male. Or basically how we dress at work. I've seen some of my colleagues wear unprofessional clothing, like males, like jeans, which they shouldn't be wearing to work. They never get criticized. But if a female has an outfit that doesn't seem appropriate for the workplace, they'll get heavily criticized. They even might get sent home.

SB: So what are patients to make of all this if they happen to have seen all of these #MedBikini pictures and all of these posts. What do you want them to take away from this?

YS: That how you decide to live your life and your personal life has nothing to do with your capability as a doctor. I have met some of the smartest people I know that like to party or like to or the beach a lot, they post the water pictures of themselves and swimmer. Yet, if I were a patient, I would go to those physicians. One can compete in pageants like I did. Be half naked on the stage and then be a capable doctor at the same time. They're not mutually exclusive.

SB: I've enjoyed talking to you doctor. Thank you so much.

YS: Thank you so much. It was nice chatting with you.

CH: Dr. Yalda Safai is a psychiatrist and a former beauty pageant competitor. We reached her in New York City. And for more on this story, go to our website: cbc.ca/aih.

[Music]

Joe Kelly

CH: Instead of being taken out to the ball game, we've been taken out of it. And one team is probably relieved. In January, Major League Baseball confirmed that the Houston Astros had cheated for the whole 2017 season and part of the 2018 season. They were fined and docked some draft picks and they fired their manager and general manager. But no players were punished. So this year, the Astros were resigned to the fact that they would face stadium after stadium full of disgusted booing fans. Instead, they're facing cardboard cutouts of fans who can't say boo. But they're also facing vengeful opponents, including the L.A. Dodgers, who the Astros beat to win the 2017 World Series while cheating. Last night, the two teams squared off in Houston. The Dodgers were up 5-2 in the sixth. And Dodgers' relief pitcher Joe Kelly was on the mound. After throwing a number of suspicious pitches, some of which came dangerously close to batters heads, he faced Carlos Correa of the Astros.

ANNOUNCER: Look out. That was an off speed pitch that spills in. Correa now looking out there. Not to say you're trying to throw at me, but to say, man, control it, you put us in danger.

CH: That was the first pitch: a breaking ball just over Mr. Correa's head. Then Carlos Correa struck out. And as the Dodgers walked off the field, Joe Kelly apparently yelled "Nice swing -- expletive deleted." Stuck out his tongue at Mr. Correa and made a pouty baby face. And it was on. Well, on pandemic style.

ANNOUNCER: That's just what he did. And he got a swing and a miss from Correa to get out of the inning. Oh, [chuckles] Joe. Joe Kelly is strutting his way off after an interesting inning. [Music plays in background] All right. So the benches have cleared. And we'll do our best to maintain social distancing while still sending a message both sides.

CH: Probably a sign that this short season could still be a long one for the Astros because the angry fans aren't there but angry opposing teams are acting on their behalf like a fandom limb.

[Music]

Part 2: Haida artist Bill Reid's family is 'just thrilled' to see his work on the new toonie

Bill Reid toonie

Guest: Nika Collison

CH: Yesterday would have been Bill Reid's one 100th birthday. Mr. Reid, whose Haida name was Iljuwas, was a world renowned artist. He created more than 1,500 pieces in his lifetime. Many of them large sculptures on display at major sites in British Columbia, his home province. He worked across various mediums as a master goldsmith, a sculptor, and a writer. In honour of his centennial, the Royal Canadian Mint decided to add one more medium to Mr. Reid's collection, launching a new design of the Canadian toonie featuring his painting of a grizzly bear. Bill Reid's granddaughter was part of the virtual launch ceremony yesterday. Nika Collison, whose Haida name is Jisgang, is also the executive director of the Haida Gwaii Museum. We reached Ms. Collison in Skidegate, Haida Gwaii.

SB: Ms. Collison, how did it feel to see your grandfather's artwork unveiled on the new toonie?

NIKA COLLISON: Myself and my family are just thrilled. It's a real honour. And the the toonie is so beautifully designed, so I think it does this amazing tribute. It gives an amazing tribute to Bill and his legacy.

SB: Can you describe the coin for us and how your grandfather's art is showcased on it?

NC: Sure. The coin features a grizzly bear that he did, you know, several years ago. And the grizzly bear is a very important crest to which certain clans on Haida Gwaii have rights. In this case, it was celebrating Xhuwaji, the grizzly bear. And also that print went towards fund raising for children in art for a long time as well. And one side shows the actual colours of the print, the red and black and some white behind. And the other side is a beautiful rendition in loonie colours and they've done an amazing job. It's really precious. And, you know, on that note, I would like to speak about the Canadian Mint. When they first reached out to us last year, they wanted to make sure that we were comfortable with this, that we supported it. And then working closer to its launch, they got a hold of us again. And there was a lot of groundwork done on the coin -- the promotion and interpretation and information that goes with the collector set. And reached out to us. And we're thinking, okay, they're so nice, they contacted us a year ago. But we're going into a very public and bureaucratic system. We're entering into the beast. And originally, we thought it was more of a gesture of reaching out. But we actually sat with them and they wanted to hear the Haida world view and what we thought was very important to have. And it was stunning what they changed, what they were able to incorporate. And we feel really good about it. And one of the things was that, you know, on the YouTube or the film, you know, the original voice on it was going to be in English and in French keeping to the Canadian way. And we said, well, how about Haida? And can you include Haida in that as well? And they started working with my Aunt GwaaGanad Diane Brown. And Matt Travesty, the lead of the team, he wrote to me. He said, When Leo and I heard GwaaGanad's Haida voice, we knew we had everything we needed because of the power of her voice and the beauty of the Haida language. We chose to run subtitles in French and English depending on the viewer's preference. But we only have the actual voiceover in Haida. Things just that they're not gestures, they're real and that it's full of humanity and their ability to respond it means as much as the coin itself.

SB: What is the story of the Haida grizzly bear, that character? What's the story?

NC: Well, there are stories of grizzly bears and interactions with clans on Haida Gwaii. Those are very important narratives and oral histories. It's also a crest. And crests are right that certain clans have to use as identifiers. So, you know, you could liken it almost to a coat of arms, but it's very different. So say someone had a grizzly bear on their drum as (Gidansda) Guujaaw does, I think many people have known with Guujaaw, a very important leader and freedom fighter in our nation. And he has a drum that has a grizzly bear on it because his clan has the right to use it. So if I didn't know who Guujaaw was, but I still live within our culture, I would identify him immediately as a Raven clan. And then if I saw a secondary or another crest from their clan, I would know it was actually the eagle. So these crest, these visual communication that is tied to oral history. And it is the way we show the world who we are.

SB: Your grandfather was a strong advocate for Indigenous rights in Canada. Would he have been at all uncomfortable sharing space on a coin with the queen?

NC: I think that, you know, in our culture, we have many values that we strive for. You know, they are also looked at as laws, and one of them is to ask first. So I think I couldn't answer that question because Bill's not here to ask. But in our case, our family, you know, there's a lot of really bad history between Indigenous peoples and the formation and continuation of the Canadian government. But, you know, Bill also believed in making things right, which is a term in what the Western world might be called reconciliation. He was a bridge between our culture and the world, which includes Canada. It was in that spirit within careful consideration, you know that there are difficulties. We're not going to pretend they're not there. We help people go there. But we also have faith in Canada, the Canadians on the ground. And because of that, we chose to really want to celebrate Bill with the Canadian Mint.

SB: He was such an important and influential artist. What do you think your grandfather would want people to know about him and Haida Gwaii when they look at this coin?

NC: One of my favourite words or quotes of Bill's is that you can't take the art without the people, because if you do -- and now I'm going off verbatim -- you know, you lose so much, that it becomes just a thing. I think that is probably the most important message he would want to continue. And, you know, another one is that Haida means human being. He wanted and I know he continues to want our people and all Indigenous people to not only achieve equality, but to have equity in this world.

SB: Well, it's a gorgeous coin. Ms. Collison thank you. Haw'aa.

NC: Haw'aa. Have a really great day. And Haw'aa so much Susan for CBC's interest in this really spectacular and historic event.

CH: Nika Collison is the granddaughter of the late Haida artist Bill Reid. Ms. Collison is also the executive director of the Haida Gwaii Museum. We've reached her in Skidegate, Haida Gwaii.

[Music]

Elton Ruben

CH: Of all the hit a ball with a stick activities invented by human beings, golf maybe the most outrageous. That apricot sized ball, the tiny hole so far away, you can't even see it, and then they had random ponds and many beaches. But what tips the whole enterprise into true bonkers-ness is the idea that it would ever be possible to whack that little dimpled white apricot far enough and accurately enough that it could drop directly into that faraway little hole. That's why beginner golfer Elton Ruben started freaking out a bit when it looked as though he may have done just that at a golf course in Inuvik, Northwest Territories on Sunday. And it's why he really, really freaked out when he realized he actually had. Elton Ruben described the moment on CBC Radio's Trail's End the next day.

ELTON RUBEN: We just finished doing the first hole, and you're going off to the top of hole, so par three, four, six. A lot of us guy have been talking about, you know, it's been quite a while since somebody drained it hole in one, constantly talk about it. So it's a group before. And I was the last shooter, so, you know, took the shot, ball got close, started rolling into the hole and celebration was crazy.

LAWRENCE NAYALLY: [Chuckles] Really?

ELTON RUBEN: Yeah. It was. Like after ten minutes of it, we had to calm ourselves down to continue the game. And it was very windy. So the judgment was there, the wind, everything was perfect.

LAWRENCE NAYALLY: Oh, okay. Wow. Okay. So how did you celebrate yesterday?

ELTON RUBEN: [Chuckles] There's four of us, so it is a group of four, as I was on the tee box after a shot, the ball bounced before the green, rolled up, started going towards the hole, and I went down low just screaming, getting loud. And when it did, man we were like kids, just jumping around. It was unbelievable.

LAWRENCE NAYALLY: [Laughs] Right on. You know, when you take a shot like that and then you start saying, yeah, yeah, I got a hole in one. And people don't believe you. Did people believe when you were telling them that you got this hole in one shot?

ELTON RUBEN: Well, well, as I got the hole in one, so the guys near us, playing near the other holes so they weren't too far, so everybody can hear us screaming. And if you're screaming up there, your first thought is somebody got a hole in one.

CH: Golf newbie Elton Ruben speaking with the CBC's Lawrence Nayally earlier this week.

[Music]

Alzheimer's test

Guest: Eric Reiman

CH: Patients with Alzheimer's and their loved ones face a lot of challenges, including a proper diagnosis. But a new blood test could help change that. According to research published this week in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, the tests can determine whether people with dementia have Alzheimer's rather than another condition. And it can identify signs of early onset Alzheimer's decades before cognitive problems appear. The results are supported by other new research looking at similar blood tests. Dr. Eric Reiman is a senior author of the JAMA study and the executive director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute. We reached him in Phoenix, Arizona.

SB: Dr. Reiman, just how significant is the discovery of this blood test to diagnose Alzheimer's?

ERIC REIMAN: We're very excited about having a blood test that seems highly accurate in discriminating between people with and without Alzheimer's disease many years before the onset of symptoms. We think it has the potential to revolutionize Alzheimer's disease research, the development of new treatments and ultimately clinical care.

SB: What makes this test better?

ER: Well, right now, there are tests that can be used in living people to help support the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Roughly 5,000 dollars PET scans and cerebral spinal fluid assays that require a needle in the back. And they're not widely available so rapidly available, affordable blood tests -- could have an impact on a wide number of patients and families who could begin to think about ways in which that information could help them make some important decisions.

SB: How accurate is this new test?

ER: Well, the initial results suggest that it is highly accurate, that it was roughly comparable to that expensive PET scan. It was roughly comparable to the spinal fluid measurements that require a lumbar puncture. And that in individuals who provided blood samples in just a couple of years before they passed away, that it could predict the autopsy diagnosis of individuals with the mildest stages of the disease, with about 89 percent accuracy and greater than 95 percent accuracy in those with more severe disease. We do think that there's more work that needs to be done to clarify in other populations its accuracy diagnostically, clarify the extent to which it predicts a person's subsequent memory and thinking declines, and ultimately to see whether it also predicts treatments that come down the pike that turn out to be effective to figure out who might get those as well.

SB: Well, there is currently no medical treatment or cure for Alzheimer's, so why is it important to diagnose it?

ER: That's a great question. Right now, 60 percent of people with memory and thinking problems never have an evaluation, partly because of the belief that there's nothing you can do about it. And while we can't slow the progression of the disease, I can tell you there's life after a diagnosis and there are a range of non-medication strategies that can be deployed to help improve the quality of life of the affected person as well as the family caregiver. What I am hoping is that a blood test, when it becomes available, will provide a way to refer families to navigator teams that can help deal with a range of financial issues, legal issues, other issues about where one would live and other practical daily issues that they do not have ready access to at that time.

SB: How would it be helpful for someone who does not yet have symptoms to know that they have this disease?

ER: So my research program has been focused on doing everything we can to accelerate the evaluation of an Alzheimer's prevention therapy and finding one that works as soon as possible. And we think we have a fighting chance to find a prevention therapy within the next five years. Let's say we have a prevention therapy that works in people who have evidence with expensive PET scans -- to make this affordable and widely available, we'd like to have a mechanism where in the primary care clinic, people over a certain age would be screened with an inexpensive test every one or two years to detect these changes and know when to deploy a prevention therapy. So in this particular case, I think a blood test would end up dramatically increasing the affordability and availability of a prevention therapy if we are lucky enough to find one that works.

SB: How difficult do you think it might be, though, to convince people of the need to take this test? They might just be too frightened and say, I don't want to know, I'll deal with it when it happens.

ER: So one of the goals that we have right now is to figure out not only how to get that information about how accurate it is diagnostically and prognostically. Another is how to communicate it to patients and family caregivers in a way that would be helpful to them and not cause undo alarm and how to assess those communication strategy so that we are convinced that that approach is adding value to their lives. And indeed, I think there is an opportunity potentially to make a test like this available in the clinical setting within the next two years.

SB: Within the next two years?

ER: That is my best guess figure in the air at this time. One never knows for sure. But I think we need to do everything we can to make that a possibility.

SB: What are you hearing from patients like that and from their families about the kind of difference that this could make for them?

ER: You know, I can tell you, based on our own experience at Banner Alzheimer's Institute that there has been a hunger on the part of a number of family members to see reimbursement for Medicare for expensive PET scans. A test that is cheaper, that provides the same kind of information, maybe even better information, could have a profound impact on their lives. But it's not just ordering the tests. It's helping us to figure out how to use that information in a way that will be most helpful to them. That will take some work and refinement, but the opportunity is now at hand.

SB: It sounds like critical work doctor. Thanks for telling us about it.

ER: Thank you for your time.

CH: Dr. Eric Reiman is the executive director of the Banner Alzheimer's Institute and a senior author of a new study looking at a blood test that diagnosis Alzheimer's. It was published this week in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. We reached him in Phoenix, Arizona.

[Music]

Update: Mara Soriano

CH: The cat came back the very next day, but a bear, especially an inanimate one, takes a little longer. Earlier this week, we heard from Mara Soriano. The Vancouver woman was searching for a teddy bear that had been stolen while she was moving. The bear was a gift from her late mother and featured a message for her recorded by her mom before she died. As Ms. Soriano told us, losing the bear was like losing her mother all over again. Well, I'm happy to report that last night she was finally reunited with the missing bear. This morning, Mara Soriano described her relief to Early Edition host Stephen Quinn.

MARA SORIANO: Oh, I am just absolutely elated. I feel like I've been vibrating since we got her back. It's just been an insane few hours and I barely got any sleep. [Chuckles]

STEPHEN QUINN: How did you end up finding it?

MARA SORIANO: Well, we received an email at 9:30 p.m. last night from the Good Samaritan who had returned her, and he recognized the thief right away. And he liberated her from him and he pulled her out of the bag. And my knees just buckled. And I started crying because it was her. I didn't even give him a chance to pull her out of the bag before I snatched her out of his arms.

STEPHEN QUINN: So they found it in a tent in Strathcona Park.

MARA SORIANO: Yeah, that's what he had said. Yes.

STEPHEN QUINN: Okay. Did this person want the reward that had been offered?

MARA SORIANO: Yes. So part of the email was that, you know, he would have done it without the reward, but he had fallen on rough times and he wants to get him and his brother kind of out of that situation. And, you know, he did really seem like a genuinely nice person and he really did seem like he was willing to turn his life around. The stipulation was no questions asked. I just want the return of the bear.

STEPHEN QUINN: All right. And this reward, I mean, Ryan Reynolds offered up 5,000 dollars and George Stroumboulopoulos offered up another 5,000 dollars.

MARA SORIANO: And Kraft Peanut Butter also offered another 5K. [Chuckles]

STEPHEN QUINN: Oh, my goodness. So does this person stand to collect 15,000 dollars then?

MARA SORIANO: For now, yeah.

STEPHEN QUINN: Ryan Reynolds, we contacted him this morning and he wrote back to say that the reward is indeed being paid out, no questions asked. And he also says he's really happy for you and indirectly for your mom as well.

MARA SORIANO: Definitely. He has been so so kind. I have even invited him to the wedding. [Laughter]

STEPHEN QUINN: Mara what do you take away from, like, this whole crazy experience?

MARA SORIANO: That there is good in the world if you look hard enough, truly. It's been so unbelievably negative in the media lately with everything that's been going on. And I think this is the good news that everybody has just been needing to hear -- that, you know, Vancouver can come together as a city and rally trying to find this bear with me. And it's been a wild ride and I'm so grateful.

CH: That was Vancouver's Mara Soriano speaking on the CBC's Early Edition after being reunited with a missing teddy bear that was given to her by her late mother.

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July 29, 2020 Episode Transcript

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