Sports is More than Just a Game in America. Much More.

Guest: Michael Serazio, Journalist, Associate Professor of Communication, Boston College, Author of “The Power of Sports: Media and Spectacle in American Culture”

Watching them is one of the few things millions of Americans still do together at the same time, whether in stadiums or living rooms. For many, sports are the basis of their relationships and personal identity. They rival religion in America.  And most of all, they’re an escape from real life. Well, they’re supposed to be. But what if the whole “sports are an escape” idea is just a fantasy? Serazio's new book argues that sports are all about real life. They show what we value. They reflect our political and social divisions. They indoctrinate us about what it means to be successful, to be American, to be a man. 

 

The Paper Airplane Guy

Guest: John Collins, Guinness World Record Holder “Farthest Flight by a Paper Aircraft”

As a kid, you start with the most basic form messing around in church and school: the paper airplane. But there are artists who can make incredibly life-like designs using only a single sheet of paper. Science and medicine are also using the same techniques for more precise and lightweight equipment.

 

Creating Complex Origami with Math

Guest: Robert Lang, Origami Artist and Consultant

Once you’ve learned to make a paper airplane, the next step is something a little more complicated –like a crane, or a frog that hops when you flick it. But Robert Lang’s origami frogs have individual toes. His cranes have feathers. He makes everything from scorpions to unicorns –often out of a single sheet of paper.

 

Origami in Space and Medicine 

Guest: Spencer Magleby, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Brigham Young University

We were just talking with origami artist Robert Lang about how an understanding of math makes it possible for him to create more complex designs with paper. A team of scientists at BYU is using principles of origami to make surgical instruments and light-weight equipment for space exploration.