Worlds Awaiting: Novels Based on Superhero Comic Books

Guest: Carolina Núñez, JD, Professor of Immigration Law, Associate Dean of Research and Academic Affairs, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University  President Trump is giving Congress six months to come up with a permanent solution to the status of some 800,000 undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers,” who were brought to the U.S. as children. “Dreamers” have had access to work permits and protection from deportation under a policy enacted by President Obama in 2012, called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. President Trump announced Tuesday he will rescind that policy next March, but hopes Congress will make the policy permanent in the meantime.

Guest: Ashley Whillans, PhD, Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School  How much is your time worth? Specifically, your free time? Experts say that people around the world have worked themselves into a shortage of free time. And now there’s evidence that if we spent some money on services that could buy us a little time – say hiring someone to mow the lawn or run errands for us -  we’d be happier.

Guest: John Basl, PhD, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Northeastern University Individuals with inherited, potentially fatal diseases can find it excruciating to know, as they become parents, that they might be passing these genes on to their children. Scientists have recently been able to edit one of these diseases from a human embryo, which could radically change how we can fight disease. But could the technology also allow people to decide whether their children have curly or straight hair, long eyelashes, or superior math skills? In other words, are that much closer to a world of designer babies?

Guest: Michael Orosz, PhD, Research Director of Decisions Systems Group, Information Sciences Institute, School of Engineering, University of Southern California The big concern for Hollywood studios used to be pirates selling illegal copies of their movies and TV shows. Now the studios have to worry about hackers stealing and releasing content before it’s aired. HBO and Netflix both recently had unaired episodes and scripts of hit shows “Game of Thrones” and “Orange is the New Black leaked online. What do hackers see in Hollywood?

Guest: Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code, Author, “Girls Who Code”; Stacia Deutsch, Author, “Girls Who Code: The Friendship Code” Every site you browse on the web, software program you use on your computer or app on your phone was created by a coder. And that coder was probably a guy. He probably started coding as a kid, too. Why don’t more girls gravitate to coding? Reshma Saujani has a theory and a new book that aims to address it called “Girls Who Code” – the same name as Saujani’s organization which teaches coding to girls all across the country. The book is an illustrated introduction to coding with a cast of girls who are also featured in a companion series of novels for young readers.