Venezuela in Crisis, Eastern Coyote, Cancer Drug Discovery

Venezuela in Crisis Guest: Sam Handlin, PhD, Professor of Latin American Politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah Despite having the world’s largest oil reserves, Venezuela is experiencing critical shortages of food, medicine and electricity. We got a grim look at the humanitarian crisis that’s unfolding on the front page of the New York Times this week: Photos showed patients in Venezuelan hospitals languishing in puddles of their own bloods, critically ill patients without medicine, infants dying without access to incubators. There are long lines for what few necessities are available in stores and rolling blackouts keep people in the dark for long stretches of time. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has declared a constitutional state of emergency.  Protests in the street calling for his ouster are intensifying. There are fears that Venezuela could be on the verge of a coup – or even complete collapse. Eastern Coyote Guest: Roland Kays, PhD, Associate Professor at North Carolina State University and Author of “Candid Creatures: How Camera Traps Reveal the Mysteries of Nature” There’s a new predator roaming the North Eastern United States and even popping up in the middle of New York City. It’s larger than a coyote, but not quite a wolf. Some have distinctly dog-like features – long legs, floppy ears, mottled fur. It even sounds like a mashup – part wolf howl, part coyote yip, part dog bark. Carrots Guest: Phillip Simon, PhD, Professor of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Research Scientists with the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service Now that scientists have decoded the entire human genome, they’re casting about for other worthy genetic targets to decipher. Thanks to the work of research scientist Philipp Simon at the US Department of Agriculture, we can now check carrots off the list. The Apple Seed Guest: Sam Payne, Host of BYU Radio’s “The Apple Seed” Sam Payne joins us in studio each week with insights on tellers and stories. Importance of Muscle Building Guest: Preethi Srikanthan, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles Body Mass Index – or BMI – is a common way for doctors to assess whether a person’s weight is in the healthy or obese range. But researchers are finding that a BMI score is not always a good indicator of a person’s overall health. In particular, they’ve noted an “obesity paradox” that finds higher BMI scores are often associated with lower mortality – just the opposite of what you’d expect. Discovering Cancer Drugs Guest: Vito Quaranta, MD, Director of the Integrative Cancer Biology Center and Co-Director of the Center for Matrix Biology at Vanderbilt University Medical School Finding new drugs to treat cancer can be a lengthy and expensive process, almost always ending in failure at the clinical trial stage. A new study co-authored by Vanderbilt University cancer biologist Vito Quaranta suggests the reason so many cancer drugs ultimately fail is because we’re not testing them correctly. Scheduling Free Time Guest: Selin Malkoc, PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing at Washington University in St. Louis Day-planner or digital calendar, what’s your method for staying on-task? I never really embraced the planner, but was an early adopter of the Palm Pilot. These days hardly anything in my life happens without first making an appearance on the Google Calendar constantly open on both my desktop computer and my smart phone. Which is great for getting things done. Not so great for enjoying leisure activities, according to research conducted by Selin Malkoc, a marketing professor at Washington University in St. Louis. She finds that precisely scheduling something that’s supposed to be fun – like going to the movies or grabbing lunch with a friend – can actually sap the fun out of it.