Apple Seed

Guest: Shannon K. O'Neil, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies, Director of the Civil Society, Markets, and Democracy Program, Council on Foreign Relations. A massive bribery scandal has broken out in Latin America. It involves a giant construction company not well-known in the United States. But in Brazil, where the company is based – and across Latin America, really – this company, called Odebrecht – is a major player in large construction projects like bridges, office towers and stadiums. The company has admitted to paying nearly 800-million dollars in bribes to win lucrative construction contracts in 12 different countries. The sordid details of it all are still emerging, and as they do, government officials and politicians across Latin America are being outed as bribe-takers.

Guest: Andrew Boyd, Professor of Biomedical and Health Information Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago Lots of employers and fitness clubs sponsor contests around how much activity you can log on your Fitbit or other wearable device. Now, a major health insurer is getting in on the action: people on some of United Healthcare’s insurance plans can earn up to $1,500 credit toward their health expenses by hitting certain milestones on their fitness tracker. But, could giving all that data about your daily activity to an insurance company backfire on you?

Guest: Harry Kraemer, Professor in the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University Things move so fast in the modern business world, that leaders often have to move quickly and juggle a lot of things at once. Moms can relate to that pressure, too. So the advice our next guest offers will apply to pretty much anyone under the gun to get a lot done at home or at work.

Guest: Jeff Maughan, PhD, Professor of Plant & Wildlife Sciences, BYU Quinoa has become a trendy menu item in whole food and vegetarian restaurants because of its outstanding nutritional value: high in protein, gluten-free, low glycemic index and an excellent balance of essential amino acids. If you’re attracted to superfood fads, this grain is for you. But the potential for quinoa goes beyond fad - the United Nations declared 2013 the International Year of Quinoa because it holds such promise for tackling hunger worldwide. . . if only it would grow well in the places people need it most.

Guest: Amr Al-Azm, PhD, Associate Professor of History and Anthropology, Shawnee State University, Ohio Next week marks the 6th anniversary of the start of the Syrian Civil War that has left hundreds of thousands dead and forced millions to flee their homes. In the years before war broke out between Syria’s Assad regime and his opponents, archaeologist Amr Al-Azm was head of science and conservation in the Antiquities Department of the Syrian government and a professor at the University of Damascus. But political pressure and frustration with the Assad regime led Al-Azm to leave Syria. He spent several years as a visiting professor at BYU before taking his current position as a professor of history and anthropology at Shawnee State University in Ohio, where he also coordinates international efforts to protect Syria’s antiquities from looting and destruction.