Apple Seed

Guest: Jacob Rugh, BYU Sociology  Housing and Segregation are Top of Mind today. In spite of fair housing laws passed during the Civil Rights-era, many US cities remain starkly divided by race. The Obama Administration last week unveiled stricter rules aimed at the broader goal of those fair housing laws. Yes, they prohibit discrimination based on race, but they also require local governments to actively foster integration in communities. That piece of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 has gone largely unenforced - and according to President Obama – the result includes the racial imbalances and lack of opportunity that have contributed to unrest in cities like Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore.

Guest: Dr. Jeff Tomberlin, Texas A&M entomologist  Mosquitos sometimes make the decision to sit outside and enjoy the summer a painful one. What makes mosquitos like us so much? Entomologist Jeff Tomberlin has recently found evidence that the bacteria on our skin have a way of sending a message to mosquitos that's pretty much like ringing a dinner bell. But now for the good news- Dr. Tomberlin and his colleagues think they might be able to mute that message so mosquitos steer clear.

Guest: Dr. Mary Bercaw Edwards, University of Connecticut English  Many of you are familiar with Captain Ahab, who searched for “the white whale” in “Moby Dick”. His ship – the Pequod – is a central character in the book, and a career-long obsession for University of Connecticut English professor Mary Bercaw Edwards. She’s an experienced sailor – even circumnavigated the world with her family at the age of 16. Last year, Bercaw Edwards set sail on the closest thing possible to Melville’s fantastical Pequod: She joined the crew of the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world and the final vestige of a once vast fleet of ships on which Herman Melville himself spent time as a seaman.

Guest: James Hill, Pulitzer Prize winner  There are certain photographs that have become iconic and our culture and history: New York’s Twin Towers in flames, the lone protester staring down a tank in Tiananmen Square, a 9-year old Vietnamese napalm-victim fleeing naked. Powerful photographs certainly impact those who look at them. What impact do these images, particularly those that document violence, have on the person behind the lens?  The stories behind the photographs are part of what makes award-winning photojournalist James Hill’s new book so fascinating. Somewhere Between War and Peace is a retrospective of his 20 plus years documenting war and politics in the world’s most dangerous places.  Link to the photos from Somewhere Between War and Peace. Viewer discretion advised.