Glamping

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: 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: Daniel Schwartz, Ph.D.,  Professor of Educational Technology at Stanford.  We humans are apparently hard-wired to find symmetry attractive – people with symmetrical faces are generally considered better-looking. The balanced circular design of a flower’s petals is appealing to our eyes. Researchers at Stanford University have discovered a way to tap into our hunger for symmetry to help kids better understand abstract math concepts.

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.