If You Don’t Participate, You Can’t Complain (0:27)

Guest: Jeff Foster, AP Government Teacher, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida, Author of “For Which We Stand: How Our Government Works and Why It Matters”

Early voting and poll data suggest young voters are on track to cast ballots in record numbers this election. Consider the first-time youth voter in 2020: born just before the 9/11 terror attacks, grew up during the 2008 Great Recession, spent high school during President Trump’s intensely divisive first term and then, a global pandemic derails their senior year. That could certainly mobilize a young person to get engaged. Or it could turn them off politics completely.

 

Raising Children in Isolation (17:43)

Guest: Stephanie Coontz, Professor of History and Family Studies, The Evergreen State College, Director of Research and Public Education, Council on Contemporary Families, Author of “The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap”

The exhausted parent memes going around on social media seem to have a more desperate edge than usual. What is it about parenting during the pandemic that makes this moment so difficult? Historian Stephanie Coontz says it’s more than just being stuck at home with kids while trying to get work done. There’s an isolation to parenting during the pandemic that’s unprecedented.

 

Barriers to the Ballot Box (34:28)

Guest: Matt Vasilogambros, Staff Writer, Stateline, Co-Leader, “Barriers to the Ballot Box” Project

A record number of voters have cast a ballot early–either in-person or by mail–in this week’s general election. There’s been a flurry of lawsuits and last-minute court hearings over pandemic-driven changes to the voting process in several key states.

 

Why Confidence is Attractive (52:48)

Guest: Norman Li, Professor of Psychology, Singapore Management University

Confident men get further in life. Look at corporate board rooms. Look at the movies. Look at dating apps. Why are people–and especially women–attracted to confidence in men as mates and leaders? And, if confidence is such a key ingredient for success, can it be taught? Or does a man just have to be born with it?

 

World Pressures Nigeria on #EndSARS (1:08:55)

Guest: Carl LeVan, Professor, School of International Service, American University, Author of "Contemporary Nigerian Politics: Competition in a Time of Transition and Terror”

Three weeks of protests against police corruption and brutality in Nigeria has attracted the support of American celebrities and politicians posting about #EndSARS on social media. Nigeria’s president says at least 69 people–mostly civilians–have been killed in the protests. In one instance, the Nigerian army is accused of firing on a group of protesters, killing 12.

 

What Viruses Leave Behind in Our Bodies (1:27:26)

Guest: Nels Elde, Evolutionary Geneticist, University of Utah

After you’ve won the fight over an infectious virus like the coronavirus, the flu or hepatitis, do those pathogens leave anything behind? Is your body changed in some permanent way as a result of the battle you’ve fought? If so, might that change get passed down to your kids or grandkids?