Why Grocery Stores Don’t Help Communities in Food Deserts to Stay Healthy (0:38)

Guest: Kelseanna Hollis-Hansen, PhD Candidate at the University at Buffalo and Graduate Research Assistant at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

In places sometimes referred to as “food deserts” healthy food options are farther and more expensive than normal. The obvious answer would be to just put up another supermarket. But researchers at the University at Buffalo found that new grocery stores actually lead to a decrease in people eating their fruits and veggies. (Originally aired November 5, 2019). 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities are Struggling to Survive (14:21)

Guest: Delece Smith-Barrow is Senior Editor for Higher Education at The Hechinger Report

Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Thurgood Marshall, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, Spike Lee, Oprah Winfrey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chadwick Boseman –aka Black Panther. That’s just a partial list of prominent African Americans who graduated from an HBCU, which stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities. There are more than a hundred HBCUs around the country –Howard, Tuskegee, Spelman, Shaw, Fisk, Morehouse –are some names you might recognize. If you saw Beyonce’s Coachella performance last year –or the Netflix documentary about it -that whole thing was an ode to HBCUs. She had marching bands and step dancers. Beyonce’s HBCU tribute was well-timed, because many of these schools are in crisis. Enrollment is down. Government funding is down. More than a dozen HBCUs have closed. (Originally aired November 5, 2019). 

Racial Discipline and Achievement Gaps Are Related (36:05)

Guest: Francis Pearman, Assistant Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University

In schools across the US, discipline doesn’t get handed out evenly. Black high school students are twice as likely to be suspended as white or Hispanic students. Black students also lag behind white students on standardized test scores. Are these two gaps –the discipline gap and the achievement gap –linked, somehow? (Originally aired November 5, 2019). 

How Hunger Impacted German Civilians During and After WWI (50:01)

Guest: Mary Cox, William Golding Junior Research Fellow in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences at Brasenose College, Oxford University

The First World War was among the deadliest in history. Tens of millions of soldiers and civilians died. Millions more were maimed or emotionally scarred by the brutal fighting in the trenches and use of chemical weapons. Lingering effects of the Great War were also evident in the bodies of German children, who were malnourished throughout the conflict because of a very effective Allied blockade that kept food, fertilizer and military supplies out of Germany. (Originally aired September 18, 2019). 

Apple Seed (1:08:30)

Guest: Sam Payne of the Apple Seed

Sam Payne shares about the importance of storytelling in the world. (Originally aired September 18, 2019). 

The Evolution of Playground Design and its Effect on Children (1:22:42)

Guest: Alexandra Lange, is a Design and Architecture Critic and Author of “The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids”

I miss merry go rounds. You hardly find them on playgrounds anymore. On the one hand playgrounds are much cooler than they were when I was a kid. But they also feel less risky. I’ve wondered if the design of playgrounds affects how kids develop. (Originally aired September 18, 2019).