Today's Brexit Deadlock Was Easy to Predict

Guest: Alan Wager, Research Associate, The UK in a Changing Europe, King's College London

It was to be a weekend of celebration for those who want to see Britain leave the European Union. Instead, British elected officials are scrambling to come up with a plan to keep Brexit on track. The EU has given them until April 12. 

 

When Lightning Strikes

Guest: John Jensenius, National Lightning Safety Expert, retired 2019 from National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration

If something’s really unlikely to happen, we compare it to winning the lottery or getting struck by lightning. But that’s not really fair because you’re 300-times more likely to get struck by lightning than you are to win the Powerball jackpot. So basically, lightning is a bigger threat than we give it credit for.

 

"The Architect" Designs Mind-Blowing Adventures for Special Occasions

Guest: Chris Waters, "The Architect," Founder of Constructed Adventures

They say the best gift is an experience. How about giving an adventure? There’s a guy who calls himself “The Architect” and he makes a living planning custom adventures for people. You could call them scavenger hunts, but that conjures annoying activities at family reunions, and what The Architect does is way more cool. Mysterious clues dropped on your doorstep, strange props, shopkeepers in on the secret, strangers handing you packages on the street. 

 

Innovative Ski Companies

Guest: Jason Levinthal, Found of LINE Skis, Owner and Operator of J Skis, 4frnt skis, and rollwithapro.com

Have you got a hobby that you’d love to turn into a paying gig? Not many people manage to pull it off, but Jason Levinthal has. He was a skier who started making his own skis in college in the late 1990s and today is legendary for his ski designs. He sold his first startup to the ski giant K2. Now he’s back in the startup world with three companies – J skis, 4frnt [fore-front] skis, and RollWithAPro.com. “Serial entrepreneur” is a label that comes to mind. 

 

The Biology of Superheroes - Sifting Fact from Fiction

Guest: Shane Campbell-Staton, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, Host of The Biology of Superheroes podcast

Some of the coolest superheroes come from cool science, like Peter Parker’s Spidey skills, Iron Man’s indestructibility, Bruce Banner’s radioactive Hulk and Black Panther’s energy harnessing vibranium suit. Now, a lot of real scientists might shake their heads at all that fantastic nonsense, but not one professor.

 

In the School of the Future, Computers Rule and Teachers Cheer from the Sidelines

Guest: Sugata Mitra, Professor Emeritus of Technology, Newcastle University, England

The people who put on the TED Talks also give cash prizes to people with big ideas. Six years ago, Sugata Mitra got the very first million-dollar TED prize to build a better classroom. And get this – that classroom has several computers with large screens which five or six kids can cluster around. The teacher? “In the last ten years, the internet has changed teaching into one of the least efficient and most expensive ways to learn anything.”