Question of the Week

We talk to Boston University student Irene Kim (@ireneykim) about how she became a TikTok influencer and how she finds time to record her viral food reviews between work and school. Irene also shares her strategy for gaining followers, and how much companies are willing to pay her for munching on their products.

TikTok clips courtesy of @ireneykim

Mark Williams, Boston University Questrom School of Business executive-in-residence and a master lecturer in finance, considers if, and how, President Biden could forgive student loans. Williams discusses who is impacted the most by student debt, the politics of student loan forgiveness, and the effects of the current COVID-19 student loan pause.

Clips from here and here.

Rena Conti, a Questrom School of Business associate professor of markets, public policy, and law, studied insurance claims and reimbursements data and found payments towards ivermectin for COVID-19, plugged by right-wing media despite its unproven efficacy, may have topped $130 million last year. 

News clips from here and here. 

Boston University School of Public Health professor Lauren Wise shares an update on her research into whether COVID-19 vaccines impact the menstrual cycle. Wise is the principal investigator of PRESTO, or the Pregnancy Study Online, and in 2021 she was among a group of researchers awarded $1.67 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to conduct this research. In this episode, Wise shares her initial insights into the research on the COVID vaccine’s potential impact on menstruation and other health outcomes, such as fertility.

You can also read this interview here. 

Vaping among teenagers declined sharply in 2021, the second consecutive year to see a big decline. With research and debate continuing about whether using e-cigarettes can actually help a person quit smoking traditional cigarettes, BU Today spoke with Andrew Stokes, an assistant professor of Global Health at the BU School Public Health

College of Arts & Sciences political scientist Lauren Mattioli assesses Joe Biden one year after his election. Promising to abandon Trumpism, the president has lowered the rhetorical thermostat, Mattioli says, but in areas like immigration, Biden is disappointing supporters with a populist politics, while GOP obstructionism imperils the rest of his agenda.

In this episode, College of Fine Arts Dean Harvey Young considers possible successors to Daniel Craig and discusses his pick for the next James Bond. Young also talks about his favorite and least favorite of the actors who’ve played 007 and how the stereotypes of early James Bond movies have changed over time.

Episode art image credit: Pinewood Studios. Music from here and here. Clips from here, here, here and here.

A conversation with Thomas Whalen, a BU College of General Studies associate professor of social sciences, about whether a new mayor can improve a city. Whalen also discusses the upcoming historic Boston mayoral race between Michelle Wu and Anissa Essaibi George (CAS’96) and how previous mayors have brought about transformative changes in the city.

To find out more about the upcoming mayoral election in Boston, check out WBUR’s voting guide. 

Adrienne Young (SSW’21), a member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians, wanted to see Boston University change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day to celebrate the people who were in America long before Christopher Columbus arrived. BU administrators agreed, and this year for the first time, BU will celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day instead.

Learn more about the campaign to make Indigenous People’s Day an official state holiday in Massachusetts here. 

Linda McClain, a BU School of Law professor of law, discusses what it would mean to codify Roe v. Wade, after Texas enacted one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. McClain also talks about previous attempts to codify Roe v. Wade, the Women’s Health Protection Act, and the future of abortion access in this country.

Note: A few days after this podcast was recorded, the US House of Representatives passed the Women's Health Protection Act. The act now goes to the Senate, where it is considered to be unlikely to pass.

To learn more about what the Texas Abortion Law means for the Future of Roe v. Wade, check out BU Today’s recent interview with Nicole Huberfeld, a BU School of Public Health and School of Law professor.

And you can learn more about the Women’s Health Protection Act here.