Genetic Tests on Kids, Motivating Employees, Child Emotions

Genetic Tests on Kids, Motivating Employees, Child Emotions

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

  • Jul 27, 2015 9:00 pm
  • 1:42:39 mins
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Anchor It! (1:04) Guest: Joseph Mohorovic, M.B.A., Consumer Product Safety Commission “Child-proofing” a home is a daunting task. The cabinets, the toilet, the stairs. Hazards are everywhere once you start looking for them. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission a child ends up in the emergency room injured from a falling piece of furniture every 24 minutes. The commission has a new campaign called “Anchor It” to help raise awareness and create solutions for the dangers of tip-over accidents. Genetic Testing Kids (10:39) Guest: Dr. Jeffrey Botkin, M.D., Chief of Medical Ethics and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah Doctors and geneticists have noted what they call, “The Jolie Effect:” Each time actress and director Angelina Jolie has gone public with her choice to get preventative surgery because she tested positive for genes that place her at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer, genetic testing offices have seen a strong uptick in other women seeking the DNA tests. But how young is too young to get such tests done? Should parents have their children tested for genetic diseases? What about teenagers? The American Society of Human Genetics has just released new guidelines on the ethics of genetic testing in children and adolescents. Bioethicist Dr. Jeffrey Botkin is the lead author of the statement. Motivating Employees (35:10) Guest: Matthew McCarter, Ph. D., Professor of management at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Affiliate of the Economic Science Institute at Chapman University Giving employees a simple cash bonus isn’t always the best way to motivate them to work better. New research in Human Resources shows that a diversity of incentives can appeal to people more. Children’s Emotions (50:56) Guest: Ross Flom, Ph. D., BYU Psychology Professor Emotions are hard enough for adults to navigate, never mind trying to explain them to a child. Pixar recently took on the challenge in the animated film “Inside Out” which personifies five emotions in the mind of a pre-teen named Riley. Kids who see the film “Inside Out” might come away with a better understanding of those basic emotions, but what about more complicated ones like shame, guilt or pride? BYU psychology professor Ross Flom and his team of students recently released a study identifying the age at which children are capable of understanding pride and recognizing it in others. Parent Previews – Pixels and Paper Towns (1:08:23) Guest: Rod Gustafson, critic at parentpreviews.com  Rod Gustafson of Parent Previews joins us to discuss Adam Sandler’s new movie, “Pixels.” A lot of young kids think it’s cool to play retro video games now like Pac Man and Donkey Kong, on which the film is (loosely) based. But are kids really the intended audience for this film? Then, Gustafson offers his insights on “Paper Towns,” a film he classifies in the “Pimples-to-Beard” genre of coming of age story. Tech Transfer: Sparkling Yogurt (1:26:49) Guest: Lynn Ogden, Ph. D., Professor of Nutrition, Food science at BYU; Mike Alder, Director of BYU’s Technology Transfer Office There’s something so pleasing about the tongue-tingling sensation of a carbonated drink. Like tiny bubbles exploding in your mouth – although, interestingly, researchers have found it’s not the bubbles that give us that fizz and tingle on the tongue. Rather, carbonation seems to activate a combination of taste receptors and sensory cells in the mouth. Why we like that sensation so much is still a bit of a mystery to scientists. But there’s no denying we like it. And so, why not put it into more of our food? BYU food scientist Lynn Ogden has figured out how to carbonate yogurt and he’s betting you’ll love it.