Vaccination Laws, Media Savvy Teens, Bill Murray Stories

Let Teens of Anti-Vaxx Parents Choose for Themselves Guest: Dorit Rubenstein Reiss, Professor of Law, UC Hastings College of Law As many as 1 in 10 parents in the US are not following the vaccination schedule recommended for their children by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the last two months, the CDC says more than 200 cases of measles have been confirmed in 10 states. A third of those are in Washington State, where parents of public-school children are allowed to opt out of vaccination for personal reasons not related to religion or a medical condition. Promoting Positive Body Image for Youth Guest: Renae Regehr, Founder, Free to Be Talks Ever look at a stunning photo of a person in a magazine and wonder if they digitally enhanced the model? In France, it’ll soon be easy to tell. France recently passed a law requiring labeling of all retouched photos used in media. In 2014, the US Congress considered such a bill, but it never even made it to a vote. So kids here are still on their own when in sifting the distorted body images that come their way. The Bill Murray Stories Guest: Tommy Avallone, Director, “The Bill Murray Stories” What would you do if Bill Murray just showed up at your kickball game and joined in? Bill Murray’s become famous for these random sightings –popping in on house parties, photobombing engagement pictures. So, filmmaker Tommy Avallone had been hearing these stories and wondered if they could really be true. And if they were, why was a famous movie star like Bill Murray wandering around mingling with the regular folk when he could be cloistered away in a mansion somewhere? Soda Taxes Reducing Consumption Guest: Kristine Madsen, Faculty Director, Berkeley Food Institute, University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health Almost half of adults in America have diabetes or are on the verge of getting it if they don’t make some changes. Maybe we could use a nudge? That’s where the soda tax comes in. Nearly 40 countries have them and seven US cities. Berkeley, California was the first to take the plunge. Five years later, there’s some evidence the tax is working. Unexpected Discovery Illuminates Women’s Role in Creating Medieval Manuscripts Guest: Alison Beach, Professor of Medieval History, Ohio State University In Medieval times, before the printing press was invented, books were produced by hand. Monks with outstanding penmanship would spend their lives making painstaking copies. The fanciest books were embellished with colorful designs, and usually the scribe would get no credit for his artistry because his work was done anonymously. I say, “his” because we tend to assume only men did the job in the Middle Ages. Wood on the Rise Guest: Michael Ramage, Professor of Architecture and Engineering, Cambridge University, Director of Cambridge Center for Natural Material Innovation  Wood makes a cozy house or cabin, but no way could you build a skyscraper out of wood, could you? It’d collapse under the weight! And what about fire? Or rain or rot? There’s a reason the world’s tallest buildings are made of steel and concrete. But don’t discount timber. Some tall buildings are starting to pop up around the world made of high-tech plywood –they’re sometimes called “plyscrapers.”