Advocates on both sides of the abortion debate have Dec. 1 circled on their calendars. That's the day the U.S. Supreme Court will take up Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Clinic, a Mississippi case that has the potential to severely restrict abortion rights and undermine the court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. Other cases out of Texas and Kentucky threaten to do the same. Ahead of oral arguments, 154 researchers and economists submitted an amicus brief to the court, explaining how reduced access to abortion affects women's income, educational opportunities, professional success and more. One of the signatories, University of Denver economist Paula Cole, joins RadioEd to explore the "downstream impacts" for women and economies across the country.

Ever since 22-year-old Gabby Petito’s parents first reported her missing, the case has run wild on social media, where amateur detectives have picked apart every last detail of the young woman’s final days, even contributing legitimate leads to the investigation. But all that social media attention isn’t necessarily a good thing, and it raises a number of questions. Whose lives are deemed important enough for the masses to care about? How does intense media scrutiny impact a case and the family behind it? And what are the larger implications of social media sleuthing? Jeff Lin, associate professor of criminology in the University of Denver’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences joins us to dive in.

This week, Broadway’s biggest shows are leading a nationwide revival that returns musicians, dancers, cast and crew to the spotlight. For some, the pandemic pause sparked creativity, but it also spawned questions about inequities, irregular hours, extended travel and high pressure. University of Denver alumna Karyn Meek, a longtime Broadway stage manager, shares how COVID changed her perspective on work-life balance. Then, Aisha Ahmad-Post, executive director of the Robert and Judi Newman Center for the Performing Arts, reflects on what organizations endured over the last year and the challenges they face in a changed environment.

In 2001, the United States sent its military into Afghanistan with plans to remove the Taliban from power and build a democracy in its stead. This week, 20 years later, the last U.S. soldier departed the country. But what was supposed to be the end to a decades-long war instead turned into tragedy, as the Taliban quickly wrested back control of the country and its people, setting off a new refugee crisis and global outrage. Nader Hashemi, associate professor in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and director of the Center for Middle East Studies, joined RadioEd to analyze the situation through a humanitarian lens and pose the question: What does the United States owe Afghanistan, as well as its own people?

So far this year we’ve seen fires ravage Greece, record heat waves bake the U.S. and a massive 7.2 earthquake rock Haiti. These catastrophic events are symptoms of a larger issue according to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The report’s analysis makes clear that climate change is real, it is dangerous and it’s happening now. Cullen Hendrix, a professor in the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and senior research advisor at the Center for Climate and Security shares with us key takeaways from the report, what they mean for humanity and why he still holds out hope.

The race to space is on for some of the wealthiest men in the world. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ 11-minute trip to space on his company Blue Origin’s rocket made headlines, but also raised significant questions about the ethics of escaping Earth at the price of a multi-million-dollar ticket. University of Denver business professor Michael Nalick weighs in on the ethical responsibility of business leaders, what this means for the wealth gap and if this was a smart business move.

After more than a year of uncertainty, athletes are finally on their way to Tokyo for the Olympic Games, which begin Friday, July 23. (The Paralympics begin Tuesday, Aug. 24.) For those who had their sights set on representing their countries, an extra year of preparation proved to be a test of both physical and mental fortitude. Athletes dealt with added stress from the COVID pandemic, limited access to training facilities and an ambiguous future. In this episode, Paralympian Lacey Henderson and Jessica Dale Bartley, a clinical assistant professor and director of mental health services for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, share the ways COVID altered athletic routines, redefined mental toughness and permanently changed high performance training.

For decades, Britney Spears has been a fixture not just in pop music but also the headlines. Most recently, it’s not her music drawing attention, but a legal battle she’s been waging against a conservatorship that​ empowers her father to make key decisions on the singer’s behalf. This arrangement, Spears says, has become a tool of abuse, and she’s calling for its end. Tammy Kuennen, a ​Sturm College of Law professor who has litigated multiple conservatorships, tells us what a typical conservatorship entails and how they can sour.

On June 1, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that bans transgender girls and women from women’s sports teams. The bill, signed at the start of Pride Month, is the latest in an anti-trans legislative trend. A dozen similar bills have passed this year, and state legislatures have considered more than a hundred others, making 2021 a record year for legal restrictions to transgender peoples’ rights. Carl Charles, a teaching fellow in the Sturm College of Law focused on gender identity and the law, and a staff attorney with noted LGBTQ+ advocacy law firm Lambda Legal, joins RadioEd to discuss the impacts of these bills on the LGBTQ+ community.

Recently, hackers successfully targeted the country’s largest fuel pipeline, the world’s largest meat processor and the New York City transit system. One company even paid the hackers nearly $5 million to recover its stolen data. In the wake of these cyberattacks, the White house warned companies to increase their cybersecurity and formed a Department of Justice task force, which was able to recapture that ransom money. DU cybersecurity professor Nate Evans discusses what makes a company vulnerable to an attack, how companies weigh the decision to pay ransom and why we are seeing a spike in cyberattacks now.