ISIS Prosecutions, Death of the Dodo, COLD

What to Do with Americans Who Joined ISIS Guest: Eric Jensen, JD, Professor of International Law, BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School Hundreds of ISIS fighters surrendered this week in Eastern Syria where the US is backing the final push to force the terrorist group out of their last enclave. Once the battle has been won, then comes the problem of what to do with the ISIS fighters that have been captured? The answer is particularly tricky when the prisoner is an American citizen. We’re seeing a case of this play out in the courts right now –a 24-year old woman who was a college student in Alabama went to Syria four years ago to join ISIS and marry a fighter. Now she’s in a refugee camp over there with her baby, expressing remorse and hoping to come back to the US. But the Trump Administration is fighting that. Famous Dodo Died a Violent Death Guests: Mark Williams, Professor of Metrology, WMG at University of Warwick; Paul Smith, Director, Oxford University Museum of Natural History In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, there’s a scene with a dodo that was inspired by a famous actual dodo on display at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History in England. The dodo is that stumpy bird that can’t fly and has been extinct for 300 years. Lewis Carroll apparently spent a lot of time at the Oxford museum. In his story, the Dodo challenges Alice and some other creatures to a silly race in which everybody wins. Which is ironic, because the dodo that inspired the story turns out to have died a violent death only recently exposed by scientists studying the Oxford specimen. Making A True-Crime Podcast Guest: Dave Cawley, Investigative Reporter and Host of COLD, Podcast for KSL News Radio Podcasts about real crimes –often unsolved murders -are super popular right now. Of the Top 50 podcasts now on iTunes, about 1/3 of them are in this “true crime” category. Why are we so fascinated with these sordid stories? Yourself In 4 Letters: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (Originally aired October 9, 2018) Guest: Merve Emre, PhD, MPhil, Associate Professor of English, Oxford University, Fellow, Worcester College, Author, “The Personality Brokers” The most famous personality test in the world –the one that inspired all those crazy quizzes we take on social media –has a really surprising backstory. It was not developed by psychologists. The creators of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator were a mother-daughter team with no formal scientific training of any sort. But somehow their multiple choices test for sorting people into categories with four-letter codes like INTP or ESFJ has become the tool for companies, colleges, counselors -and even government agencies. Rising Cost of Insulin Proving Devastating for Millions with Diabetes (Originally aired October 9, 2018) Guest: Irl Hirsch, M.D., Diabetes Treatment and Teaching Chair, professor of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition, University of Washington  This week, drug company Eli Lilly announced it will sell a cheaper generic version of its popular insulin. That’s welcome news for Americans with diabetes who’ve been wrestling with sky-high prices. A Yale survey recently found one in four patients are rationing their insulin because they can’t afford it. Last fall we spoke with endocrinologist Irl Hirsch about the problems that high insulin prices cause. He’s a professor at the University of Washington and has Type 1 diabetes himself. Pluto May Be a Planet After All (Originally aired October 24, 2018) Guest: Philip Metzger, PhD, Planetary Scientist, University of Central Florida Poor little Pluto got demoted from full planet status more than a decade ago, but some of its advocates are still agitating to get it restored to its former glory. One of those is planetary physicist Philip Metzger at the Florida Space Institute. He says the reasons for re-classifying Pluto as a “dwarf planet” rather than a full planet were misguided. Metzger recently left NASA and joined us a few months ago to make the case for Pluto.