With Good Reason

Stories of massive student debt and for-profit school scams make it clear that the post-secondary system can be an unfriendly place to many disadvantaged students. But how are America’s universities and colleges hoping to use their institutions to reduce inequality?

We look at how affirmative action is being justified by today's white educators and how HBCUs are getting the short shrift by governments. Plus, we take a look at who is hit the hardest by ballooning student debt, and ask what do students really get at for-profit colleges and universities?

We explore two new technologies that hope to help patients navigate cancer -- an that app tries to ease the pressure on patients making tough decisions, and new gene manipulation technology that could cut risk for developing breast cancer dramatically.

Plus, we examine the hidden AIDS epidemic among elderly African-Americans and talk the physician training thousands of surgeons to prevent blindness in developing countries.

Money makes the world go 'round, but does it make the heart a-flutter? This week, we take a literary look at some of the most lasting problems in economics, from using vampires to study irrational behavior in the market, to searching for the soul of Adam Smith in the writings of Jane Austen. Plus, we take on the challenge of James Joyce's Ulysses just in time for #Bloomsday2017.

This week, it's all about writing with a message -- from the letters of friendship that sustained the British Empire to German fairy tales that threatened children with violence.

Plus, we take a look at how managing your social media missives to the world might not be enough in today's job market.

With graduation ceremonies wrapping up across the country, it's time for that dreaded next chapter: the job hunt. But purging your social media of party photos might not be the best place to start.

From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines short-form storytelling and compelling interviews to bring you the best of each week's episode in under 5 minutes.

Black students are suspended up to six times more often than their white peers. But what if a simple workshop could lessen suspensions overall?

The Short Listen combines short-form storytelling and compelling interviews to bring you the best of each week's episode in under five minutes.

This week, we explore the lesser known histories of the Civil Rights era, from a personal story about a family's turn to militant activism and the black entertainers who supported the movement. Plus, we look at how one professor tried to respond to D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, more than 90 years after it devastated race relations in America.

Just across the southern border, something interesting is happening on stage. One of our guests says that the theater in Mexico has become a venue for addressing the shadows in the country’s past... and present.

From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines short-form storytelling and compelling interviews to bring you the best of each week's episode in under 10 minutes.

Animal Intersections

In his forthcoming book A Hoot in the Light: Illuminating the Sensory Modes of Animal Communication, Alex Parrish says that by recognizing animal voices, we do not diminish our own – but open the potential to make our particular brand of humanism a little more humane. Parrish talks with us about how communication evolves, and how wildly different species of animals employ similar persuasive tactics in order to solve similar problems. And: In Norfolk’s Calvert Square, preschoolers plant watermelon and okra next to 200,000 live bees. They aren’t alone. Carrie “Honeybee” Brown has planted apiaries in community gardens across the city in an effort to save the ailing honeybee. Now, she’s planning to shave bees and attach transmitters to get neighbourhood kids interested in entomology.

Later in the show: Biologist Kevin Hamed discovered a consistently alarming number of tiny skulls stuck in glass bottles found roadside litter. Tiny shrews are crawling in, but can’t get back out. He and his students are on the case, trying to solve mysteries where humans and the wilderness intersect. Plus: A study in Appalacia is taking very close look at roadkill. James Vance and Gabrielle Smith hope to find ways to help animals avoid crossing a particularly high-traffic area.

Some people might balk at the idea of putting 300,000 bees in their backyard. Not Carrie "Honeybee" Brown.

From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines short-form storytelling and compelling interviews to bring you the best of each week's episode in under 10 minutes.