A Crucial Moment in Libya’s Decade-Long War (0:31)

Guest: Quinn Mecham, PhD, Professor of Political Science, BYU

Libya has been embroiled in civil war for nearly a decade now – since the US and United Nations helped topple Libya’s long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Some recent developments have brought the conflict to a crucial moment.

 

Scientists Grow Mini Human Livers and Transplant Into Rats (23:50)

Guest: Alejandro Soto-Gutiérrez, Associate Professor of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh.

Organ transplants are tricky. For one thing, most are only possible when a registered donor has died and the waiting list to get one of those donations is very long. The ability to grow an organ in a lab – out of human cells – is the holy grail of transplant research. A team recently made a major step in that direction – they made a miniature human liver in a test tube and implanted it successfully in a rat.

 

It Takes a County to Raise a Child (37:04)

Guest: Betsy Zorio, VP of U.S. Programs and Advocacy, Save the Children

Where a child lives in America can be a matter of life or death. The nonprofit Save The Children has just released a ranking of every county in the country based on how well children thrive there. The disparities are enormous. A child growing up in Madison Parish, Louisiana is seven times more likely to die before the age of 18 than a child growing up in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Even within states, there’s a huge difference in life expectancy and other measures of child wellbeing from county to county.

 

The WAVES Project Helps Veterans With PTSD Through SCUBA-Diving (52:46)

Guest: Steve Rubin, President, WAVES Project

There are dozens of programs for wounded veterans that offer rehabilitation through outdoor recreation – skiing, rock climbing, horseback riding. A nonprofit we heard about recently called WAVES takes veterans underwater. SCUBA diving apparently has some therapeutic properties for both physical and psychological injuries.

 

The Brain’s Role in Wanting Something That Hurts (1:08:55)

Guest: Shelley Warlow, Postdoctoral Researcher of Neurosciences at University of California, San Diego

Many things people become addicted to are not always pleasant and may actually be painful. Why does that happen? Why would the brain drive you to want something that hurts?  University of Michigan researchers have some new insight into this.

 

Artemis Fowl and (Much Better) Fantasy Films (1:24:14)

Guest: Kirsten Hawkes, ParentPreviews.com

A new fantasy film from Disney was supposed to have opened in theaters last August, but got delayed, mysteriously, which is never a good sign. And then it was to open in May, but the pandemic dashed those plans. So now it’s out on Disney+ and the reviews are not good. The film is Artemis Fowl.