Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court (0:31)

Guest: Renee Knake Jefferson, JD, Professor of Law and Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics, University of Houston Law Center, Coauthor of “Shortlisted: Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court”

One third of America’s Supreme Court justices are women - and if you only saw that number, you might be impressed. But look back over the court’s entire history: there have been 114 justices in all, and only four have been women: Justices Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor who are currently on the bench, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who retired in 2006. She was the first woman ever nominated to the US Supreme Court – that was in 1981 by President Reagan. Why didn’t any president nominate a woman before then? Would it have made any difference, in the scheme of things?

 

Coral Reef CSI (22:16)

Guest: Ken Goddard, Founder and Director, National Forensics Laboratory, US Fish and Wildlife Services

What’s a forensic scientist to do with an underwater crime scene? Crime scene tape won’t work. Placing those little markers on the ground to identify clues. Yeah, good luck. Can you even lift fingerprints off of something that’s been underwater? I don’t know. But there’s a whole field of forensic science developing around these questions to help protect endangered habitats in the ocean – like coral reefs.

 

Computing in the Quantum Realm (32:38)

Guest: Jerry Chow, Senior Manager, Quantum Systems Technology, IBM

The computer in your pocket (I’m talking about your smartphone) is well beyond what computers were capable of a few decades ago and getting more powerful. Maybe you’ve heard of supercomputers that harness the processing power of lots and lots of computers to be able to crunch huge amounts of data faster? Well, beyond that, are quantum computers that could go millions of times faster than traditional computers. IBM, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Amazon and a bunch of startup companies are all in the race to develop quantum computers.

 

A Doctor Confronts the Problem of Medical Errors in America (50:36)

Guest: Danielle Ofri, MD, Primary Care Physician at Bellevue Hospital, Clinical Professor of Medicine at NYU, Author of “When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error”

By some estimates, medical errors are so common in the US that they kill the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people every day. Just imagine a passenger plane crashing every single day in America. The outcry and investigations would be enormous. Lots of us would probably never fly. So how can that many people be dying of medical errors right under our noses?

 

Community Theater for Neurodiverse Performers and Audiences (1:17:35)

Guest: Karalyn Joseph, Harvard University Student, Founder and Director of the Community of Actors Sharing in Theatre (C.A.S.T.).

As a high school junior, Karalyn Joseph started a community theater program for people with disabilities. Today, Jospeh is a junior at Harvard, studying theater and neuroscience and she continues to direct the C.A.S.T. Theatre group in her Pennsylvania hometown.

 

Stroke Risk During COVID-19 Pandemic (1:27:42)

Guest: Clinton B. Wright, M.D., M.S., Director of the Division of Clinical Research, NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

During the COVID -19 pandemic, many hospitals have reported seeing fewer stroke patients. That’s alarming because it suggests people may be not going to the hospital out of fear of catching the coronavirus. But getting help fast is crucial to increasing chances of survival from stroke. Furthermore, doctors are also reporting stroke-related complications in young COVID-19 patients.