How the Legal System Relies on Justice and Forgiveness (0:34)

Guest: Martha Minow, Professor of Law, Harvard University, Author "When Should Law Forgive?"

The right to remain silent. The right to an attorney. The right to... forgiveness? Harvard Law professor Martha Minow says the US legal system needs to take a hard look at where forgiveness fits. A more merciful, forgiving system would also be a more just system, she argues. (Originally aired April 28, 2020).

 

Bringing Stories of Women to Life (17:50)

Guest: Alison Booth, Professor of English, University of Virginia

Women are underrepresented in biographies and other historical works. Part of the problem is that thousands of accounts of women have simply been forgotten. Alison Booth has been tracking them down to bring these stories to light and make them accessible. It’s called the Collective Biographies of Women Project. (Originally aired October 28, 2019).

 

Dr. Asperger and the Nazi Origins of Autism (34:07)

Guest: Edith Sheffer, Senior Fellow, Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Author of “Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna”

More awareness of autism has led to much higher rates of diagnosis over the last 30 years. As many as one in 68 children in the US has autism, according to the CDC. There’s also a lot more awareness of the range of symptoms that might come with an autism disorder. For many years, children with a milder form of autism were referred to as having “Asperger’s Syndrome.” It’s named after an Austrian pediatrician whose dark history we’re only now learning. In fact, his story is so dark, historian Edith Sheffer would like to see us stop using the term Asperger’s. (Originally aired December 16, 2019).

 

Navigating the Unexpected Journey From Loved One to Caregiver (52:56)

Guest: Donna Thomson, Caregiver, Activist, Author of “The Four Walls of My Freedom: Lessons I’ve Learned From a Life of Caregiving”; Zachary White, Assistant Professor of Communication, Queens University of Charlotte. Co-authors of “The Unexpected Journey of Caring: The Transformation from Loved One to Caregiver”

Some forty-million Americans have been the caregiver for an adult in the last year. Many of them are sandwiched between caring for their own children and an aging parent. And anyone who’s done it–even temporarily–knows how jarring caregiving is, how unprepared most of us feel for the physical and emotional toll of it. (Originally aired January 23, 2020).

 

New Discovery Shows That Neanderthals Used Rope (1:31:05)

Guest: Bruce Hardy, Professor of Anthropology, Kenyon College

From Barney Rubble to the dimwitted cavemen of The Far Side cartoons, Neanderthals have a reputation for being not-so-smart. But that may simply be because the best evidence of their smarts hasn’t survived for us to inspect and appreciate. For example, an excavation of a famous Neanderthal encampment in France has turned up a tiny shred of rope. Making and using rope is pretty advanced. If cavemen could actually do that, we’ll have to rethink the stereotype of stupidity. (Originally aired April 20, 2020).