Apple Seed

Guest: David Sims, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics at BYU  The Securities and Exchange Commission recently completed a rule that will require some 3,800 public companies to start disclosing just how much more money their CEOs are taking home than rank-and-file employees. Companies fought this “pay ratio” rule for several years, fearing the extra work it might make for their HR departments – but more importantly, the uncomfortable conversations it might force. The average CEO today makes nearly 300 times what a company’s average employee makes, according to analysis by the Economic Policy Institute.

Guest: Dr. Russell James, Ph.D., Director of Texas Tech University’s Graduate Studies in Charitable Planning  Baby boomers have been the subject of much attention and eager anticipation since they day they were born. Their arrival led to an explosion of suburban America, their youthful protests changed college campuses and political conversations, their consumption has driven the consumer marketplace, their aging is expected to pressure Social Security and Medicare like never before. Is it any wonder, then, that much focus is now turning to what boomers will do with their money when they die?

Guest: Joachim Vandekerckhove, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Cognitive Sciences program at UC Irvine.  Is the secret to conveying love in a look? In a word? In an act? Researchers at Penn State and UC Irvine have embarked on a three- year study to find the answer. They’re looking at the whole range of what makes people happy over the long haul – and feeling loved is part of that picture.

Guest: Danielle Orfi, M.D., Ph.D., Doctor at Bellvue Hospital in New York City  Have you ever wondered what your doctor is thinking? The emotional factors that go into making medical decisions may have an effect on your diagnosis.

Guest: Hans-Wilhelm Kelling, Ph.D., Professor at BYU  Austria-born Hermine Ryan was a homemaker in Queens living a quiet life, known for her friendliness and pristine housekeeping when, in 1964 the New York Times revealed her secret past as an infamous Nazi prison guard known as “The Stomping Mare.” What could transform a working-class girl who at one time wanted to become a nurse, and who would later live a quiet life as an American housewife, into a cruel prison guard who was feared because of her violent treatment of women and children? Ryan’s story is among the many BYU German professor Hans-Wilhelm Kelling has studied, trying to understand what could turn ordinary people into extraordinarily cruel Nazi agents.