Fair Use in the Digital Age, Pollution and Pregnancy, Why Work

Guest: Peter Midgley, Director of the BYU Copyright Licensing Office  When political campaigns are in full swing, it’s common to see musicians and media outlets complain when a candidate they don’t like uses their music or soundbites in their campaign material.  Donald Trump’s been getting a lot of pushback from musicians including Adele and REM for playing their music at his rallies.  Regular folks can run afoul of fair use laws, too, when they post a video of themselves lip synching or their kids dancing adorably to a hit song. If the video goes viral, the risks are much higher.   The boundaries of what’s fair use and what’s not under the law are harder than ever to distinguish in this day when anyone can easily borrow someone else’s work, put their own twist on it and share it with the world.

Guest: Emily DeFranco, DO, Physician-Researcher at the Center for Prevention of Preterm Birth at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine  During peak haze season here in Northern Utah, something about the cold air and big mountain range traps the smog and creates dangerously high pollution levels for weeks at a time. During those periods, we’re warned that children, older adults and people with asthma should stay indoors. Perhaps pregnant women should be added to the list, too.  A study in the journal “Environmental Health” has found high levels of certain types of air pollution correspond to an increased risk of giving birth prematurely.

Guest: Barry Schwartz, PhD, Professor of Social Theory and Social Action at Swarthmore College  Do you like your job? About seventy percent of Americans either flat out hate their work or are simply not engaged in the job, according to Gallup polls. Which means that the majority of us are clocking in every day eager for the minutes to pass so we can head home.  Not only are we not enjoying ourselves, we’re probably not getting as much done or doing as good a job as we would if we really enjoyed the work.  Social theorist Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College says the trouble with work in America is the system we’ve evolved for making money since the Industrial Revolution. In our race toward efficiency and profits, we’ve forgotten how important it is for us to feel like our work matters and that we’re part of something great.

Guest: Thomas Wills, PhD, Interim Director of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center’s Prevention and Control Program  Electronic cigarettes have become enormously popular around the world – and here in the US, the percentage of teens who’ve used them has tripled in just five years. That trend is worrisome to public health officials who’ve watched youth smoking rates decline to historic lows.  But young people often think e-cigarettes are safer than traditional smoking, since you’re just inhaling water vapor mixed with nicotine and other chemicals. What’s left to be seen is whether teenagers who “vape” become teenagers who smoke tobacco cigarettes.

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Film Reviewer at ParentPreviews.com  We discuss the films “Race,” about Jesse Owens, and “Risen,” the story of Christ from the perspective of a Roman guard.

Guests: Phil Windley, PhD, Professor of Computer Science at BYU; Dave Brown, Director of BYU’s Technology Transfer Office  It’s common for credit card information to be on file with at least a dozen different websites and businesses – it’s so convenient to have the monthly cell phone bill or magazine subscription charge automatically to the card. And isn’t it nice not having to enter your card number every time you want download a book to your tablet or order supplies from Amazon?  But all of that ease turns into a real hassle every few years, when the card expires and we get a new one in the mail and never can remember all the of the places we need to update it.