Veterans' Project, Life in Space, Student Debt, Women and Ultras

Guest: Col. Karen D. Lloyd, Retired US Army, Director of Veteran’s History Project. This weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI. The last living American veteran of that war – Frank Buckles – died in 2011 when he was 110. In an oral history preserved at the Library of Congress, Buckles recalls lying about his age to enlist for the war when he was just 16 and then pestering every commanding officer he met while stationed in England, hoping to get transferred to the front in France. The Veteran's History project collects memories from veterans from over 100 years of service. Learn more about how it works and how to contribute.

Guest: Morgan Leigh Cable, Technologist in the Instrument Systems Implementation and Concepts Section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Hollywood’s gotten very creative over the years envisioning what extraterrestrial life might actually look and sound like. Astrobiologists, though, think that if we do find life in space it will probably won’t wave a tentacle or speak an alien language. It’ll be way more subtle. And NASA scientist Morgan Cable is making it her job to pick up those signals when they come. Cable works at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena where she played a role on the Cassini Mission to Saturn. Her job also takes her to some of the harshest conditions on planet Earth, where she looks for clues about just what kind of life might be able to survive in space.

Guest: Julie Margetta Morgan, Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute Americans currently owe $1.5 trillion in student debt. That’s a lot of money. But in the scheme of things, borrowing money to get a college degree is a good investment, isn’t it? A college degree leads to a better job and higher salary. Well, detailed analysis of student loan debt across the country suggests those assumptions are flawed. Would you be surprised to learn that the heaviest student debt burdens fall on those with the lowest income levels?

Guest: Shawn Bearden, PhD, Professor of Exercise Physiology, Idaho State University 12 hours, 42 minutes and 39 seconds. That’s how long it took Camille Herron to run 100 miles last year. That’s running a 7 ½ minute mile – 100 times, back to back. Not only did she shatter the women’s 100-mile record, but she beat the fastest known time on that trail for both women and men. In most physical sports, men seem to be stronger and faster. But in the extreme lengths of ultramarathons, women are rising to the top.

Guest: Daniel Shain, PhD, Professor of Zoology, Rutgers University- Camden There are some strange creatures that thrive in extremely cold places on this planet – tiny worms that live inside glacier ice, for example. Zoologist Daniel Shain has dedicated his career to understanding how these organisms do it. Unlocking the secret of their tolerance to extreme cold could help scientists engineer new types of crops for chilly climates or extend the life of an organ for transplant, say. Shain is a professor at Rutgers University-Camden and he joins us on the line.

Guest: Rory Truex, Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Department of Politics, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University Eight years ago, Google took its search engine offline in China because the company didn’t want to comply with China’s censorship rules. Since then, Google has been secretly developing a version of its search engine that would satisfy the Chinese government’s demands. More than a thousand Google employees signed a letter protesting the project on ethical grounds. But Google’s CEO says the search engine would provide better information for Chinese citizens. In moving back into the Chinese market, is Google going back on its motto, "Don't Be Evil?"