Teaching Abstract Math

Guest: Larry Baxter, Ph.D., Professor of Chemical Engineering at BYU.  Summer is bad air season in cities across the country. Hot temperatures combine with pollutants to create ozone and other dangerous conditions bad for health.  The Environmental Protection Agency has now added CO2 to the list. That’s a big deal because, carbon dioxide doesn’t actually harm plants and people directly. But we’re well aware by now that CO2 emissions are a primary driver of global warming and now it’s the target of the EPA’s new pollution program called the Clean Power Plan. President Obama announced it to great fanfare last week. Power plant emissions are the primary target.

Guest: Christopher Solomon, Freelance Adventure Writer.  It sounds like the best of two worlds: sleeping in the great outdoors, with a cool breeze blowing, stars twinkling overhead—all the while you’re tucked into real king-sized bed swaddled in a luxury down comforter, with mood lamps on the bedside table next to you. Welcome to the world of glamping, or “glamourous camping.” Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it?

Guest: Chuck Kardous, Engineer at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.  Many people spend their early 20s going to really loud music concerts that leave a mark on their hearing.  It's worse for the musicians up on that stage, rocking at high decibels night after night. Hearing loss turns out to be a pretty big concern for musicians, according to some new work being done by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Guest: Grant Madsen, Ph.D., BYU History Professor.  Grant Madsen returns for our recurring segment, "American Heritage."  This week he talks with my colleague Marcus Smith about the cherished American value of liberty.

Guest: Chad d'Entremont, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Rennie Center in Boston.  When high school students are struggling with academics, principals try all sorts of aids to help them succeed: counselors, tutors, on-line classes.  But a new study out by the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy found that high schools can help some of their struggling students by sending them to college early.