Unanimous Jury, Kilo Change, Animals & Armor

Unanimous Jury, Kilo Change, Animals & Armor

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Season 1, Episode 1168

  • Sep 27, 2019 6:00 am
  • 1:40:43 mins
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Eradicating the Last of Jim Crow Laws Guest: Thomas Aiello, PhD, Associate Professor of History, Valdosta State University. Author of the book, Jim Crow’s Last Stand: Nonunanimous Criminal Jury Verdicts in Louisiana  When the US Supreme Court convenes next month, it will consider whether it’s legal for states to convict someone of a serious crime when the jury in the trial is not unanimous. I know, we have this idea that to be found guilty of a felony like murder, you need all 12 jury members to say “guilty.” That’s true in federal crimes because the Constitution requires it. But do state courts have to follow the same rules? That’s what the Supreme Court will decide. At the moment, there’s just one state in the whole country that allows a partial jury to convict a criminal –it’s Oregon. Louisiana was in the same boat until just a year ago when voters changed the process in a referendum. Thomas Aiello has looked at the history of this practice and says a lot of it comes down to racism. The Global Unit of Mass in the Metric System Just Changed Guest: Wolfgang Ketterle, Ph.D., Professor of Physics at MIT When you step on a scale or put some apples on the little one at the grocery store, how does the scale know exactly what a pound is? If you can believe, there’s actually a chunk of platinum in a vault in France that is the official kilo against which every scale in the world is calibrated. But this is 2019 and the world’s scientists have decided they can define the precise weight of a kilogram in a way that’s more high-tech (and hard for regular folks to understand). We’re going to try, though. How Animals Physically Adapt to Their Environment  Guest: Ted Stankowich, Professor of Biology at Cal State, Long Beach We know that animals adapt and evolve to survive as their environments change. So what kind of an environment causes an animal to develop quills, spikes or noxious spray, while other animals living in the same environment have no such protection? Biology professor Ted Stankowich at Cal State, Long B