Iran, Digital Clothing, African Women Rising

Iran’s Catastrophic Downing of Ukrainian Airliner Creates a Surprising Turn of Fortune (0:32) Guest: Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment, Former US State Department Middle East Advisor and Negotiator Iranians are protesting in the streets again today, demanding accountability from their government. After three days of denial, the Iranian military admitted it fired the missiles that brought down a Ukrainian passenger jet last week, killing all 176 passengers. Most of the dead are Iranians. Iran’s foreign minister blamed the tragic mistake on “the crisis caused by US adventurism,” which refers to America’s killing of top Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani ten days ago.  Is the World Safer with Soleimani Dead? (9:31) Guest: Max Abrahms, PhD, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northeastern University, Author of “Rules for Rebels: The Science of Victory in Militant History” The Trump Administration spent the weekend defending its decision to kill Iran’s top military general Qassem Soleimani. President Trump told Fox News Soleimani was planning “imminent attacks” on four US embassies. But Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other top national security officials say they saw no evidence of those attacks. Still, they say Soleimani was a bad guy and thus, his killing was justified.  Fashion that is Always Digital, Never Physical (22:07) Guest: Kerry Murphy, founder and CEO of The Fabricant Your video-game-playing kids have probably begged you at some point to buy them “skins.” In virtual worlds like Fortnite, players take on a persona – a skin – and it’s a status symbol to have a particularly rare one. But even if you don’t play video games, most of us have a digital persona. What if you could buy an amazing digital outfit – say a designer suit or gown - to wear on Instagram? It’s just a digital file. You never actual wear it in real life. Would you pay for digital only clothing?  Bringing Religion and Spirituality Into Psychiatric Treatment (34:17) Guest: David Rosmarin, PhD, Director of the Spirituality and Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School Treatment for people experiencing severe mental distress in hospitals typically ignores a patient’s spiritual or religious beliefs. Sigmund Freud viewed religion as a type of neurosis. But for many people religious beliefs are a source of strength in coping with emotional distress. For others, those beliefs exacerbate the problem. Either way, ignoring spirituality all-together doesn’t make a lot of sense, says psychologist David Rosmarin. He’s developed program called SPIRIT that’s been tested with patients at McLean Psychiatric Hospital. The results are encouraging.  When It Comes to Defending Against Hurricanes, Nature Knows Best (50:36) Guest: Steven Scyphers, Assistant Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University 2019 was the fourth straight year of above-average hurricanes on the Atlantic Coast. Warming sea temperatures are expected to cause more intense storms. As that happens, the seawalls and barriers coastal cities have built to protect them from storm surge and flooding are falling short. Way short. As it happens, nature may have a better way to protect against storms. Schools Struggle to Get Title IX Sexual Misconduct Investigations Right (1:06:25) Guest: Adrienne Lyles, Associate Director of Equal Opportunity and Senior Deputy Title IX Coordinator, Iowa State University There are more than 1,300 cases of sex discrimination under investigation at school districts and universities across the country – they’re happening in virtually ever state. A quarter of those cases involve sexual violence on campus. Under the federal law known as Title IX, schools are required to investigate all reports of sexual assault and harassment. But colleges continue to struggle with that responsibility. Who should do the investigating? How should they be trained? Why not just have the police investigate an alleged rape? And what if the investigation also reveals that the victim of the assault was breaking the university’s code of conduct? Should the Title IX investigator report that to administrators?  It’s a thorny – but important – job. And unfortunately, staff tasked with doing it are not as well-trained as we’d hope. Supporting African Women Rebuilding Their Communities After War (1:24:39) Guest: Linda Cole, Co-founder, African Women Rising   Uganda in central Africa, is surrounded by countries long plagued by violent conflict, including South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The women in these countries bear a disproportionate burden in rebuilding after war. But often, the international aid that comes to their communities is out of reach to the women who need it most. A nonprofit called African Women Rising has focused for the last 15 years on empowering women after war in Northern Uganda.