Germaphobes Be Aware

Germaphobes Be Aware

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Refugees Are Not the Problem, Decline in U.S. Life Expectancy

Episode: Refugees Are Not the Problem, Decline in U.S. Life Expectancy

  • Mar 8, 2017
  • 17:05 mins

Guest: Charles Gerba, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Environmental Sciences, University of Arizona All you germophobes prepare to be grossed out here for the next few minutes, because we’ve got microbiologist Charles Gerba on the line to offer some insight on the most contaminated things in our daily lives. A little spoiler here - the worst offenders aren’t even in the bathroom.

Other Segments

Decline in U.S. Life Expectancy Ranking

12m

Guest: Gordon Lindsay, PhD, Professor of Health Science, BYU How do you think the United States compares in life expectancy to other developed countries? Near the top? Somewhere in the middle? It turns out, among 17 of the wealthiest democracies in the world, we’re dead last, according to a report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.  Did that come as a surprise? If it did, you’re not alone.  A national survey asked the same question. Not even five percent of respondents correctly responded that U.S. life expectancy falls at or near the bottom of the rankings. Now, the question here is why does it matter whether Americans know how poorly we compare to other countries on health measures?

Guest: Gordon Lindsay, PhD, Professor of Health Science, BYU How do you think the United States compares in life expectancy to other developed countries? Near the top? Somewhere in the middle? It turns out, among 17 of the wealthiest democracies in the world, we’re dead last, according to a report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine.  Did that come as a surprise? If it did, you’re not alone.  A national survey asked the same question. Not even five percent of respondents correctly responded that U.S. life expectancy falls at or near the bottom of the rankings. Now, the question here is why does it matter whether Americans know how poorly we compare to other countries on health measures?

What is Nothing?

22m

Guest: James Weatherall, PhD, Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Irvine, author of “Void: The Strange Physics of Nothing” When we lament that we have “nothing to wear,” or there’s “nothing in the fridge,” we don’t mean literally nothing. But let’s say we did. A fridge with shelves completely empty – not even a cube of butter or a half-full ketchup bottle? If we took out all the shelves and the light bulb and sucked the air out of the fridge, then would it be completely empty?  This question of “what is nothing?” has bedeviled physicists for centuries – and it still does, frankly. You might wonder why they care all that much. Isn’t something more important than nothing?

Guest: James Weatherall, PhD, Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science, University of California, Irvine, author of “Void: The Strange Physics of Nothing” When we lament that we have “nothing to wear,” or there’s “nothing in the fridge,” we don’t mean literally nothing. But let’s say we did. A fridge with shelves completely empty – not even a cube of butter or a half-full ketchup bottle? If we took out all the shelves and the light bulb and sucked the air out of the fridge, then would it be completely empty?  This question of “what is nothing?” has bedeviled physicists for centuries – and it still does, frankly. You might wonder why they care all that much. Isn’t something more important than nothing?