Wildlife Forensics, Planet 9, Female President

SpaceX & NASA Take a Big Step in Space Travel Guest: Jeff Foust, Senior Staff Writer, Space News Since a press conference, the SpaceX craft successfully docked at the International Space Station. It’ll come back to earth on Friday. But what’s the big deal here? NASA has sent people and stuff to the International Space Station many times. This latest launch didn’t even have astronauts on board.  Poop-Seeking Dogs Work to Save Endangered Orcas Guest: Deborah Giles, Vessel Captain for this Project, University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology Since orcas in the Pacific Northwest were placed on the endangered species list more than a decade ago, their status hasn’t improved. No one was quite sure why. That is, until sniffer dogs hit the water and found scientific gold: killer whale feces. How do you train a dog to sniff scat on the open sea? How Liberia’s Women Overthrew Male Domination to Elect Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Guest: Helene Cooper, Pentagon Correspondent, New York Times, Author of “Madame President: The Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.” Six of the 16 people currently running for president in 2020 are women. Hillary Clinton confirmed this week she will not make another run at the White House. What will it take for America to elect a female president? A decade before Clinton’s “Pantsuit Nation” came up short, the women of Liberia staged what New York Times reporter Helene Cooper calls a master-class in how to do it. That’s when Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became the first democratically-elected female president in Africa.  Apple Seed Guest: Sam Payne Sam Payne shares a story. The Race to Find our Hidden Planet Guest: Mike Brown, Professor of Planetary Astronomy, California Institute of Technology Years ago, Mike Brown gathered evidence that Pluto is just one of lots of small icy planets in the outskirts of the solar system and that led to Pluto’s demotion from the nine planets in the solar system kids memorize in grade school. Brown –who is a Professor of Planetary Astronomy at Caltech –is now leading the charge to add a ninth planet back to the list. No, he’s not bringing Pluto back. He and other astronomers believe there’s some giant planet nobody’s ever seen before way out past Neptune orbiting the sun on a really weird path. Religion, Retail, and John Wanamaker’s Empire Guest: Nicole Kirk, Associate Professor, Rev. Dr. J. Frank and Alice Schulman Chair in Unitarian Universalist History, Meadville Lombard Theological School Chik-Fil-A is closed on Sundays, which you probably know is because the company founder was a devout Southern Baptist. And Hobby Lobby's owners are religious, too: you'll notice a lot of Christian themed decor for sale in their craft stores. But when it comes to blending religion and retail, John Wanamaker did it really big. His flagship department store in downtown Philadelphia had a huge pipe organ in the balcony fit for a cathedral. Wanamaker was as devoted to Christianity as he was to consumerism. So, he married the two in his groundbreaking chain of stores during the late 1800s. He liked to say that his stores were his “pulpit.” Any retailer today who infuses their religious beliefs with their business owes a debt to John Wanamaker.