Brazil Elections, Mental Health and Prisoners, Chinese Moon, Artificial Music

Guest: Dr. Jeffrey L. Metzner, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado. Elizabeth Smart’s kidnapper and rapist Brian David Mitchell is serving a life sentence in prison. But Wanda Barzee – Smart’s other captor – has just been released from prison. Barzee received a 15-year sentence for pleading guilty but mentally ill to her role in the 2002 crime. While in prison, the state parole board says Barzee refused mental health evaluation. Even so, the board determined she had served her time and they couldn’t keep her any longer. Elizabeth Smart and her family believe Barzee is still a danger and implored officials to reconsider. How is it that someone who admits mental illness underlying a serious crime – and maybe even gets a more lenient sentence as a result of that – can refuse treatment while in prison and then be released back into the public?

Guest: Rachel Wadham, juvenile and children’s librarian, BYU Library, host of World’s Awaiting on BYUradio. Why fantasy and fiction actually help young readers develop empathy better than other genres.

Guest: J. Ward Moody, Professor of Astronomy, Brigham Young University By 2020, China will supposedly have a second moon in their night sky. Researchers in Chengdu, China recently announced that they are designing a satellite that will illuminate a miles-wide stretch across the city by reflecting the light of the sun. They think their satellite could be so bright it will eliminate the need for street lights in Chengdu. Could that really work?

Guest: Steven Peck, Associate Professor of Biology, Brigham Young University When BYU biology professor Steven Peck rubbed his eyes while on a research trip to Vietnam, a rare bacteria got into his eye and made its way to his brain. After returning home, Peck began having vivid hallucinations that frightened his wife and ultimately brought him to the hospital emergency room.

Guest: Erik Nook, PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology, Harvard University We’ve all been there – when it feels like the world is coming at you so fast, every moment is tangled with hope and fear, and everything seems to matter but nothing makes sense. Even adults can find it hard to know which pressure is triggering an emotion. Well, now there is research that demonstrates what we long suspected: teenagers, in particular, struggle to differentiate between the complicated swirl of emotions they experience.