Behind Movie Sound Effects (0:34)

Guest: Marko Costanzo, Emmy Award-Winning Foley Artist

We know there’s a lot of movie watching going on right now with everyone cooped up at home, so here’s a conversation about the really surprising origin of the sounds you hear when you watch a film. Marko Costanzo’s done sound effects for a bunch of hit movies and TV shows, including The Irishman, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms and Mary Poppins Returns. (Originally aired 2/6/19)

 

In the Surprisingly Organized World of Kidnapping for Ransom, Insurance Companies Are Key (25:35)

Guest: Anja Shortland, Professor in Political Economy, King’s College London, Author of “Kidnap: Inside the Ransom Business”

A lot of people are probably kicking themselves for not buying travel insurance for trips they had to cancel due to the pandemic. But no one could have foreseen that happening. There’s another kind of insurance you will probably never need: kidnap insurance. There’s a surprisingly organized industry built around kidnapping people for ransom globally. The companies that provide insurance against the possibility that you’ll get kidnapped for ransom play a strange and important role, according to the research of Anja Shortland. (Originally aired 9/25/2019)

 

First It Burned Them, Then It Froze Them. How an Asteroid Killed the Dinosaurs. (50:41)

Guest: Sean Gulick, Research Professor, University of Texas at Austin

You’ve heard that a massive asteroid caused the dinosaurs to go extinct. But how exactly? I’ve never understood why a giant rock crashing to Earth would kill all the dinosaurs. One asteroid couldn’t smash them all. What about the dinos on the other side of the planet – how does an asteroid kill them? Geologist Sean Gulick at the University of Texas at Austin is part of a team that’s pieced together the most detailed timeline yet of just how the extinction happened. (Originally aired 9/26/2019)

 

Human Trafficking Is More Prevalent Than Previously Thought, Know the Signs (1:07:14)

Guest: Amy Farrell, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Northeastern University

Human trafficking still happens right here in the United States. And it’s happening more often than the official data suggest. Police departments often don’t have a category for “human trafficking” when recording crimes in state and federal databases. Criminologist Amy Farrell at Northeastern University says that – coupled with insufficient training of police officers – has led to a “massive undercount” of human trafficking cases in the US. (Originally aired 10/7/2019)

 

Processing Processed Food Guilt (1:24:23)

Guest: Ruth MacDonald, Department Chair / CALS Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs, Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa State University 

When people rushed to stock up on food at the start of pandemic quarantines, the cereal and pasta shelves emptied – but there was still plenty of fresh produce at my grocery store. Which makes sense, because if you don’t know how long you’ll be stuck at home, you want stuff that won’t go bad as quickly.  And there’s the rub of processed food – it lasts longer and is often easier to cook. But it’s also not good for us, right? (Originally 10/14/2019)