If you've ever seen an infant lying on its back, you've surely seen them endlessly waving their arms and legs in seemingly haphazard ways. And crying? To the uneducated eye and ear, it does all seem a little... unplanned. But from their earliest moments, infants actually cry in a way that suggests they're already learning the patterns of their mother's language while in the womb! And when you see them waving their arms around? They're actually deliberately trying to figure out what this thing is on the end of their arm, and how can they get it to do what they want?

The way babies move not only tells us loads about healthy infant development, but about whether things might not be quite right, especially when it comes to problems such as cerebral palsy.

Today's guests help us decode the meanings of these movements, why they matter, and what parents in particular need to know to help stimulate their babies' development in the best possible way.

Our first guest, Audrey van der Meer, a professor of neuropsychology, is interested in how an infant makes sense of the world, and how we can encourage that learning to give our children the best start. Our second guest, Lars Adde, has spent his entire career working with infants in neonatal intensive care units, and is pioneering new ways to speed the detection of cerebral palsy as early as possible.

You can read more about Audrey's work at the NuLab here, where you can also see a trailer for a Netflix series on babies in which Audrey is one of the experts for the episode called "Movement". You can also visit this page to see some of the lab's seminal publications.

Lars's collaboration with AI researchers, called DeepInMotion, is featured here. A three-minute video describing his research can be found here.The webpage for his startup, In-Motion Technologies, can be found here.

Here's a link to a transcript of the show.

If you've listened to the very end of this episode, you'll hear that this is the last ever episode of 63 Degrees North! Thanks to all of you listeners, and stay tuned! You never know where I might pop up next.

Questions, comments? Contact me at nancy.bazilchuk@ntnu.no

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ENCORE: This episode was first published in Oct. 2023. Sierra Leone used to be the most dangerous place in the world to give birth. Without enough doctors to do C-sections, women and babies were dying. But what if you didn't need a doctor?

This week, the story of two determined surgeons and a no-so radical idea that is saving lives in Sierra Leone — one emergency operation at a time.

You can read more about the non-profit organization the doctors created at capacare.org

Our guests on the show are Håkon Bolkan, Alex van Duinen and Emmanuel Tommy. You can download the episode transcript here:

Here are some of the articles discussed in the show:

• Bolkan, HA et al. (2015) Met and unmet need for surgery in Sierra Leone: a comprehensive retrospective countrywide survey from all healthcare facilities performing surgery in 2012. Surgery
• Brolin, K et al. (2016) The Impact of the West Africa Ebola Outbreak on Obstetric Health Care in Sierra Leone. PLOS ONE
• Bolkan, HA et al.. (2017) Safety, productivity and predicted contribution of a surgical task-sharing programme in Sierra Leone. British Journal of Surgery
• Treacy, Laura; Bolkan, Håkon Angell; Sagbakken, Mette. (2018) Distance, accessibility and costs. Decision-making During Childbirth in Rural Sierra Leone: a Qualitative Study. PLOS ONE
• Drevin, Gustaf; Alvesson, Helle Mölsted; van Duinen, Aalke Johan; Bolkan, Håkon Angell; Koroma, Alimamy philip; von Schreeb, Johan. (2019) ”For this one, let me take the risk”: why surgical staff continued to perform caesarean sections during the 2014–2016 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone. BMJ Global Health
• van Duinen, Aalke Johan; Kamara, Michael M.; Hagander, Lars; Ashley, Thomas; Koroma, Alimamy Philip; Leather, Andy J.M.. (2019) Caesarean section performed by medical doctors and associate clinicians in Sierra Leone. British Journal of Surgery
• van Duinen, Aalke Johan; Westendorp, Josien; Kamara, Michael M; Forna, Fatu; Hagander, Lars; Rijken, Marcus J.. (2020) Perinatal outcomes of cesarean deliveries in Sierra Leone: A prospective multicenter observational study. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics

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ENCORE: This episode was first published in Sept. 2023.

In 1998, a young Norwegian exercise physiologist found that a technique he had used to help Olympic athletes could help heart patients too. But his idea made doctors sweat. One famous cardiologist told him that if he used his technique in human heart attack patients, he "would kill them."

Today's show looks at what happened when our researcher, Ulrik Wisløff, defied the experts — and built a career learning how high intensity interval training can help everyone from heart patients and ageing Baby Boomers, and possibly even Alzheimer's patients — but not in the way you might think!

Today's guests are Ulrik Wisløff, Dorthe Stensvold and Atefe Tari.

Here's a link to a rat on a treadmill photo. And here's a link to a transcript.

Here's a list of some of the research mentioned in the podcast:

• Wisløff U, et al. Intensity-controlled treadmill running in rats: VO(2 max) and cardiac hypertrophy. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2001 Mar;280(3):H1301-10.
• Wisløff U,et al. Superior cardiovascular effect of aerobic interval training versus moderate continuous training in heart failure patients: a randomized study. Circulation. 2007 Jun 19;115(24):3086-94. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.106.675041. Epub 2007 Jun 4.
• Rognmo, Ø et al.. Cardiovascular Risk of High- Versus Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Exercise in Coronary Heart Disease Patients Circulation. 2012;126:1436-1440. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.112.123117
• Stensvold D, Viken H, Steinshamn S L, Dalen H, Støylen A, Loennechen J P et al. Effect of exercise training for five years on all cause mortality in older adults—the Generation 100 study: randomised controlled trial BMJ 2020; 371 :m3485
• Tari AR, Nauman J, Zisko N, Skjellegrind HK, Bosnes I, Bergh S, Stensvold D, Selbæk G, Wisløff U. Temporal changes in cardiorespiratory fitness and risk of dementia incidence and mortality: a population-based prospective cohort study. Lancet Public Health. 2019 Nov;4(11):e565-e574.
• Tari AR, Berg HH, Videm V, Bråthen G, White LR, Røsbjørgen RN, Scheffler K, Dalen H, Holte E, Haberg AK, Selbaek G, Lydersen S, Duezel E, Bergh S, Logan-Halvorsrud KR, Sando SB, Wisløff U. Safety and efficacy of plasma transfusion from exercise-trained donors in patients with early Alzheimer's disease: protocol for the ExPlas study. BMJ Open. 2022 Sep 6;12(9):e056964.

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