There’s a new robot in town. Nathan Sprague and the JMU X-Lab faculty are in their fifth year of retrofitting a golf cart. The automated machine will ideally transport seniors around senior citizen communities. And: What’s real? A documentarian used AI to generate the late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s voice in a documentary. William Little says the controversy illuminates our celebrity worship. 

Later in the show: Technology is only as good as the minds that make it. Daphne Yao is improving medical data bias by simply introducing data of more marginalized people. Plus: Google’s “Alpha Fold 2” allows scientists to see what they’re targeting when creating medicine. Amarda Shehu says this dramatically transforms the field of molecular biology, where scientists have worked without this “structure prediction miracle.”

Real Robots, Real Life

Each week on With Good Reason we explore a world of ideas with leading scholars in literature, history, science, philosophy, and the arts.  With Good Reason is created by Virginia Humanities and the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium.

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HBCUs rose from the ashes of slavery and have been educating Black students for generations. Cheryl Mango says HBCUs are currently experiencing a renaissance, sparked from Black Lives Matter movement and the fight for racial justice. Plus: HBCU bands like the Trojan Explosion at Virginia State University play with power and energy. It’s an audio and visual display, with high-step marching and decked-out drum majors at the center of the performance. Taylor Whitehead says that HBCU sound and style is the pinnacle of Black musical excellence.

Later in the Show: What do William Faulkner and a cool pair of sneakers have in common? More than you might think. Jemayne King is a sneakerhead and English professor. He’s combined his two passions into the first ever college English course on sneaker culture.

REPLAY: HBCU Renaissance

In the 19th century, French doctors were finally on the cusp of treating pain. It was a new horizon in the history of medicine. Sara Black says they were experimenting with all kinds of mind-altering drugs… on themselves. And: Greg Wrenn’s journey to forgiving his parents through a psychedelic rainforest tea called ayahuasca. Also: If you’ve had a cable TV subscription in the last 20 years, chances are you’ve seen at least an episode or two of Crime Scene Investigation. Tracy Sohoni looks at how CSI depicts drugs and violence over the course of its 15 seasons.

Later in the show: Sabrina Laroussi studies books about the world of Latin American drug trafficking called narconovelas. She says this emerging genre of literature tends to glorify drug lords and downplay the brutality of drug war violence. Plus: Whether through a family member, friend, or even our own personal struggles - we’ve all been touched by addiction. But Regina Brisgone says addiction isn’t a one-size-fits-all disease, women experience it differently than men.

Drugging France

Before the covid-19 pandemic, there were clearly cracks in the healthcare system for maternity and postpartum care. But during the pandemic, those cracks became much more visible. Patricia Kinser and Sara Moyer were driven to create quick change for new birthing parents, and so the Thrive guide was born. The Thrive Guide is a bit like a birth plan, but for after the baby is born. And: As of January 2024, twelve states, including Virginia and Washington DC, have implemented Medicaid coverage for doula care. DaShaunda Taylor is researching how access to doulas affects the health of new moms and babies.

Later in the show: In Japan women who don’t have kids–either by choice or not–are a hot topic. Kimiko Tanaka explores Japanese womens’ choices about and experiences of motherhood. Plus: Giving birth is always a trauma for the body. But sometimes the experience leaves emotional trauma, as well. Elizabeth Johnson-Young is trying to understand what causes birth trauma and how people respond to its aftermath.

Taking Care of Moms

Hampton Roads is home to the largest coal export operation in the United States. Crosswinds, a podcast from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab, follows the efforts of Lathaniel Kirts and his friend and collaborator Malcolm Jones, as they seek environmental justice for decades of coal dust that they, and their community, inhaled. Crosswinds is produced by Adrian Wood. 

Later in the show: People want to breathe better air in Hampton Roads, Virginia. How Kim Fields and the Repair Lab are working with community members to seek environmental justice for the decades of coal dust that they’ve inhaled. Plus: The success of citizen science according to Mike Shell.

Presenting: Crosswinds

Teenagers have long turned to books for a guide on how to live, but for kids of immigrant parents, those guides can be particularly important. Addie Tsai’s first novel was a YA book that wrestled with many of the same complex issues they faced as a kid. And: SJ Sindu says that everything she writes is translated through the lens of her experience as an immigrant, a refugee, and a queer person. Those perspectives come out in the outsider characters from her YA graphic novel Shakti and her new short story collection, The Goth House Experiment.

Later in the show: Majo Delgadillo immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. as an adult and these days, she writes in both English and Spanish. Majo says that because she comes to English as an immigrant, it still feels a bit weird and that gives her English stories permission to be a bit weird themselves. Plus: Most immigrants are deeply familiar with the challenge of translation, but Yuemin He takes on the extra challenge of translating poetry.

United We Stand: In Our Words

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Real Robots, Real Life

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