Gina Haspel and America's Torture History, Cancer-Hunting Dogs, Trapping Pythons

Guest: Ryan Vogel, JD, Director of the Center for National Security Studies, Utah Valley University President Trump’s controversial nominee to head the CIA—Gina Haspel—was confirmed by the US Senate today. Haspel is an unusual nominee for several reasons—she’ll be CIA’s first female director. She’s also got a lot more experience working as a spy in the field than previous CIA directors. But most of all, her nomination has drawn renewed attention to America’s use of secret prisons and torture tactics in the fight against terror.

Guest: George Preti, PhD, Adjunct Professor of Dermatology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Organic Chemist, Monell Chemical Senses Center Ovarian cancer is often fatal because there are rarely any early-stage symptoms so it frequently goes undetected until it’s quite advanced.  But an unlikely team of gynecologists, organic chemists, engineers, and veterinarians at the University of Pennsylvania is bringing man’s best friend to the fight. They’ve trained dogs to sniff out ovarian cancer, even in the early stages.

Guest: Timothy Welty, PharmD, Professor and Chair of Clinical Science, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Drake University The FDA is on the verge of approving the first prescription drug made from marijuana. The new medicine contains a compound found in marijuana called cannabidiol (CBD) and has been shown to reduce seizures in patients with epilepsy. But unlike other forms of medical marijuana, CBD isn’t psychoactive, meaning it doesn’t produce the “high” associated with marijuana.

(Originally aired 6/20/17) Guest: Michael Joyner, MD, Exercise Physiologist, Mayo Clinic Running a mile in under four minutes was an impossible feat…until it wasn’t. Once Roger Bannister became the first to eke out a mile in 3 minutes and 59.4 seconds back in 1954, an even faster mile quickly became the norm. Now, a group of Nike-sponsored runners has been trying to break the two-hour threshold for a marathon. The world record currently stands at two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds, for an officially recognized time. Last year, Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge came 24 seconds short of breaking the 2-hour barrier. That was after years of training and research and special shoe development by Nike. So, can it be done? And what would it take?

(Originally aired 6/5/17) Guest: Kevin Shenkman, JD, Attorney   Do the people on your city council look like you? Are they from your side of town? Your racial group? In a democracy it feels important to know there’s someone in elected office who gets your concerns, right? But here’s the thing – as America becomes more racially and economically diverse, our local governments are not keeping pace. Why is that? Is there something baked into the way cities and counties elect councilmembers that suppresses racial diversity? Lots of research suggests the answer is yes. In Southern California, attorney Kevin Shenkman is leading a crusade to change that. He’s filed upwards of a dozen lawsuits and threatened to file many more against cities and towns across California to get more diverse local councils.

(Originally aired 2/14/18) Guest: M. Rockwell Parker, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biology, James Madison University How do you catch a 20-foot long, 200-pound, alligator-eatin’ python? Or should you just run? Probably a good idea, but Burmese Pythons are a major problem in the Florida Everglades and they’re really tricky to catch. So a wily biologist named Rocky Parker has a tricky solution he’s hoping will work.