What Changes to Policing in America Would Address Concerns of Protesters? (0:30)

Guest: Michael Sierra-Arévalo, Incoming Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin

Curfews are in effect in cities across the country, hoping to quell the violence that has accompanied protests. People are in the streets demanding reform to how police use force and are held accountable when they kill unarmed black people. President Trump says governors and law enforcement need to “dominate” the protesters. Videos of police officers using tear gas, rubber bullets and batons on peaceful protesters have only inflamed tension.

 

Bumblebees Can Make Plants Bloom With Their Bite (20:47)

Guest: Mark Mescher, Professor of Biological Communication, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Nothing good comes of a bee sting. But what about a bee bite? Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich noticed bumblebees they study have a habit of biting the leaves of plants. Why? They wondered.

 

Antarctica Was Once a Rainforest (35:18)

Guest: Johann Klages, Marine Geologist, Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany

200 years ago this year, explorers first clapped eyes on Antarctica. The frozen, barren continent is the coldest place on earth. But that wasn’t always the case. Believe it or not, it was once a rainforest with trees and swamplands.

 

The Apple Seed (52:47)

Guest: Sam Payne, Host, The Apple Seed, BYUradio

Sam Payne shares a story.

 

Climate Change Will Make Allergies Worse (1:04:22)

Guest: Lewis Ziska, PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Columbia University

How’ve the seasonal allergies been in your family recently?  If it seems like they’ve been worse – or gone on longer – than usual, you’re not imagining things. Climate change appears to be making the pollen problem worse.

 

Puns, Word Play and Slang Mark This Translation of Famous Arabic Stories (1:16:28)

Guest: Michael Cooperson, PhD, Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, UCLA, Translator of “Impostures: Fifty Rogues Tales Translated Fifty Ways”

Have you ever read a cartoon or watched a film that’s translated into English from another language and just didn’t get it? Humor, puns and other word play are notoriously tough to translate. An Arabic scholar at UCLA named Michael Cooperson is just out with a translation of a famously un-translatable collection of stories. The fifty stories were originally written in Arabic by an Iraqi poet who lived a thousand years ago and was legendary for his word tricks – like writing an essay that works if you read it forward and also if you read it backward.