Seeking Heroes: A Study of Rwanda Rescuers – (Originally aired November 20, 2018)

Guest: Nicole Fox, PhD, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at California State University, Sacramento

In the capital city of Rwanda this week, residents discovered a grave site containing 100 corpses. They’re believed to be victims of the genocide25 years ago. Over the span of just three months in 1994, more than a million people were murdered in Rwanda. Local leaders and live radio broadcasts were calling for all members of the Hutu ethnic group to kill rival Tutsis. But there were Hutu who risked their lives to rescue and shelter Tutsis. Interviews with some of those rescuers shed valuable light on the dynamics of heroism.

 

Water Quality - (Originally aired June 10, 2019)

 

The WhoDunIt Mystery of the Hamburger’s True Origins – (Originally aired May 16, 2019)

Guest: Christopher Carosa, Author of “Hamburger Dreams: How Classic Crime Solving Techniques Helped Crack the Case of America’s Greatest Culinary Mystery” and President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Fast food is getting slower. We’re waiting an average of 20 seconds longer in the drive-thru window, according to a study out this week from the restaurant industry. That’s all kinds of food –not just burgers. But it’s the hamburger that made fast food the multi-billion-dollar money maker it is today. So claiming to have been the first means big bragging rights. There are actually four different turn-of-the-century food sellers who claim to have invented the burger. Journalist Christopher Carosa pieced together the true story in his book, “Hamburger Dreams” and joined us over the summer.

 

How Parents Can Help Their Young Adult Succeed – (Originally aired June 5, 2019) 

Guest: Larry Nelson, Professor of Family Life at Brigham Young University

When do you take the training wheels off and let your kids find their own way in the world? When they turn 18? When they graduate college? The decision is never easy for parents –but it’s even more complicated when there are so many young adults living at home in the US. The transition to adulthood is taking longer and is more fraught with perils than it was for you or your parents. That’s according to Larry Nelson –a professor of family life at BYU. 

 

Making Super-Plants – (Originally aired January 22, 2019)

Guest: Amanda Cavanagh, Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Illinois, and Don Ort, Professor of Plan Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois

If you’re breathing a sigh of relief that an out-of-control zucchini or tomato vine is finally retiring for the season, this next story might straight you as strange. Scientists at the University of Illinois think plants could grow a lot bigger and faster if only photosynthesis were more efficient. So they’re trying to hack the process and at the start of this year I spoke with two of them. Amanda Cavanagh is a post-doc and Don Ort is a professor of plant biology. Their project is called Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency -or RIPE.

 

Bird-eating Sharks – (Originally aired July 11, 2019)

Guest: Marcus Drymon, Professor of Fisheries Science at Mississippi State University

Nature is full of fascinating mysteries. Here’s one: how do common backyard birds like doves, swallows and sparrows, end up in the bellies of baby tiger sharks. Do sharks have some sort of high jumping ability we don’t know about?