Today's Show Transcript
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Coy is on vacation this week, but I got to tell you, I'm really excited to spend the next 10 minutes with all of you, and we've got a great show today. So, let's get started.
We begin with millions of people across the United States facing an unprecedented and dangerous heat wave. In fact, Tuesday was the hottest day in over a decade for parts of the East Coast. In the Midwest, some roads in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri were closed, why? Because they were buckling under the searing heat.
Meteorologists say this is all because of what is known as a heat dome. That's when a ridge of high pressure builds over an area and then doesn't move for up to a week or more. This high pressure can result in lots of sunshine, very few clouds, but that also means sinking air. And when air sinks, it warms, and that causes temperatures to rise even higher. The dome is created because the air simply can't escape.
Now, the climate crisis is expected to make heat domes more frequent and even hotter. So, what are the effects of these high temperatures on our bodies and on our health, and how can we adapt?
CNN Senior Climate Reporter, Laura Paddison, put her body to the test under extreme heat, extreme humidity, to highlight the health dangers of a warming world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAMIAN BAILEY, PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY: Stop. Great job.
LAURA PADDISON, CNN SENIOR CLIMATE WRITER: Everything that's going on with my body made that hard. We're here at the University of South Wales in the U.K., and behind me here is an environmental chamber where scientists can control the temperature. And so they're going to crank the temperatures up to about 40 degrees Celsius, 104 degrees Fahrenheit. And the whole point of this exercise is to see what impact extreme heat has on my body. This on my head is measuring brain blood flow. Here is measuring skin temperature on my leg.
They're going to be looking at cognitive functions, like how is my decision-making affected by the heat? We need to understand what it's going to be like living in a much hotter world.
BAILEY: OK, Laura, so you're fully instrumented. You're ready for action, ready for liftoff.
PADDISON: It's 40 degrees now, 20% humidity, and I can really feel it starting to sweat. My face is getting very hot. My skin temperature's gone up by a couple of degrees.
BAILEY: You're doing a really, really good job here.
PADDISON: It's 40 degrees Celsius, but it's 85% humidity, and the difference is intense. It's like a sauna in here. This is really, really tough. Like, hands feel a bit shaky. Everything feels tiring. Even breathing feels weird.
BAILEY: Stop. Great job.
PADDISON: Thank you.
BAILEY: Mission accomplished, so it's not easy. Now, you've got a markedly depressed increase in exercise-induced blood flow to the brain. It's gone from 600 milliliters per minute to 400.
PADDISON: That's really significant.
DAMIAN BAILEY, PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOCHEMISTRY: Which is huge. You're not getting enough fuel into the brain. You're not burning enough fuel to be able to make the right decisions. You would make potentially wrong decisions, rash decisions, and a much larger increase in pressure during exercise, so your heart is working a lot, lot harder, probably about 30% harder, just because of that increase in temperature and humidity. Older patients, you know, this is a big deal for them, and they wouldn't be able to do the simplest tasks, even stand up to get out of a chair. From a cardiovascular perspective, that would just be too demanding.
PADDISON: We're seeing now around the world is this really humid heat that is pushing places to the limits of survivability. We're seeing stronger heat waves, more humid weather, and the impacts on the body are pretty overwhelming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: All right, time for 10-second trivia. At what age is your brain considered fully formed? Is it 15, 18, 25, or age 30?
If you said 25, you're right. You know, brain development actually begins from the back of the brain, and then works its way to the front as you age. As a result, your frontal lobes, which control things like planning and reasoning and judgment, they are the last things to strengthen, the last part to structure connections.
Now, imagine writing an essay with the help of AI. Maybe some of you have even experimented one of these programs like ChatGPT. You give it an assignment, you give it a prompt, like write a book report on to kill a mockingbird, and in just mere seconds, it types out the report. It's pretty amazing, and it sounds easy, right?
Well, a new study is raising questions about what that could mean for your brain in the long run. Researchers at MIT studied three groups of students. One group used ChatGPT to help write their essays. Another used Google's search engine to write the essay. And a third group relied only on their own brains, no tech tools at all.
And here's what they found. Scientists used brain scans called EEGs, and they saw big differences. In fact, the students who didn't use any tools, they showed strong activity in several areas of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex we just talked about, that's responsible for focus and complex learning, but also what is known as the occipital parietal region, which is back here. That's more linked to visual processing and reasoning.
Now, the Google search group, they showed moderate or intermediate levels of engagement in those same areas. Meanwhile, importantly, the students who used AI showed much weaker brain connections, meaning their brains simply weren't working as hard.
Now, when some students switched from using AI to writing without it, their brains sort of struggled to re-engage. Others who started using AI suddenly did remember more facts, but weren't able to think as deeply. So, what does this all mean for you?
Well, critics worry that using AI too much could make us, quote, mentally lazy, relying on a machine instead of practicing thinking for ourselves. But on the other hand, supporters compare AI to calculators. We don't do math problems by hand anymore, not very much anyway. They say AI can do sort of the same thing, save time, spark ideas, and help students learn if used the right way.
Whatever the case may be, my advice as a dad and as a neurosurgeon is this, stay curious, challenge your brain however you can, and don't let the tech do all the work. What do you think about this? Press pause and discuss.
Would AI help you improve your writing or would it make you mentally lazy? How do you think teachers and professors should address the use of AI for homework? Is it considered cheating? Why or why not?
In sports news, the NBA draft was held on Wednesday night and the Dallas Mavericks selected Duke University forward Cooper Flagg. He was the number one overall pick. The 18-year-old is the second youngest player ever to be drafted number one overall. Only LeBron James was younger when he was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.
But performance in college isn't the only thing teams consider when making their picks. CNN's Omar Jimenez got the opportunity to experience an NBA draft workout. Now as a former college athlete at Northwestern University, Omar is no stranger to the court.
Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JALEN WILSON, NBA PLAYER, BROOKLYN NETS: Game time right here.
JAY HERNANDEZ, ASSISTANT COACH, BROOKLYN NETS: Yeah.
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What does it actually take to get drafted to the NBA?
JIMENEZ: What's up, Jalen? How's it going? Omar, Omar Jimenez.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): I met up with Brooklyn Nets forward, Jalen Wilson and assistant coach, Jay Hernandez.
HERNANDEZ: Stand behind, stay walked up.
JIMENEZ: Who quickly put me to the test.
There it is.
WILSON: Like every workout they go into they're like, how can I make this team draft me? And you have three, four, five other guys who have the same mindset as well in the workout with you.
JIMENEZ: Now, the real tests.
HERNANDEZ: In three minutes for a pro, we are expecting them to make a minimum of 30 shots.
JIMENEZ: So, they're watching your percentage on something like this.
HERNANDEZ: Yeah, they're tracking every shot.
JIMENEZ: All right, so we'll go for a minute. Jay will be your passer.
HERNANDEZ: We only start on a make.
JIMENEZ: Great. Awesome.
WILSON: Here we go.
HERNANDEZ: Yeah, here we go. I'll get you going, I'll keep track.
JIMENEZ: OK, not starting yet.
WILSON: It's not starting yet. There it is.
JIMENEZ: One.
JIMENEZ: It's longer than the college three.
WILSON: Give me that.
HERNANDEZ: Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.
WILSON: Tough, right?
JIMENEZ (on camera): Yeah. Good job. 10 makes.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): How much did you feel like your draft stock was truly going up or down based on the last few weeks?
WILSON: I think you just have the confidence from the workouts. Obviously, like I did like 15 workouts.
JIMENEZ: Really?
WILSON: All of them are going to be the best workout that you ever had.
JIMENEZ: Sure.
WILSON: But --
JIMENEZ: Not as many as bad as I'm doing right now.
WILSON: No, you're good.
JIMENEZ: It's all good. I just want to point out. We're just in the warmups. I'm already just dripping sweat.
HERNANDEZ: As you get close enough, I'm going to pop it one way or the other. You'll have to attack the open space. Yes.
WILSON: Oh yeah.
HERNANDEZ: Nice Omar. I like that. You got it. Yes. Good. Good attack.
WILSON: Yay.
JIMENEZ: If you could speak to your pre-draft self, what would you tell that Jalen?
WILSON: I would just tell the old me just to not worry about it, just to play basketball and understand you can only control as much as you can control. Like I was the 51st pick in the draft.
JIMENEZ: Yeah.
WILSON: So, I felt like I was higher than that, but obviously other teams didn't. I feel like I just had a chip on my shoulder. No matter how much money or how many years you've been playing, someone's just like in this draft is coming to take your spot.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10. A state prison in Washington that is offering fruitful skills while inmates serve their time. These men are able to take courses in beekeeping, gardening, even chicken farming. The greenhouse on the prison property started with $500 worth of seeds from a nonprofit and the inmates grow all types of different produce, squash, lemons, avocados, and then the fruits and veggies, they are donated to a local food bank.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He donates it all out there. It's good to know that there's people out there, especially like right now, you know, when all the fundings are cut and everything else I see on the news every day for food banks. And now when we get to donate 40,000, 50,000 pounds of food, it's great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: The initiative has been so successful that it has inspired eight other Washington correction facilities to start their own gardening programs.
All right, superstars, time for the best part of the show. We've got two shout outs today, Decker Middle School in Austin, Texas. Thank you for watching us during your summer breakthrough program.
And this shout out goes all the way to Nanjing, China, where the high school affiliated to Nanjing Normal University has been tuning in as well.
Coy, he's going to be back next week, so don't forget to come back for an all-new Summer Friday episode. In the meantime, stay hydrated, wear your sunscreen, and have a great weekend.
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