What El Chapo’s Imprisonment Means for the Drug War

Guest: Gladys McCormick, Associate Professor of History/Jay and Debe Moskowitz Chair in Mexico-US Relations, Syracuse University 

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman–the notorious Mexican drug lord–was sentenced, last week, to spend the rest of his life in an American supermax prison. He’s also expected to forfeit more than $12 billion to the US government –which is roughly the value of the cocaine, marijuana and heroin Guzman trafficked into the US during his violent, decades long career as head of the Sinaloa cartel. 

Dungeons and Dragons Continues to Shape Popular Culture After 40 Years

Guest: Michael Witwer, Author of “Empire of Imagination: Gary Gygax and the Birth of Dungeons and Dragons”

At the start of Stranger Things on Netflix, the nerdy kid stars get their thrills going on imaginary quests in the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. When a real monster comes to town, they name it the Demogorgon –from the game. Stranger Things is set in the 80s –peak days for Dungeons and Dragons. Fast forward to 2019, Dungeons and Dragons is as popular as ever –which is weird when you consider how amazing video games have become. When you can adventure as a magical warrior in a virtual reality world, why would anyone choose to sit around a table and do it on paper?

We Forgot How to Design Houses to Be Cool in Summer

Guest: Lloyd Alter, Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Design, Ryerson University, Design Editor Tree Hugger Magazine

Much of the country has been sweltering under a heat wave. Air-conditioners are working overtime. We’re dreading what that’ll mean on the utility bill this month, but it’s not like turning the AC off is an option when it’s 100-plus outside. Is it? It might be. With the right house design, that is.

How Music Improves the Brain Just by Listening

Guest: Psyche Loui, Assistant Professor of Creativity and Creative Practice, Northeastern University

You’ve probably heard that learning a musical instrument can have positive, long-term effects on the brain. But turns out that you don’t need to go pick up the guitar or saxophone to get some of those benefits. Just listening to music can make your brain work more efficiently in the short-term.

How to Better Understand People with Accents

Guest: Melissa Baese-Berk, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Oregon

We see these reports on occasion where someone complains about people around them speaking a foreign language in public. Maybe it’s even an employee at a store whose English is heavily accented, and the customer gets frustrated. Linguist Melissa Baese-Berk studies why English spoken with a foreign accent is difficult for native speakers to understand. Communication is a two-way street, after all. And Baese-Berk says there’s a lot that you can do to get better at understanding what people are saying –whether English is their native language or not.

Improving Body Image

Guest: Virginia Ramseyer Winter, Founding Director, Center for Body Image Research & Policy, University of Missouri

The childhood and adolescent years are formative for deciding how you feel about your body. And some studies estimate that half of teen girls aren’t satisfied with their body. As a parent, it may be hard to know what to do to help your kid develop a positive body image. But new research shows painting and mealtimes may help. 3D modeling can help improve animation, product design, architecture, and now, surprisingly, perhaps even our body image. Researchers at the University of Missouri’s Center for Body Image Research & Policy used 3D modeling to develop an intervention they call 3D Body Image Mapping where participants are 3D scanned and then asked to virtually paint parts of their body that they appreciate for various reasons.