The Cost of Happiness

Guest: Wornie Reed, PhD, Director, Race and Social Policy Research Center, Virginia Tech Fifty years after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, what lessons does his legacy offer young activists today marching and organizing for issues such as racial equality, police reform, economic opportunity or gun control? Wornie Reed worries the real nature of Dr. King’s work is not well-known today, and certainly not taught in your typical social studies or history class at school.  Reed marched alongside Martin Luther King Jr and saw him speak dozens of times.

Guest: Robert Walz, Associate Teaching Professor of Journalism, Brigham Young University

Guest: Eric Wunderlich, Manager, LDS Charities Wheelchair Initiative; Ryan Larson and Cameron Johnson, Chemical Engineering Capstone Students, Brigham Young University Can you imagine how limited your opportunities would be if you needed a wheelchair to get to work, school, church, the store... but you didn’t have one? The World Health Organization says there are 70 million people in the world who need a wheelchair. Those who live in countries like the US typically have what they need. People in poorer countries, don’t. And if they do have a wheelchair, it’s not well-adapted to getting around on rough terrain, over long distances. A group of engineering students at BYU has come up with a solution, in partnership with the humanitarian arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Guest: Adele Newson-Horst, PhD, Vice President of Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group, Professor of English at Morgan State University In February, Virginia lawmakers approved development on a cancer research and treatment center in honor of Henrietta Lacks. The center will be constructed in Halifax County, not far from where Henrietta Lacks was buried in 1951. But in a very real way, Henrietta Lacks lives on today. For around $500, you can order a vial of her living cells for research purposes. The Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group promotes the “immortal biological contributions” of Henrietta Lacks to medicine.

Guest: Jialu Shan, Research Associate, Global Center for Digital Business Transformation, Switzerland Toys “R” Us is going out of business. It’s the end of an era for the generations who grew up wandering the aisles and begging parents for their favorite toy. Another casualty of Amazon.com? Perhaps, but not all of our shopping is not going to be online in the future. Consider that Amazon itself just opened its first Amazon Go store, a brick and mortar convenience store in Seattle. Researchers at the Global Center for Digital Business Transformation say that we’re entering the age of “New Retail,” a combination of online and “offline,” or brick-and-mortar retail. And in that game, it’s actually China that’s leading the way.