Public Defenders in Crisis, Plastic and Fat Babies, 3D Printing

Public Defenders in Crisis Guest: Maybell Romero, JD,Visiting Law Professor,BYU Across the country, programs that provide legal defense to low-income people accused of crimes are themselves being sued or investigated. Most recently, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against Utah’s public defender system, calling it underfunded and unconstitutional. Can Plastic Make Us Fat? Guest: Mahua Choudhury, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Texas A&M University’s Health Science Center.  More than a third of all US adults are considered obese. We’re well-aware of the need to eat healthy and exercise, but what if there is some other factor lurking in our lives that contributes to our expanding waistlines?  A recent study on animal stem cells found that a component of the plastics used in food processing equipment could be tied to rising obesity rates.  Building Shelter on Mars Guest: Robert Orwoll and Richard Kiefer, Professors Emeriti of William & Mary’s Department of Chemistry Fifteen years from now NASA hopes to be sending humans to Mars, but first scientists must figure out how to protect astronauts and equipment from the intense radiation they’ll be exposed to beyond Earth’s orbit. One of the many projects receiving NASA money to solve the radiation problem is happening at a private firm called International Scientific Technologies.  The company has charged two professors emeriti to figure out how to make bricks from Martian soil for building shelters to keep people safe from radiation and other elements on the Red Planet. Germany: Historical and Modern Migrant Hub Guest: Allison Schmidt, PhD, historian of migration, begins postdoc at the German Historical Institute in Washington D.C. this August Throughout the current migrant crisis, Germany has been both a key transit point and a destination for people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. German officials say they’ve welcomed more than a million refugees during the crisis and ha