Tackling Domestic Terrorism

Guest: Ryan Vogel, Director of the Center for National Security Studies, Utah Valley University

The mass shootings in Gilroy, El Paso and Dayton are all being investigated as acts of domestic terrorism. And last month, FBI director Christopher Wray told a senate committee his agency had arrested almost as many domestic terrorists as foreign terrorists so far this year. But comparatively speaking, far more government resources are going toward the international terror threat posed by Al Qaeda and ISIS. Why? 

Why Songs Get Stuck In Our Heads

Guests: Kelly Jakubowski (PhD), Music Psychologist and post-doctoral research associate at Durham University, UK.

Do you have a song that's stuck in your head? It's most likely not even a complete song, but just a snippet that keeps repeating for maybe even days. What do these "earworms" have in common? And how do they inhabit our brains?

New Study Shows Impact of Wildfire Smoke on Children’s Immune Systems

Guest: Mary Prunicki, Author of The Study, Asthma and Pollution Expert at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy and Asthma Research, Stanford University

An irony about wildfires is that setting intentional fires can be a really effective way to prevent larger, more intense fires from igniting. The idea is to reduce the amount of burnable “fuel” that builds up in a forest so future fires won’t be so damaging. “Prescribed burns” are controversial, though, because they sometimes get out of control. And because, where there’s fire, there’s smoke, which is dangerous to breathe.

Economics of Pell Grants

Guest: Jeff Denning, Assistant Professor of Economics, Brigham Young University

The federal government gave $28 billion in grants to some seven million college students for the 2017-2018 school year. These are grants, not loans. They don’t have to be paid back. So basically,$28billion in free money to students whose families are poor enough to qualify for the Pell Grant Program. And are taxpayers getting their money’s worth?

The Political Implications of the Dalai Lama’s Succession

Guest: Jose Cabezón, Dalai Lama Professor of Tibetan Buddhist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara

The current Dalai Lama turned 84 years old on July 6th, 2019. He has recently started talking about his successor, and has even gone so far to say that the next Dalai Lama might be a woman! However, a lot has changed politically during the lifetime of the current Dalai Lama (the 14th overall). China invaded Tibet during the 1950s and the Dalai Lama was forced to flee and live in exile. The Dalai Lama retained his status as the political leader of Tibet until 2011 when he abdicated temporal authority, establishing a new precedent. China has claimed that they will be choosing the new Dalai Lama to serve as the spiritual leader of Tibet upon the death of the current leader, which has sparked immense controversy and criticism.

Worlds Awaiting: Educational Media

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Host, Worlds Awaiting on BYUradio, Education and Juvenile Collections Librarian, BYU