With Good Reason

You know the expression “Like a bull in a china shop”? Well, that phrase came to mind while we were working on our show this week -- and not because any of us were more clumsy than usual in the studios.

It's because we’ve been talking about the children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand”, the classic children’s book with a bright red cover, about the little bull who just wants to smell flowers. It was published in 1936, at the dawn of the Spanish Civil War. And almost immediately, it was a success.

But this nice little story about a sweet-hearted bull wasn't just for kids. It managed to upset the likes of Franco, Mussolini, and Hitler. Here's why.

From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews with short-form storytelling to bring the best of each week's episode in around five minutes.

Cigarettes are making a resurgence, thanks to technology like the e-cigarette. But this week, we hear from scholars who are finding it's not only tobacco that's breaking out in vapor form. Plus, we look at how menthol is hooking new generations of young smokers, how sound can be used as a scalpel, and how sleepless teenagers face deadly effects.

Religion and politics go together like cheese and apple pie - some people love it, some people hate it. This week, we take a look at America's rocky relationship with the politics of faith, from Jefferson's vision for a secular utopia to politicians use of the bible today. Along the way, we look at how teleprojected pastors are changing evangelism, and try to determine what the Founding Fathers really believed.

The Walking Dead, a TV horror series about a worldwide zombie apocalypse, has been the most popular show with 18 to 49 year olds since for the past 4 seasons. But there’s an enormous difference between horror on the screen in the United States and in China. One Virginia scholar thinks there may be something to learn from the differences.

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

After nearly a decade of sleuthing to find the pieces, a groundbreaking album of previously unknown recordings of Jewish klezmer music has been released. The album has been a labor love by one of the world’s greatest living klezmer musicians and a British translator.

From With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews with short-form storytelling to bring the best of each week's episode in under five minutes. We're taking a break for the holidays, so look for the next episode of the Short Listen in the New Year.

In the world of medicine, the game changes fast. This week, we're looking at new research and technologies that are changing the way we think about disease, from mechanical hearts to imitation sunlight.

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Americans are preparing to celebrate that first feast shared between Native Americans and European Pilgrims. But for one Virginia tribe, this year’s celebrations mark the end of a long struggle for recognition.

New from With Good Reason, the Short Listen combines compelling interviews with short-form storytelling to bring the best of each week's episode in under five minutes.

The film Sully was released last month. It’s about the US Airways flight 1549 that had to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River after running into a flock of geese. It turns out that birds cause frequent problems for airlines, as well as farmers, businesses, you name it. One Virginia researcher has come up with what he believes is a humane and effective solution for keeping birds out of trouble. Allison Quantz has more.

A new solution is being tested against birds getting stuck in airplane engines or picking a farm field clean. John Swaddle says the “sonic net” is like a digital audio scarecrow, and it doesn’t disturb people or harm the birds. Plus: In the 1940s, a Swiss chemist took a close look at the burrs in his hunting dog’s fur and noticed the hook and loop phenomenon. That led to the development of Velcro. Brook S. Kennedy uses the same method of nature-inspired design for his own inventions, including the Macronaut, a smart phone-compatible magnifying lens he designed to help us zoom in on the wonders of natural phenomena all around.

Later in the show: If you’re poor in Botswana, lions and elephants aren’t cool wildlife—they’re threats to your crops, your herds, and your family. But protecting a robust wildlife population is high priority for a country whose wealthy and middle classes rely on tourism. Kathleen Alexander is working in Botswana to bridge the gap between conserving wildlife and helping impoverished communities. Also: Could creating an imbalance between the sexes in a mosquito population help solve the Zika problem? Zhijan Tu says it might be possible to slow the spread of Zika and other viruses like dengue and chikungunya by making female mosquitos scarce

Until recently, Caroline Shaw was uncomfortable calling herself a composer–violin, singer, musician, sure. But not acomposer. Then in 2013, her composition Partita for 8 Voices made her the youngest recipient ever of the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Now she’s one of the most respected composers on the New Music scene and has been heralded as the future of music. Today, Shaw’s compositions range from traditional quartets and solo piano pieces to a cappella and collaborations with Kanye West.

Later in the show: 2016 has been a tough year for fans of popular music. The sudden death of giants like David Bowie and Prince has been a blow for music, and nostalgia, fans. Tim Anderson is a scholar of the popular music industry. He said as our rock and roll heros die, the collective grieving process has been altered and amplified by social media. If you wanted to take a course on how to succeed as a professional musician, Mark Snyder would be the undisputed choice to teach it. Snyder has performed with nearly 100 bands in the past 30 years, from rock to jazz to classical. Along with performance tips, he teaches students how to book gigs, sell merchandise, create and promote an album and how to handle life on tour.