Iowa, New Hampshire and the Weird Way Americans Choose a President (0:32)

Guest: Grant Madsen, PhD, Associate Professor of History, BYU; Jeremy Pope, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, BYU

Democrats Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are in a virtual tie after the first contest of the 2020 President Election – the Iowa Caucuses. That Joe Biden did so poorly in Iowa, coming in fourth, is maybe the bigger news, given his front-runner status. But let’s be real, the biggest news was just how badly the logistics went in Iowa. And now the candidates are off to New Hampshire for the next presidential primary, which happens Tuesday. Now why does Iowa and New Hampshire – of all states – have such a big say in who parties nominate for President?

 

Helping Children Succeed (20:49)

Guest: Kenneth Dodge, PhD, Pritzker Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University

Next to healthcare, the most debated issue among Democratic candidates for president is probably student debt. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders want to erase student loans and make college free for all. Pete Buttigieg says those things should be limited to the poor and middle class. Joe Biden supports making two years of community college free. But what families could really use – what would likely make an even bigger difference for Americans – is directing that money toward the earliest years of a child’s life – before they’ve even started school.

 

Dead or Alive, Whales Give as Much as They Take From Their Ocean Environments (36:34)

Guest: Joe Roman, Conservation Biologist, Author, Fellow at the Gund Institute

For centuries, whaling was such big business that whale populations worldwide shrank by as much as 90 percent. Since 1986, though, when most of the world banned whale hunting, the giants of the sea have begun to rebound and scientists are starting to understand just how different the oceans might have been when whales were plentiful. Iceland is one of three countries in the world that still allow whale hunting. The other two are Norway and Japan. 

 

Hollywood: Her Story (50:44)

Guest: Jill Tietjen, Historian and Author; Barbara Bridges, Founder of Women+Film Festival; Co-Authors of “Hollywood: Her Story, an Illustrated History of Women and the Movies”

Here’s something we know for sure: The Oscar winner for Best Director will not be a woman. None of the women who directed successful and critically acclaimed films in 2019 - like Greta Gerwig for “Little Women” or Lulu Wang for “The Farewell” – were nominated. That’s not a big surprise since the Academy has only ever nominated five women for “best director” and only one has actually won it. But here’s something I bet will surprise you - back in the earliest days of Hollywood, the highest-paid director in the industry was a woman. In fact, women pretty much ran showbiz in the silent film era. What changed?

 

Why Are Middle School Teachers So Stressed? (1:28:43)

Guest: Keith Herman, Professor of School & Counseling Psychology, University of Missouri; Co-Director, Missouri Prevention Science Institute

Let’s list the most stressful jobs we can think of – emergency surgeon, firefighter, EMT, air traffic controller – what else? You know what would be such a stressful job I don’t think I could actually do it? Middle school teacher. No joke. University of Missouri researchers have found that nearly all middle school teachers experience high levels of stress.