In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons

When you’re a massive bipedal carnivore living in the late Cretaceous period about 65 million years ago, you can get by with some pretty small arms. We’re talking about Tyrannosaurus Rex. Scientists know a lot about the animal’s jaws, but they’re still not sure exactly how it used its arms. That could change when scientists from the Field Museum remove one of the arms of Sue, the museum’s beloved T. rex skeleton and take it to the Argonne National Laboratory for testing with something called an “extreme brightness X-ray.”  Morning Shift talks to Pete Makovicky, Associate Curator of Dinosaurs at the Field Museum, and his colleague William Simpson, McCarter Collections Manager of Fossil Vertebrates about the project. We also open up the phones for listeners to ask anything they’ve ever wondered about dinosaurs. 

Some teens are getting the opportunity to go behind the scenes at Chicago companies to get a better understanding of the role innovation plays in business. Chicago Ideas Week features the year-round program CIW YOU(th) which takes leaders from schools around the city for job training, connect with people doing inspiring work, and seeing the day to day at these places. We talk to program director Rachel Graham and CIW YOU(th) ambassador Edgar Escalera.

 There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who’ve never heard of musician Bill Callahan, and those who are totally crazy about Bill Callahan.

Here in Illinois, if you want to return to the workforce after spending time in jail, a good step is usually to get your record sealed or expunged. That hides certain low-level crimes from most employers. The problem is, to do that, first you have to pay your court fees, and for many poor people in Illinois, those court fees are just too expensive.  Morning Shift talks to WBEZ’s Miles Bryan about the problems court fees are causing for some Illinois residents. We also hear from Democratic State representative Elaine Nekritz. She was part of a public task force on court fees in Illinois this year.

Telehealth is getting more and more popular with patients and medical practitioners alike as carriers continue to expand coverage to include virtual doctors visits. Sounds great for those too sick to get out of bed to see a doctor, or too busy to fit in an appointment, but would you or do you think it takes the place of hands-on care?  Morning Shift talks to a couple of doctors with personal experience. Dr. Elena Barengolts is with the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center here in Chicago, and Dr. Deborah Mulligan with MDLive, a national telehealth provider. 

WBEZ stats guru Chris Hagan has created a page where you can run a single playoff simulation to determine the North Sider’s actually chances of winning it all. Or, press a single button and have the computer run 1,000 simulations to see if the Cubs’ chances get any better. 

When the Cubs open their 2016 playoff run on Friday, you might notice a few things different from last year. Or even last week. From the roster to the security lines, WBEZ sports contributor Cheryl Raye-Stout gives us the lowdown on all the changes afoot at Wrigley Field as the Cubs hunt for their first World Series in 108 years.

Bedbugs were discovered last week on a Red Line train, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since Chicago topped Orkin’s list of Top 50 bedbug cities for the fourth consecutive year. But it still had a lot of commuters worried. If bedbugs can hop a ride on the Red Line, how much do we need to worry about our homes? Morning Shift spoke with Orkin entomologist John Kane about how to prevent, identify and treat a bedbug infestation.

There are 48 statues of historically significant men in Chicago’s public parks, but zero of women. A similar dynamic is also at play on the University of Chicago campus, but that’s about to change. Early next year, the school will install a bronze bust of Georgiana Simpson — the first African American woman to receive a Ph.D. — in Reynolds Club, a building that now functions as a student union but was once home to the university’s men’s-only club. Morning Shift talked to Asya Akca and Shae Omonijo, the two U of C political science students who proposed the statue and are now working with the university and a sculptor to get it ready for its debut in 2017.

Tuesday’s night’s Vice presidential debate could be Mike Pence’s biggest political moment to date, so what can we expect from the Indiana governor when he steps up to the dais?  Morning Shift talks to WBEZ Northwest Indiana reporter Michael Puente about Pence’s political past and future and what strategies and issues he’s likely to use as he attempts to bolster Donald Trump’s argument that he should be the next President of the United States.