Please Explain (The Leonard Lopate Show)

For this week's Please Explain, we learn about a discipline very close to Martha Plimpton's heart: acting! We will be speaking to Shonni Enelow, Assistant Professor of Drama and Performance Studies at Fordham University, and Thalia Goldstein, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Pace University. Our guest host, Martha Plimpton, who's currently starring in A Delicate Balance on Broadway, will also lend her expertise!

In September, over 50 people died during a volcanic eruption in Japan. Iceland continues to experience its largest continuous volcanic eruption in centuries. On this week's Please Explain, we are talking about volcanoes: how are they formed, how dangerous are they, and how scientists monitor them. We will be joined by Mika McKinnon, a geophysicist and journalist with the science publication i09, and David Schneider a USGS Research Geophysicist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

In time for New Years resolution-making (and keeping), Charles Duhigg will explain habits, why we form them, and how we can break them. Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter at The New York Times and author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, which has sold over 1 million copies worldwide and spent over 90 weeks on several New York Times' best seller lists.

Grammy-winning bandleader Vince Giordano and trumpeter, vocalist, and composer Bria Skonberg teach us about swing music! They will both be appearing in Town Hall's second annual winter variety show, featuring modern takes on classic holiday songs from the early twentieth century alongside exciting collaborations in the fields of dance, storytelling and comedy.

Lauren-Brooke Eisen, Counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program, and Bennett L. Gershman, professor at Pace University School of Law, join us for this week’s Please Explain, all about the jury system. We will dig into the history of the jury system, the difference between grand juries and trial juries, and if the structure of the jury system can influence the outcome of court cases. 

 Ballet originated in the Renaissance and was embraced by France’s Louis XIV, who danced leading roles, designed costumes and wrote librettos. Ballet wound its way from Paris to Milan and Vienna, St. Petersburg, eventually landing in the United States. Jennifer Homans, a former dancer and Director of the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU, and Kevin McKenzie, former principal dancer and currently Artistic Director with the American Ballet Theatre, will be on the show to discuss the history of this often-misunderstood art form.  

Sara Seager, Planetary Science and Physics Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer and Director of the Center for SETI Research, tell us all about how astronomers look for extraterrestrial life and other planets like earth in the universe. 

On November 10, President Obama posted a video and statement on the White House website, urging the FCC to protect Net Neutrality, which ensuring all internet traffic is treated equally  for everyone. The President stated that losing Net Neutrality could mean losing the internet as we know it. He asked the FCC to reclassify the internet a part of the communications law known as Title II, but FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is not sold on the idea. 

On this week's Please Explain, we discuss Net Neutrality, and how it affects everyone who uses the internet. Marvin Ammori is a lawyer who is best known for his work opposing SOPA and defending network neutrality. He is a 2014 Future Tense Fellow at the New America Foundation, has represented several companies and coalitions including Google, Dropbox, eBay, Automattic, Tumblr, Twitter, and others. He recently authored the book On Internet Freedom. Michal Rosenn is Deputy General Counsel at Kickstarter, the leading funding platform for creative projects. She has served in that role since October 2012, advising the start-up on intellectual property, contractual, employment, corporate governance, and regulatory matters, among others.

For this week’s Please Explain, Marilyn Johnson, author of Lives in Ruins: Archaeologists and the Seductive Lure of Human Rubble, and archaeologist Dr. David Hurst Thomas dig up the details of the field of archaeology. They tell us how things are found, excavated, and identified, and explore issues of ownership, cultural heritage, and what should be excavated and what shouldn’t.

Kaci Hickox, the Ebola health worker who was the first person forcibly quarantined under New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s controversial health order, was released on Monday, October 27. She returned home to Maine, and said that she would defy the the voluntary quarantine policy in Maine. Maine's Governor, Paul R. LePage, issued a statement Wednesday saying that his office is seeking “legal authority to enforce the quarantine” on Hickox. As states and the federal government conflict over how to regulate, police, and enforce quarantines, citizens get caught up in the middle.

On this week's Please Explain, we are talking about the history of and medical and legal guidelines for quarantines.We’re joined by Howard Markel, George E. Wantz Distinguished Professor of the History of Medicine and Director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan. Dr. Markel is the author, co-author, or co-editor of ten books including the award winning Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 and When Germs Travel: Six Major Epidemics That Have Invaded America Since 1900 and the Fears They Have Unleashed.