How Fireworks Work, Scholarship Race, Coin Shortage

How Fireworks Work – and How the Pandemic Has Them on Ice (0:32) Guest: Steve Coman, CEO, RES Pyro The pandemic has forced cancellation of many of America’s favorite Fourth of July festivities. But fireworks can still happen – and are, in many cities, including my own. With the caveat that nobody can congregate in public places to watch them. Our city promises to launch them high enough in the sky that people should be able to see them from home. So let’s talk about the science of that. After all these years marveling at the color and flash of fireworks, do you actually know how they work?  Merit-Aids Arms Race Hurts Low-Income Students (18:27) Guest: Stephen Burd, Senior Writer & Editor, Education Policy Program, New America State funding for public universities has been steadily declining for decades. Those cuts sped up during the Great Recession, and probably will with the current recession, too. So, what can state colleges and universities do to fill the gaps? Raise tuition is an obvious one – and they’ve done that. Here’s one that’s counterintuitive: a lot of public universities have begun offering more scholarships to smart, wealthy students. Why would that make sense for a university? And where does it leave poorer students who need financial aid in order to attend college?  The History Between Patents and Hate Crimes (35:19) Guest: Lisa Cook, Professor of Economics, Michigan State University Modern traffic light. The gas mask. Elevator doors that open and close automatically. The electric curling iron. A process for making coconut oil. All of those things were invented by African Americans in the late 1800s and early 1900s. It’s just a partial list, but Michigan State University economist Lisa Cook wonders what’s not on that list. Her research shows periods of extreme violence and hatred against Blacks in America also coincide with a plunge in patents being awarded to African Americans. Apple Seed (52:46) Guest: Sam Payne, Host, The Apple Seed, BYUradio Sam Payne shares stories about Independen