A Look at the 2020 Election Landscape

Guests: Chris Karpowitz, Professor of Political Science, Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, BYU; Grant Madsen, Professor of History, BYU

Let’s have a look at the state of the presidential election –we won’t vote for a year and a half, but the fundraising and campaigning is now well underway. Twenty-five Democrats are vying to be the party’s nominee to try and unseat President Trump. A second Democratic debate will happen at the end of the month. The last one revealed some key divisions among Democrats hoping to win the White House. 

New DNA Sequencing Technique Diagnoses Diseases Better

Guest: Charles Chiu, MD, Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, University of California, San Francisco

There’s a fair amount of guesswork and trial-and-error in treating a patient with a mysterious infectious disease. Even when you’ve got what looks like a common cold or flu virus, a blood test takes days to come back with enough specifics to guide your doctor on which medicine to prescribe. In critically ill patients, where the infection is moving fast and time is short, doctors need better options for pinpointing the pathogen that’s causing the sickness.

Dangerous Dust Is Keeping Humans Off Mars

Guest: Daniel Austin, Professor of Chemistry, Brigham Young University

Mars has a dust problem. The red planet has dust storms that can last for months and cover almost its entire surface, but the sand is constantly blowing around even when there isn’t a storm. If humans are ever to explore Mars or live there, researchers have to figure out how to deal with the dust. Right now, those particles make it too dangerous for humans.

The Hidden Stories Behind Our Largest Structures

Guest: Roma Agrawal, Structural Engineer, Author of “Built: The Hidden Stories Behind Our Structures”

Wherever you are at this moment –in your car, your office, your home, on the sidewalk –you’ve got a structural engineer to thank. The build the structures all around us. They harness the forces of nature to suspend bridges through the air, construct towers into the sky. 

Worlds Awaiting: Appreciation for Children’s Author Jason Chin

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Host of Worlds Awaiting on BYUradio, Education and Juvenile Collections Librarian at BYU