Radio Times

Guests: Julie Morgenstern, Randy Frost, Darla DeMorrow

Most of our homes look nothing like the beautiful, sterile interiors featured in glossy design magazine spreads. You’ll never see piles of papers, overstuffed bookcases, messy closets filled to capacity, and tchotchkes littered about. But this is what many average American homes look like. And while a lived-in house is often a happy house, recent research shows that homes filled with too much clutter can affect our well-being, leading us to feel stressed, out of control, and dissatisfied with life. So how do we know when clutter is a problem? And how do we get control of it?  And why do we become so attached to our possessions which makes departing with them so difficult? We’ll talk with RANDY FROST, professor of psychology at Smith College, JULIE MORGENSTERN, organizing and productivity consultant, and DARLA DEMORROW, a Philadelphia-based professional organizer.

Guest: Stephen Fried

Dr. Benjamin Rush may not be a household name, but the young signatory of the Declaration of Independence lead a remarkable life. The Philadelphia native was a protégé of Benjamin Franklin, and co-authored a proclamation that inspired the Boston Tea Party. He founded Dickinson College, advocated for public education for women, and was a staunch abolitionist. In medicine, he was known as the “American Hippocrates,” and reformed medical training, revolutionized the treatment of mental illness, and saved many Philadelphians from the yellow fever epidemic. Historian STEPHEN FRIED has brought this lesser-known revolutionary figure to life in his new book, Rush: Revolution, Madness, and the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father.

Guests: Jamil Smith, Zeynep Tufekci, Becca Lewis

YouTube is a great resource for tutorials for learning new skills, the latest music videos, clips of animals doing silly things, viral clips from late night television and access to old movies. But YouTube is also a venue for disinformation, conspiracy theories, and hate speech with the site’s algorithms pushing videos that go farther into the fringes. And while much attention has been focused on “fake” news, bots, and radicalization on Facebook and Twitter, YouTube’s culpability in spreading falsehoods and hate has flown somewhat under the radar. This is despite the fact that over half of YouTube users claim they use the platform to “understand events that are happening in the world” according to a new Pew study. Today on the show, we’ll talk about YouTube and the perils of using the site for news and information with ZEYNEP TUFEKCI , professor at University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science and contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, and REBECCA LEWIS, researcher at Data and Society Research Institute. But first, we’ll talk to national affairs writer for  Rolling Stone, JAMIL SMITH, to get his thoughts on President Trump’s prime time speech on the border Tuesday night.

Guests: Robert Costa, Dennis Wagner, Tom Hamburger

It’s day 18 of the government shutdown over funding for President Trump’s border wall. And amidst this battle is a much broader conversation about immigration policy, the reality of the U.S. – Mexico border, and of course, the politics in Washington. We’ll start off with the ongoing political drama surrounding the wall and the government shutdown. The Washington Post’s ROBERT COSTA give us the latest. Then, investigative journalist DENNIS WAGNER of The Arizona Republic joins us. He flew all 2,000 miles of the border, and documented what kinds of barriers, both man-made, natural, and legal, that are currently in place. We’ll then talk about how Trump’s golf club in New Jersey reportedly employs undocumented immigrants, despite the anti-immigration politics and policies he routinely espouses. TOM HAMBURGER reported the story for The Washington Post and joins us.

Guests: Gretchen Reynolds, Martin Gibala, Angela Duckworth

Researchers are continuing to find out about even more ways in which exercise is beneficial – how it keeps our cells young, our memory sharp, our immune system strong, our heart healthy, and our body limber into old age. It also has profound effects on our mental health.  Still even knowing all that, only 20 percent of American adults meet the recommended fitness guidelines and 30 percent don’t work out at all. This hour, we’ll learn about the powerful effects physical activity has on our bodies and brains and talk about the different types of exercise we should be doing –do high-intensity work outs really payoff?  We’re joined by GRETCHEN REYNOLDS, Phys Ed columnist for The New York Times and MARTIN GIBALA, professor of kinesiology at McMaster University. And University of Pennsylvania psychology professor ANGELA DUCKWORTH explains why it’s so hard to make exercise a habit and how to make a fitness routine stick.

Guest: Peter Sagal

PETER SAGAL has been hosting the weekly NPR quiz show “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” for 20 years. The show is famous for its irreverent topical humor, its quick-witted panel of comedians, unexpected moments, celebrity guests, and yes, it’s limericks. Sagal is also an avid runner and a proponent of the positive effects running has on both the body and the brain. In his new memoir, The Incomplete Book of Running, Sagal talks about discovering running amidst a mid-life crisis, and how running helped manage his depression and anxiety going through a nasty divorce. Today, he joins Marty for the hour to talk about his life, political humor, and why he loves to run.

Guests: Mark Eichmann, Joe Hernandez, Patrick Murray, Katie Meyer, John Baer

As the nation’s new congress convenes today, state governments are beginning their legislative sessions as well. Today on the show, we’ll get a break down of what’s new and what’s ahead for the state governments in our listening area. We’ll begin discussing Delaware, one of the many states that has a much more diverse legislature this year with all the state wide offices held by Democrats. WHYY’s MARK EICHMANN joins us to talk about the new General Assembly and the bills we can expect to come across their desks. Then, we’ll move on to New Jersey, where battles over the minimum wage, recreational marijuana, and redistricting reform are expected to continue this year. WHYY’s JOE HERNANDEZ and PATRICK MURRAY of the Monmouth University poll join us. Finally, we’ll talk about Pennsylvania where Democrats picked up 11 seats in the House and five in the Senate. We’ll talk about how this might affect the proceedings in Harrisburg, as well as the perennial issues of gerrymandering and state budget disputes. WITF’s KATIE MEYER and JOHN BAER of The Daily News are our guests.

Guests: Jonathan Bernstein, Molly Reynolds

When the 116th session of the U.S. Congress convenes on Thursday, its first and most daunting challenge will be to get government back to work by coming to some sort of agreement over border wall funding with President Donald Trump. Presumptive Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Schumer are expected to play hardball over this, and a range of other issues – including investigations into the President’s taxes and business dealings. Newly-elected incoming House Democrats have already expressed their intentions to move quickly on policies around health care, immigration, gun control, climate change, and possibly impeachment. Today on Radio Times, we’ll talk about what we might expect from Capitol Hill in the coming months.  Our guests are JONATHAN BERNSTEIN of Bloomberg View and MOLLY REYNOLDS, a fellow in Governance Studies at Brookings.

Guests: Naomi Baron, Stacey Steinberg

Hey! So… When someone texts you a lot of question marks, how does it make you feel??? How about when you get “ok.” as a response? Haha nice. Today we’re going to talk about the emotive grammar unique to text messages –  how the use of punctuation, slang, specific words, and emojis are all used to convey the feeling and context to each of our messages. We’ll be joined by American University professor of linguistics NAOMI BARON to pick apart the nuances of text messaging. Then, we’ll talk about the ethics and etiquette of sharing pictures of your children and grandchildren – also known as “sharenting” – with STACEY STEINBERG, law professor at The University of Florida and contributor to The Washington Post’s “On Parenting” column.

Guests: Willa Paskin, Mark Dawidziak

It’s been another year with hundreds and hundreds of original television programs all vying for our eyeballs. So this hour, we’ve asked two TV critics to join us to tell us about the best new shows like “Killing Eve,” the shows that continue to achieve greatness like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and the most overlooked shows of 2018, like “Lodge 49.” Joining us is WILLA PASKIN of Slate, and MARK DAWIDZIAK of The Plain-Dealer.