Chasing Curiosity and How Stuff Works

Chasing Curiosity and How Stuff WorksTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 874, Segment 3

Aug 9, 2018 • 18m

Guest: Marshall Brain, Founder, How Stuff Works, Director, Engineering Entrepreneurs Program, North Carolina State University, Author, “Manna: Two Visions of Humanity's Future" Seemingly simple mysteries are all around us: How does a car engine work? Or an electric guitar? Those are the kinds of questions that have driven Marshall Brain, who founded the website How Stuff Works when the internet was first becoming popular. Brain is now the Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program at North Carolina State University, but still chasing answers to the world's questions.

Other Segments

Why Aren't there More Women Leading America's Biggest Businesses?Aug 9, 201816mGuest: Susan Madsen, PhD, Professor of Organizational Leadership, Utah Valley University Less than 5% of CEOs at major public companies in the US are women. That number hasn’t changed much in a decade, though recently there has been a spate of departures – female CEOS at Campbell Soup, Mattel, Hewlett Packard and Mondelez have all left. This week, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi announced she’s stepping down, too. That will leave just 23 female CEOs at S&P 500 companies. Why aren’t there more women leading America’s largest businesses?

Guest: Susan Madsen, PhD, Professor of Organizational Leadership, Utah Valley University Less than 5% of CEOs at major public companies in the US are women. That number hasn’t changed much in a decade, though recently there has been a spate of departures – female CEOS at Campbell Soup, Mattel, Hewlett Packard and Mondelez have all left. This week, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi announced she’s stepping down, too. That will leave just 23 female CEOs at S&P 500 companies. Why aren’t there more women leading America’s largest businesses?

From Cricket Player to Prime Minister of PakistanAug 9, 201816mGuest: Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director, Senior Associate for South Asia in the Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. In 1992, Pakistan beat England to win its first cricket World Cup. That victory vaulted cricket player Imran Khan to the very pinnacle of his sport. And now he’s achieved the pinnacle of Pakistan politics, too, by becoming prime minister. It’d be like if Michael Jordan became the US president. What impact does this have on US relations with Pakistan?

Guest: Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director, Senior Associate for South Asia in the Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C. In 1992, Pakistan beat England to win its first cricket World Cup. That victory vaulted cricket player Imran Khan to the very pinnacle of his sport. And now he’s achieved the pinnacle of Pakistan politics, too, by becoming prime minister. It’d be like if Michael Jordan became the US president. What impact does this have on US relations with Pakistan?

DNA from a 4,000-Year-Old Egyptian HeadAug 9, 201816m(Originally Aired: 4/23/2018) Guest: Odile Loreille, PhD, Research Biologist, FBI For nearly a century, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has had a 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy head in its vaults. Archaeologists were pretty sure the head belonged to Governor Djehutynakht - or his wife - because it was found in their tomb in 1915. But by that point looters had done a number on the tomb, so the mummified head was all jumbled in the mess left behind. Once archaeologists had exhausted their methods of identification, they called the FBI for DNA analysis. But could they extract enough DNA from a 4,000 mummified head to glean any information?

(Originally Aired: 4/23/2018) Guest: Odile Loreille, PhD, Research Biologist, FBI For nearly a century, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has had a 4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy head in its vaults. Archaeologists were pretty sure the head belonged to Governor Djehutynakht - or his wife - because it was found in their tomb in 1915. But by that point looters had done a number on the tomb, so the mummified head was all jumbled in the mess left behind. Once archaeologists had exhausted their methods of identification, they called the FBI for DNA analysis. But could they extract enough DNA from a 4,000 mummified head to glean any information?

Tech Transfer – A Supplement for Your Body and Your BrainAug 9, 201816m(Originally Aired: 4/2/2018) Guests: Benjamin Bikman, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University; Mike Alder, BYU Technology Transfer Office Vitamin supplements are a $50-billion-dollar global industry and what would you guess is fueling it’s growth in the US right now? The Baby Boomers. Grand View Research Inc. says supplements to prevent muscle wasting and maintain healthy joins are expected to do be a big business as the boomers age. Imagine they could come up with a supplement that tackled muscle-wasting and the mental decline that comes with age? A brain-body supplement for boomers?

(Originally Aired: 4/2/2018) Guests: Benjamin Bikman, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University; Mike Alder, BYU Technology Transfer Office Vitamin supplements are a $50-billion-dollar global industry and what would you guess is fueling it’s growth in the US right now? The Baby Boomers. Grand View Research Inc. says supplements to prevent muscle wasting and maintain healthy joins are expected to do be a big business as the boomers age. Imagine they could come up with a supplement that tackled muscle-wasting and the mental decline that comes with age? A brain-body supplement for boomers?

Do Thawing Soils Pose a Problem For Climate Change?Aug 9, 201821m(Originally Aired: 5/30/2018) Guest: Ben Abbott, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Ecology, Brigham Young University The ice caps in the Arctic are melting, but so is the permanently frozen soil. And that has the potential to really throw the balance of carbon dioxide out of whack. Why does melting dirt pose a problem for the atmosphere?

(Originally Aired: 5/30/2018) Guest: Ben Abbott, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Ecology, Brigham Young University The ice caps in the Arctic are melting, but so is the permanently frozen soil. And that has the potential to really throw the balance of carbon dioxide out of whack. Why does melting dirt pose a problem for the atmosphere?