Reparations for Slavery Becomes a 2020 Campaign Issue

Guest: William Darity, Professor of Public Policy, Duke University

Several of the Democratic party’s top presidential hopefuls have said they support –or are at least open to –the US government making some sort of reparations to African Americans impacted by slavery. That could mean cash payments to descendants of slaves. Or it could mean specific housing, healthcare, scholarship or loan programs for black Americans. Reparations have been discussed periodically since slavery was abolished more than 150 years ago, but it’s striking in this particular moment to see so many politicians openly supporting it. 

 

Diabetes Crisis Growing Among World’s Refugees

Guest: Sylvia Kehlenbrink, Instructor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Endocrinologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Contagious diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis get a lot of focus from the international health community during a humanitarian crisis. An outbreak of a disease that spreads fast like that can be devastating in a refugee camp or a village that’s suffered a natural disaster. Chronic diseases that aren’t contagious –like diabetes-get less attention. In fact, endocrinologist Sylvia Kehlenbrink has found that humanitarian aid workers are more likely to have antibiotics on hand than insulin. She’s seen refugees with diabetes die as a result of that. 

 

Mayo Clinic Guide: How to Raise a Healthy Child

Guest: Angela C. Mattke, Pediatrician, Mayo Clinic Children’s Center

That joke about kids not coming with instruction manuals is technically true, but there are lots and lots and lots of manuals out there for parents. Back in the day it was Doctor Spock. And there must be a million different versions of the “What to Expect” books out there. The Mayo Clinic has just released a new book in its child care series that offers parents a “Guide to Raising a Healthy Child.”

 

A New Song Every Day For 10 Years

Guest: Jonathan Mann, Musician and Songwriter

For more than 10 years, Jonathan Mann has written a new song every day. Every single day. Originally this was just going to be a one-month. It was just a whim. But after he wrote a new song every day in the month of January 2009, he just wasn’t finished. So, he kept going. Thousands of songs later, he’s still going. Along the way he’s learned a lot about the process of creativity.

 

Why the West is Obsessed with WWII

Guest: Keith Lowe, WWII Historian, Author of “The Fear and the Freedom: How the Second World War Changed Us”

Of all the conflicts America has been involved in, World War II seems to get the most attention from authors, academics, politicians and Hollywood. “The Greatest Generation” as American WWII veterans are known, is quickly shrinking as the 75 anniversary of the end of World War II approaches. What is it about that war and those veterans that captures the imagination and stokes such admiration?

 

Biologist Pamela Weathers Has Discovered a New, Cost-Efficient Cure for Malaria

Guest: Pamela Weathers, Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Efforts to fight malaria have stalled out in recent years, according to the World Health Organization, and one of the reasons is drug resistance. The parasite that causes malaria is developing defenses against the best medicines currently available to treat the illness. The expense of those medicines is another challenge facing the global malaria response. Both of the cost and drug resistant problems might be solved by a plant.  Biologist Pamela Weathers has found evidence that drying and grinding the leaves of a certain plant may treat malaria better than current drugs.