Stories with The Apple Seed

Guest: Erik Gordon, PhD, Professor at Ross School of Business, University of Michigan Walmart is rumored to be eyeing the huge health insurance company Humana. CVS pharmacy is buying Aetna insurance. Health insurer Cigna wants to merge with Express Scripts. And a trio of giant employers: Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan say they’re so fed up with the high cost of insurance they’re teaming up to create an independent company that can provide insurance to their US employees.  Why does combining forces seem to be the go-to strategy in American health care right now?

Guest: Jennifer Lee, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, author of "The Asian American Achievemenet Paradox" Harvard set a record for itself in college admissions this year – a record low. Fewer than five percent of applicants for the incoming freshman class got accepted. Diversity among the incoming class increased, though, which is encouraging to members of minority groups. But such low acceptance rates at the nation’s most elite colleges makes for a lot of disappointed high school seniors around the country. For one group in particular – Asian American students – the sting of rejection may be particularly intense. ONLINE BONUS: Jennifer Lee

Guest: Daniel Moriarty, PhD, Postdoc researcher in planetary geology, NASA Shortly after the moon formed, something gigantic smacked into it, leaving a mark large enough to fit half of the continental United States. This crater takes up a quarter of the Moon’s surface. And scientists think it holds the keys to understanding the early days of the solar system.  They’re looking for the best landing site in the giant crater to collect Moon rocks that would reveal those secrets.

Guest: Christopher Gregg, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor in Human Genetics, Assistant Professor in Neurobiology and Anatomy, University of Utah School of Medicine Humans are mammals. So are elephants, bats and dolphins. And we all share a fair amount of genetic information in common. What might we be able to learn about human diseases from studying the way bats have developed wings and elephants have evolved to avoid cancer?

Guest: E.R. Shipp, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Professor of Journalism, Morgan State University, Columnist, The Baltimore Sun Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. On Thursday afternoon, we’ll dive deeply into the Civil Rights leader’s legacy with the author of a King biography that won the Pulitzer Prize.  Right now, let’s get the perspective of another Pulitzer Prize winner – columnist E.R. Shipp – on how media coverage of race issues has evolved in the 50 years since King’s assassination and the release of something called the Kerner Report two months previously. Shipp was the first black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for commentary. As a columnist for the New York Daily News, the Pulitzer committee commended her for “penetrating columns on race, welfare and other social issues."