Domestic Terrorism, Police & Mental Health, Birdsong

Understanding the Domestic Terror Threat in America (0:32) Guest: Ryan Vogel, Director, Center for National Security Studies, Utah Valley University Over the weekend, federal officials in Utah indicted nearly two dozen members of “white supremacist gangs” for drugs and weapons trafficking. The week prior, federal officials charged a dozen men affiliated with anti-government militia groups for plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor over her pandemic shutdown orders. Both are examples of “domestic terrorism,” which the Department of Homeland Security recently singled out as a “persistent and lethal” threat on the rise in the US. Women in the Workplace Report (19:17) Guest: Marianne Cooper, Sociologist, VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab, Affiliate at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, Stanford University Working mothers have always battled a stigma that in the US. They’re more likely to be penalized for juggling home and work responsibilities or asking for flexibility to attend to their children’s needs. But the pandemic has amplified those disadvantages in a way that could derail careers and erase the significant gains employers have made in women’s representation. Tackling the Mental Health Crisis Among Police Officers (36:10) Guest: Beth Milliard, Sergeant, York Regional Police, Ontario, Canada In the United States, police officers are far more likely to die by suicide than they are to be killed in the line of duty. Federal officials and nonprofits that support police officers have all declared suicide a pressing health risk for people in law enforcement. What’s driving the problem and what might help?  Air Pollution Has Been Linked to Brain Disorders–But Why? (51:18) Guest: Deborah A. Cory-Slechta, Professor of Environmental Medicine, Pediatrics, and Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester Air pollution is obviously bad for the lungs. It’s become increasingly clear that air pollution hurts the brain, too. May even be linked to dementia, Alzheimer’s and autism. But why? Treating Chronic Migraines with Green Light (1:07:10) Guest: Mohab Ibrahim, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Director, Chronic Pain Management Clinic, University of Arizona's Banner-University Medical Center Chronic migraines are debilitating and can be very difficult to treat. But, sitting in front of a green LED light for at least an hour a day, proved surprisingly effective for people who get lots of migraines.  Birds Sang Softer, Sexier During the Sudden Quiet of Pandemic Shutdown (1:25:17) Guest: Elizabeth Derryberry, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee Knoxville Remember how strangely quiet it was when the streets emptied during the shutdown back in the Spring? We’re all hoping to avoid going back to that as the pandemic rages on. But songbirds wouldn’t mind. Back in the spring, they were able to sing softer and sexier when they didn’t have to compete with cars and garbage trucks and all the other noise of a city. Scientists studied exactly how much softer and sexier white-crowned sparrow sang near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco back in April, when traffic practically stopped.