Saving Zion for the Future

Guest: Kenneth Vogel, Reporter, The New York Times, Author of “Big Money” You’ve likely heard of the “Koch network,” established by a wealthy trio of brothers – last name Koch – who run a chemical and manufacturing empire. The Kochs have built a libertarian political operation over the years that some investigative reporters say rivals the Republican Party itself in size and influence. Which is why a recent dispute between Charles Koch and President Trump got a lot of attention: Koch levied some harsh criticism toward Trump’s trade policies at a meeting with major donors. Trump responded by calling the Koch brothers “a total joke” on Twitter, adding, “I don’t need their money or bad ideas.” Maybe this is just another one of Trump’s Twitter tiffs. But just what is the power the Koch network holds and does its influence have any bearing on life outside Washington?

Guest: Fil Menczer, PhD, Professor of Computer Science and Informatics, Director, Observatory on Social Media, Indiana University A news story keeps showing up on your Facebook or Twitter feed that all your friends are sharing and liking. How closely do you read it before sharing or liking it yourself? How sure are you that it’s not biased or completely fake or going viral mainly because automated accounts are liking and sharing it?

Guest: Mark Cohen, Director of Retail Studies, Columbia Business School, Former CEO, Sears Canada For about 20 years, online shoppers sidestepped local sales tax by buying online. Local governments were furious, but couldn’t force online stores to pony up. Now they can, thanks to a recent Supreme Court ruling. What will that mean for your online shopping experience?

The oldest flying vertebrates we know of are creatures called pterosaurs. They lived during the age of dinosaurs. But they’re not dinosaurs. They’re not birds either. In fact, we don’t actually know much about them because pterosaur fossils are really rare. And yet, BYU paleontologists have just found one in the most unlikely place.

Guest: Dean Pearson, PhD, Research Ecologist, US Forest Service Once firefighters have put out the devastating wildfires burning across the West, the race will be on to get those burned areas to start growing shrubs and grasses that are native to the region. The trouble is that a lot of these areas are already infected by invasive plants – like cheatgrass – that grow aggressively, squeeze out native plants and only make future fires more likely because cheatgrass is an annual plant that becomes a field of dry tinder just itching to go up in flames during the next fire season. So, getting native, fire-resistant plants to take root in grasslands is a major priority. But field mice also happen to find the seeds of native plants really tasty – unless they're coated in chili powder, that is.