Does Big Win for Boris Johnson and Conservatives Make Brexit a Sure Thing? (0:33)

Guest: Joel Selway, PhD, professor of political science, BYU

Britain’s parliament returned to work today with a new balance of power. The Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Boris Johnson just captured its biggest majority since the Margaret Thatcher era of 1980's. It’s a stunning election outcome after more than three years of political gridlock over Brexit. So what's next?

 

Why People Love Cheesy Hallmark Christmas Movies Year After Year (18:06)

Guest: Robert Thompson, Director of the Bleier Center for Television & Popular Culture at Syracuse University

By the time the holidays are over more than 80-million people will have watched a Hallmark Christmas movie. They’re so sappy and so predictable. Why are these formulaic romances such a hit for Hallmark at Christmas?

 

What Happens When Companies Own Words? (37:32)

Guest: Stephanie Plamondon Bair, Associate Professor of Law at BYU Law School

Beyonce and Jay-Z have trademarked the names of their kids –Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir. The NFL owns the trademark for the term “Super Bowl.” And boxing announcer Michael Buffer trademarked his catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble." Trademarking a name or phrase is one way to lock down competitive advantage in the US. The first thing a new company does is trademark its own name. But what happens when the name is an everyday word –like “Backcountry.” Outdoor retailer Backcountry.com recently had a customer boycott on its hands when it started going after other companies for using the word “backcountry.”

 

Dr. Asperger and the Nazi Origins of Autism (50:36)

Guest: Edith Sheffer, PhD, Senior Fellow at the Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, author of “Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna”

More awareness of autism has led to much higher rates of diagnosis over the last 30 years. As many as one in 68 children in the US has autism, according to the CDC. There’s also a lot more awareness of the range of symptoms that might come with an autism disorder. For many years, children with a milder form of autism were referred to as having “Asperger’s Syndrome.” It’s named after an Austrian pediatrician whose dark history we’re only now learning. In fact, his story is so dark, historian Edith Sheffer would like to see us stop using the term Asperger’s.

 

Does Political-Bias Influence Which Judicial Nominees Get Good Marks from the American Bar Association? (1:07:59)

Guest: Amy Steigerwalt, Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University

The US Supreme Court gets a lot of attention for its rulings because it’s the highest court in the land. But it only hears a fraction of cases on hot button issues that Americans care about. Most of the time, it’s the appeals court, one step lower than the Supreme Court, that has the final say on a case. Those judges are also nominated by the President and appointed for life. We just don’t hear about them as much. To that point, did you know that President Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate have been on a judge-appointing-frenzy these last few years? That’s prompted concern from Democrats that the judges being appointed are politically biased and unqualified. Republicans say the nominees are plenty qualified, it’s the report card given to them that’s biased.

 

A Game-Changer for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing College Students (1:28:36)

Guest: Mike Jones, Professor of Computer Science, BYU; Korey Hocker, CEO of SignGlasses, Mike Alder, BYU Technology Transfer Office

Right now across the country there are tens of thousands of college students wrapping up the semester who are deaf or hard of hearing. Think about the challenge that would mean in a classroom setting. A student might have a sign language interpreter sitting with them. So that means keeping one eye on the interpreter and one eye on what the professor is writing on the board and one eye on your own notes. That’s three eyes. Impossible? A startup called SignGlasses is working on a solution.