What Deliberate Power Outages in California Have to Do With Wildfire Risk

Guest: Bruce Cain, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

There’s a high risk of wildfire in Northern California right now because of strong winds and dry conditions. So PG&E –California’s largest utility –has deliberately cut power to as many has 800,000 customers over the last two days, spanning 21 counties including parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. Equipment owned and maintained by PG&E has sparked many of California’s major wildfires recently, including the state’s deadliest and destructive blaze –the Camp Fire which destroyed the town of Paradise last year and killed 86 people.

 

How to Fight Dirty Money

Guest: Channing Mavrellis, Director, Global Financial Integrity’s Transnational Crime Program

Around the world, there are countries-sometimes called “developing” or “emerging” -that receive millions of dollars in foreign aid and investment every year. The hope is that at some point the country will grow to the point that it no longer needs foreign aid to sustain a thriving economy. But many countries seem stalled. Why isn’t that money making a difference? Because all this time, even more money has been flowing out of those same countries through crime, corruption and tax evasion.

 

Deep Recession is Driving Argentina Back Toward Populism

Guest: Fernando Oris de Roa, Ambassador of Argentina to the United States

Relations between the US and Argentina have grown stronger in the four years since Argentina’s current president Mauricio Macri was elected. But President Macri lost the first round of his re-election effort and a significant chance he and his more centrist political party will be out come the general election on Oct. 27.

 

Making and Breaking the Periodic Table

Guest: Kit Chapman, Science Journalist, Author of “Superheavy: Making and Breaking the Periodic Table”

The periodic table hanging on the wall in every science classroom turns 150 this year. The elements on it –from hydrogen to helium –are the building blocks of everything on Earth. But not all 118 of them are found in nature. Twenty-six elements on the periodic table today are entirely man-made –and some of those have never actually been seen by scientists. So how do we know they exist? And what’s the point of making them if we can’t do anything with them? The stories of these mysterious elements at the far reaches of the periodic table are the focus of journalist Kit Chapman’s new book called Superheavy.

 

Listener Questions about Cold and Flu Remedies

Guest: Nina Shapiro, MD, Author of “Hype: A Doctor’s Guide to Medical Myths, Exaggerated Claims, and Bad Advice –How to Tell What’s Real and What’s Not.”

It's that dreaded time of year again - cold and flu season. So we asked you what questions you have about remedies. We got some fantastic ones, and Dr. Nina Shapiro answers them.