The current health emergency is dubbed “the coronavirus,” but also "COVID-19" or the “SARS coronavirus 2.” What do we call it? How can we protect ourselves from it? And what is everybody getting wrong about the current health emergency? In this episode, we talk with Anthony Fehr, an expert on coronaviruses. He’s an assistant professor of molecular biosciences at the University of Kansas and runs a lab studying how coronaviruses defeat our immune responses. Fehr tells us you don’t need to wear one of those surgical masks. Or take pig vaccine or silver. Just wash your hands. Got that? Wash. Your. Hands.

More than just works of artistic expression, Russian literature and poetry has been influential in national and political debates. In fact, poetry can get you killed (seriously). Take it from expert Ani Kokobobo, who writes commentary for The Washington Post coming from her scholarly background — that is, when she's not writing about Tolstoy and sex.

People often don’t realize that mass communications is much more than print and broadcast journalism or reporting the news. Understanding media messages can help young people cut through ads aimed to convince them to vape, guest Yvonnes Chen tells us. She also reports on a study that showed adolescents' brains react similarly to seasoned smokers’ brains when they view vaping ads. If that sounds far out, wait ‘til you hear her Theremin solo and enthusiasm for fermentation.

A Harvard Law School graduate and former litigator, Colin McRoberts became immersed in the wacky underground community of pseudolaw when he embarked on the 2016 Conspira-Sea Cruise. Sounds a bit out there, right? Actually, pseudolaw is far from fringe. McRoberts says it’s tricky to determine what appears more absurd: a tinfoil hat or a powdered wig. “If you give an average person a page of real law and a page of pseudolaw, it’s kind of hard to tell the difference. They both look ridiculous.”

"Back to the Future: Part II" promised us flying cars and hoverboards by 2015. Remember how well that panned out? Transportation expert Bradley Lane says we shouldn't expect autonomous or electric vehicles to take over the road anytime soon either. Moving to those vehicles is a series of choices that individuals and society will make over a number of years.

The first thing most of us do on Google Earth is zoom in to see our house. Or maybe we use Street View to cruise down the block where we grew up. The creator of Google Earth says although it's the most accurate map in the world, even it sometimes misses the mark.