If you’ve ever watched late night TV, you’re familiar with the concept of a mass tort — a large civil lawsuit, often predicated on medical malpractice. The solicitation generally begins, “If you or a loved one suffers from X …” and urges viewers to seek their “just compensation.” In her new book, The Pain Brokers, University of Georgia law professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch investigates a case gone horribly awry, in which women were lured into unnecessary surgeries to remove pelvic mesh, then left with enormous debt and lifelong injuries. We ask Burch how vulnerabilities in the legal system allowed the scam to occur, and her recommendations to prevent similar exploitation in the future.

Guest: Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, law professor and author of The Pain Brokers: How Con Men, Call Centers, and Rogue Doctors Fuel America's Lawsuit Factory

Pink Martini party

They’ve been called the “house band for the United Nations,” were such to exist, and over three decades, the multilingual, multicultural mini-orchestra has only expanded its musical horizons. We talk to the band’s featured vocalist, Storm Large, about her own musical evolution, exploring everything from punk anthems to torch songs, with memorable stops along the way on America’s Got Talent and Rock Star: Supernova. Pink Martini performs at the Florida Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday.

Guest: Storm Large, featured vocalist, Pink Martini

Spaced out

The constellation Auriga, “The Charioteer,” was observed as far back as the Bronze age and cataloged by astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century, but its secrets continue to reveal themselves to modern cosmologists. The prominent Northern Hemisphere winter constellation can be recognized by its pentagon shape as well as its brightest star, Capella (aka “the little goat”). We ask our resident spaceman what’s new with the cosmically ancient six-star cluster.

Guest: Eddie Whisler, director of planetarium and outreach, Museum of Science & History