With Good Reason

In 30 years, organ transplants may be taking a back seat to a serum grown from the patient’s own cells and administered to heal the damaged organ. And those who need new organs will be getting new biological parts from 3-D printers. That’s the vision of Kenneth Brayman, who heads Transplant Surgery at the University of Virginia. Brayman discusses recent advances in organ transplantation. Also: Allergic reactions to everything from pollen to peanuts are making life miserable for millions. Lawrence Schwartz explains why our bodies over-react to these seemingly benign substances. Schwartz was named Outstanding Faculty of 2016 by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

Later in the show: People who get a kick out of lying are said to have “duping delight.” Randy Boyle studies human deception at the Longwood Center for Cyber Security. He has devised a questionnaire that measures a person’s propensity to lie. Also: Each year there are many food recall or contamination alerts, but not everyone heeds the warnings. Christopher Brady looks at the psychological factors that determine which of us will act on the alerts. And: Researcher Andrew Neilson has found that certain flavanols in cocoa can reduce weight gain. His study identified one particular compound in cocoa prevented laboratory mice from gaining excess weight when fed a high-fat diet.

Toms River was just like any other small town in America—except that children were dying at very high rates. For Earth Day, With Good Reason speaks with Pulitzer Prize winning writer Dan Fagin, whose 2013 book, Tom's River: A Story of Science and Salvation tells the story of how that small town fought against the pollution—and the polluters—killing their children. Fagin also discusses his current project, a book that follows the plight of the monarch butterfly as it tries to survive the very real changes that humans have brought to this planet. Plus: Meet Marc Edwards the professor who helped uncover the water crises in Flint, Michigan and has now been charged with fixing it.

Later in the show: Growing up in Appalachia, Maddison Couch noticed an unusual number of thyroid disorders in her community. As a student at she discovered new information suggesting that these disorders weren’t inherited—they’re caused by coal. And: The distinctive appearance of the largest salamander in North America has inspired some colorful nicknames: hellbenders, big log of snot, ol¹ lasagna sides, and snot otter. Biologist Wally Smith is trying to better understand where these creatures live and why they're disappearing.

Where Game of Thrones Begins (April 9, 2016)

As the premiere of Game of Thrones approaches, we trace the medieval

roots of the hit TV show with Larissa Tracy. She discusses the influence of Tolkien and medieval literature on the popular program.

And: Can a play written more than 400 years ago have something to say about Muslim-Americans? Some Shakespeare experts think so. In advance of Old Dominion University’s Shakespeare 400 Years After event, Imtiaz Habib and Maya Mathur explore what Shakespeare’s plays can reveal about life today. Plus: It’s hard to find a nuanced black character written by 19th century white authors. But Gretchen Martin says she’s found trickster characters (think Br’er Rabbit) in some 19th century classics.

Later in the show: During the 1910s and 1920s, the question of whether one was “highbrow” or “lowbrow” became a concern in the minds of modernist Americans. Brooks Hefner says this “brow anxiety” dominated the career of Willard Huntington Wright, who fancied himself an intellectual aristocrat while secretly writing a series of wildly popular detective stories under the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine. And: When Christopher McGee first discovered the Hardy Boys books as a child, he had no idea the author, Franklin W. Dixon, was fictitious and that the books were written by ghostwriters. McGee, who now teaches children’s mystery, tells the story of this popular series’ creation and changes through the years

Where Game of Thrones Begins (April 9, 2016)

As the premiere of Game of Thrones approaches, we trace the medieval

roots of the hit TV show with Larissa Tracy. She discusses the influence of Tolkien and medieval literature on the popular program.

And: Can a play written more than 400 years ago have something to say about Muslim-Americans? Some Shakespeare experts think so. In advance of Old Dominion University’s Shakespeare 400 Years After event, Imtiaz Habib and Maya Mathur explore what Shakespeare’s plays can reveal about life today. Plus: It’s hard to find a nuanced black character written by 19th century white authors. But Gretchen Martin says she’s found trickster characters (think Br’er Rabbit) in some 19th century classics.

Later in the show: During the 1910s and 1920s, the question of whether one was “highbrow” or “lowbrow” became a concern in the minds of modernist Americans. Brooks Hefner says this “brow anxiety” dominated the career of Willard Huntington Wright, who fancied himself an intellectual aristocrat while secretly writing a series of wildly popular detective stories under the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine. And: When Christopher McGee first discovered the Hardy Boys books as a child, he had no idea the author, Franklin W. Dixon, was fictitious and that the books were written by ghostwriters. McGee, who now teaches children’s mystery, tells the story of this popular series’ creation and changes through the years

A culture has grown up around brewing beer locally and at home. Hunter Smith and Levi Duncan of Champion Brewery met in a brewing course where they now both teach. They say local breweries help foster community. Plus: In early America, just about everyone drank beer—even for breakfast. We go with Susan Kern to the site of a brew house that once existed on the campus of one of the nation’s oldest colleges. And: We all know of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, but few of us have heard of Robert Morris, who was also a founding father. Ryan Smith (tells the tale of this wealthy financier of the Revolution who signed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but ended up in financial ruin and public disgrace.

Later in the show: There is an extreme shortage of nurses in “bush” Alaska, a stunningly beautiful part of the world only reachable by plane or barge. Maria DeValpine spent three years learning why nurses elect to stay in this challenging environment on the edge of the earth. And: Courses that include service learning projects can have a profound effect on college students. While teaching at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, James Curiel had his students, who were predominately from the wealthiest Egyptian families, work with impoverished families who made their living by recycling the rubbish they collected. The lessons learned were invaluable.

Have you had a colleague who is disinterested, destructive, or even undermining? Rachel Frieder is part of a study that looks for ways to control these workplace saboteurs. Also: There can be a dark side to creativity. Gayle Dow looks at malevolently creative people who are constantly thinking of new ways to create havoc and do us harm. And: End of Telework? Kevin Rockmann has found in his research that having a number of people work off-site has negative side effects on the folks who do come into the office everyday.

Later in the show: Lynn Zoch, a national name in the field of PR, gives us a look at the history of the industry in the 20th century—from Rockefeller’s handling of the Ludlow Massacre in his Colorado mines to the 1929 campaign for women to smoke “Torches of Freedom.” Also: Jim Hentz studies the nature of war in Africa and in countries like Sierra Leone and Liberia conflict in the region. Plus: Dr. William Petri is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases & International Health at the University of Virginia. He studies diseases in the developing world and how to contain them.

Just after finishing college at the University of Virginia, Alexis Ohanian, with his friend Steve Huffman, created Reddit. Designed to be the front page of the Internet, Reddit is now one of the most talked about and influential spots on the web. Plus: Inspired by her architecture degree from the University of Virginia, Becca McCharen began designing structural corsets and body-cages for small fashion shows. Only a few years later, McCharen’s hobby has grown into Chromat, an experimental label worn by just about every major female pop star, including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Nicki Minaj. And: While the term entrepreneur goes in and out of fashion, Ron Monark says that the skills required to start a new company have always been in vogue.

Lieutenant General George Crocker says that when he was first introduced to Rick Atkinson he was told, “If you like the truth, you’ll love Rick.” Over his long career as a journalist and historian, Atkinson has won four Pulitzer Prizes for work that he has either written or contributed to. As part of the Pulitzer Centennial Campfire Initiative, we honor Rick Atkinson’s career, from Vietnam Veterans, WWII, and the Persian Gulf War to DC police shootings and the War in Iraq. His motto, he says, is on a little sign taped next to his desk: “Get On With It.”

Later in the show: The images of New York City street photographer Garry Winogrand captured the heartbreak, violence and hope of postwar America. When he died suddenly in 1984, he left behind more than 300,000 images unseen — until now. Sasha Waters Freyer is developing a documentary, “All Things are Photographable,” about the life and work of Winogrand. And: Historical dramas and reality history programs have become an increasingly popular way to engage with history. But do they really contribute to our understanding of the past? Alison Landsberg says they might actually foster more holistic interpretation in viewers.

With immigration rising, the United States will soon no longer have a white, Anglo ethnic profile. Tom Gjelten, NPR Correspondent and author of, “A Nation of Nations,” says that in the last fifty years, our immigrant population has tripled. Plus: In 1960, eleven-year-old Gustavo Pérez-Firmat came to the State as an exile from Cuba. In his new book, “A Cuban in Mayberry,” Pérez-Firmat discovers that even though a Cuban would never live in a town like The Andy Griffith Show’s Mayberry, he feels that, in a way, Mayberry is home.

Later in the show: An influx of foreigners with a desire to share your resources is nothing new to the Cherokee. “The Cherokee Diaspora” by Gregory Smithers details the Cherokee evolution from a close group to a people of multiple communities. Also: “Border Odyssey” by Charles Thompson Jr. tells how Thompson left his small organic farm in North Carolina and traveled the entire length of the nearly 2,000 mile border between the United States and Mexico.

Many displaced Iraqis returning to their homes are finding landmines and booby-traps left for them by ISIS fighters. One woman opened her refrigerator and found a landmine on her vegetable shelf. Ken Rutherford who co-founded the Landmine Survivors Network, says this is the first time in the world’s history that roadside bombs target civilians.

Later in the show: How do we guarantee Iran has stopped all nuclear weapons efforts? Nathan Busch, in his forthcoming book, lays bare the politics of weapon inspections for Iran and many other nations. Also: If we accept that conflict is a rational decision, we can develop policies to prevent it. Atin Basuchoudhary has studied the factors that push people to violence, to identify the causes for large-scale conflict.