The Daily Dive

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

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The world is running out of helium, but the concern is not that we won’t be able to blow up balloons, the shortage could impact the usage of MRI machines.  Helium is a non-renewable element that comes form the Earth’s crust and in its liquid form, it’s used to cool the magnets that make the MRI work.  Caroline Hopkins, freelance reporter for NBC News, joins us for why it is so scarce and how manufacturers are developing newer machines that use less liquid helium.

Next, U.S. mortgage rates have shot up over 7%, the highest it has been in 20 years.  A year ago, the rate was just over 3% but this week, the rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage averaged 7.08%.  The housing market continues to cool as some sellers refuse to lower prices and buyers are ever-more constrained by their budgets.  Ben Eisen, banking and finance reporter at the WSJ, joins us for what to know.

Finally, just in time for Halloween, why do so many people take delight in disgusting things?  Disgust itself is an emotion of avoidance originally concerned with possibly harmful foods but has evolved to include other things such as violations of morals or cultural rules.  But why do disgusting things hold our attention so much?  It could be because of something call “benign masochism.”  Bradley Irish, associate professor of English at ASU, joins us for the allure of disgust.

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The debate to watch this week was between John Fetterman and Mehmet Oz.  It was Pennsylvania’s first and only Senate debate and could be the thing that tips the scales.  John Fetterman’s recovery from a stroke he suffered some months ago was on full display.  The Democrats’ speech was delayed, and he struggled to answer coherently at times.  Dr. Oz, on the other hand, was very polished and comfortable on camera staying on message with attacks on crime and inflation but had a stumble on the abortion issue.  Julia Manchester, national political reporter at The Hill, was there and gives us the top takeaways for this consequential debate.

Next, long before social networks became the place for celebrities and influencers to flex their clout, their likeability was ruled by the Q Score.  Advertising agencies, TV studios and marketing execs used the Q Score as a guide to put the most liked people, athletes and even brands in front of audiences.  While it doesn’t hold the same importance as it once did, the Q Score is still measured to this day, and this list of most and least liked people are probably exactly what you might think.  Travis Andrews, features writer at The Washington Post joins us for what happened to the almighty Q Score and how celebrity has changed.

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The midterm elections are now less than two weeks away and both parties are making strategic shifts in messaging and reallocating financial resources.  Republicans are moving money away from races they see as a lock and attacking Democrats by doubling down on crime and inflation issues.  Democrats are sending resources to areas that were once solidly blue as they have been put on the defensive and changing their messaging away from abortion to the economy and health care.  Alayna Treene, congressional reporter at Axios, joins us for what to know.

Next, we’ve known for a long time that asbestos is bad for your health and while the U.S. did regulate safety standards around it, they never banned it.  To this day, hundreds of tons of asbestos are shipped to the U.S. for use by chemical companies that produce chlorine. Part of the reason why it was never banned is that protocols are so stringent, these companies made the case that the threat of exposure to workers is very little.  However, interviews with employees at one OxyChem plant near Niagara Falls tells a different story.  Kathleen McGrory, reporter at ProPublica, joins us for how some workers fear for their health after years of working at these chemical plants.

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Intelligent automation can help combat the human biases that can lead to discriminatory hiring practices. In this episode of Smart Talks with IBM, Malcolm Gladwell takes on this topic with Jacob Goldstein, host of What’s Your Problem?, and guest Angela Hood, founder and CEO of ThisWay Global. They discuss how intelligent automation can accelerate inclusive hiring practices, why machines can mitigate bias but not remove it, and why diverse companies are more competitive.

This is a paid advertisement from IBM.

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Results from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress are showing the largest drop in math scores ever with declines in every state.  Reading scores didn’t fare much better with the largest drop in 4th grade reading since 1990.  Educators say that the pandemic has exacerbated existing gaps in education and tech issues hampered remote learning.  Ben Chapman, education reporter at the WSJ, joins us for the big concern, it could take years for students to recover.

Next, as winter approaches public health officials are warning that other viruses could be coming back with a vengeance.  Covid is obviously a concern with new variants always on the horizon, but flu cases are higher than usual for this time of the year, and then there are worries of respiratory syncytial virus or R.S.V.  Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter at the NY Times, joins us for how cases are expected to be mild, but the sheer number of them could overwhelm hospitals.

Finally, there’s an army of robot workers coming to fill in during this tight labor market.  Better technology and improved cost-effectiveness are hitting at a time when employers are still facing a worker shortage.  A half-million industrial robots were installed globally last year, and we’re also seeing a rise the “service” robot industry with everything from autonomous cleaning robots and those that can unload trucks.  Christopher Mims, tech columnist at the WSJ, joins us for what to know.

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Xi Jinping has claimed a third term as the Communist Party leader in China.  He will now serve another five-year term overseeing the world’s second largest economy and a growing military continuing to pose threats to the U.S. on multiple fronts.  Julia Manchester, national political reporter at The Hill, joins us for the latest in China and more.  With the midterm elections just a few weeks away, Democrats are getting more worried about their prospects, and we’ll get a preview of the high-stakes Pennsylvania Senate debate on Tuesday.

Next, it was the largest animal welfare seizure in the Humane Society’s history.  Nearly 4,000 beagles were rescued from the Envigo facility in Virginia where they were breeding dogs for research.  After USDA investigators found horrible conditions there, an undercover investigation by PETA, and a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, a judge ruled that the dogs be surrendered to the Humane Society.  But that was only the beginning, then came the huge task of retrieving and adopting out the dogs, some of which had health and behavioral problems.  Lizzie Johnson, staff writer at the Washington Post, joins us for the rescue of the Envio beagles.

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This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a compilation of some of the most compelling stories of the week.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists at Boston University recently created in a lab a new Covid virus that had the transmissibility of the Omicron variant and was also more likely to cause severe disease.  They called it the Omicron S-bearing virus.  The study found that the engineered virus had a mortality rate of 80%.  The experiment has once again called into question the purpose of so-called “gain of function” research and also oversight on such projects.  Kelsey Piper, senior writer at Vox’s Future Perfect, joins us for why labs keep making dangerous viruses.

Next, AI art generators have just been unleashed on the public.  These new text-to-image generators let you type in almost any phrase, and it will return you an image in various art styles.  Dall-E 2 by OpenAI and DreamStudio by Stability AI are now open for anyone to use and the result is a lot of fun!  The artificial intelligence interprets your words and creates fully original images, but there are still a lot of questions over how it works, copyright and who owns the images?  Then there are concerns about real artists and graphic designers.  Joanna Stern, senior personal tech columnist at the WSJ, joins us for what the future of AI art may hold.

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