Exonerated After 17 Years in Prison for the Murder of Her Son

Guest: Kristine Bunch, Executive Director, Justis 4 Justus, exonerated after 17 years in prison for wrongful conviction

Last year, 151 people were exonerated of convictions for crimes they didn’t commit. The average time a person spends in prison for a crime they’re later exonerated for, is eight years. Kristine Bunch was in prison for nearly 18 years after the court said she intentionally set the fire that killed her three-year-old son in their trailer home. But the fire was accidental. Now Kristine Bunch is free and working as an advocate for people exonerated for crimes.  

Diversity Human Genetic Resesarch

Guest: Scott Williams, Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

By now, you’ve probably spit in one of those vials to get your DNA analyzed for geneaology. If it says you’re of European descent, the info you got back was probably pretty detailed and fairly accurate. People of African or Asian descent aren’t so lucky, because most of the data in those DNA pools right now skews European. The companies who do that testing are working to fix that. But this isn’t just about getting an accurate snapshot of where your ancestors came from. Genetic analysis has become the foundation of disease and drug research. And the data used for that work is also primarily European DNA.  

Human Looking Robots May Not Be Ideal

Guest: Kerstin Haring, Postdoctoral Researcher of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, Warfighter Effectiveness Research Center, US Air Force Academy

Cartoons are full of friendly robots – Disney’s especially good at that: Big Hero Six, Wall-E, the whole crew in the Robots movie. Big eyes, soft, rounded features. You just want to take ‘em home and love ‘em. But in I ROBOT, they’re human-size with human-like faces; they’re supposed to be trustworthy, but Will Smith’s character does not like it. When robots become a central part of our lives in the not-too-distant future, should they look like humans or not? 

Tuition Trouble: The Economic and Social Costs of Rising Student Debt (originally aired 11/12/18)

Guest: Julie Margetta Morgan, PhD, JD, Fellow, The Roosevelt Institute

In the last decade, student loan debt has more than doubled in the US. Americans currently owe $1.5 trillion. But it’s not like we flushed all that money down the toilet. Borrowing money for a college degree is just investing in a future that includes a better job and higher salary. Well, detailed analysis of student loan debt across the country suggests those assumptions are flawed – especially if you’re a black or brown student in America. 

BYU's Bethlehem Exhibit Highlights Forgotten History and Culture

Guests: Cynthia Finlayson, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Brightam Young University; Paul Stavast, Director, BYU Museum of People and Cultures

For Christians, Bethlehem brings to mind the birth of Christ. But it’s history is much more complicated than that. Bethlehem was once predominantly Christian. Today it’s mostly Muslim and lies in the Palestinian-controlled West Bank, cut off from Jerusalem by a 25-foot wall built by the Israeli government. The Museum of Peoples and Cultures here at BYU has an exhibit that looks at the nuances of the Savior’s birthplace. It’s called, “Returning to Bethlehem: A Cultural Pilgrimage.”

Mobilizing Kids to Mow Lawns in Service

Guest: Rodney Smith Jr, Founder, Raising Men Lawn Care Service

Rodney Smith, Jr didn’t much like mowing lawns growing up. But now he’s made it part of his life’s mission. Last year, Smith completed a tour of every state in the US, mowing lawns for free for people who are elderly, disabled, single mothers and veterans. His ongoing goal is to get kids all around the country out serving in their communities, mowing the lawns of people who need a hand.