China's Children Policy, Elephants and Cancer, Modern IndiaTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 304
May 26, 2016 • 1h 44m
China One-child Policy
Guest: Valerie Hudson, PhD, Professor of International Affairs and George H.W. Bush Chair in the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University
Last year, Chinese officials announced they would relax the one-child policy that was in place for more than 30 years. Couples will now be allowed to have two kids. Part of the motivation for the change is China’s shortage of young people to take care of an aging population and fill jobs that fuel the nation’s economy.
Endangered Click Languages
Guest: Bonny Sands, PhD, Professor of Linguistics at Norther Arizona University
Around the world, there are efforts to protect plant and animal species from completely disappearing. We’re maybe a little less concerned about the vestiges of human culture dying out. Take languages, for example. The United Nations estimates that by the end of this century, half of the world’s six thousand languages will be gone. And along with them disappears the cultural significance and history embedded in the words people used to express themselves.
Elephants Don’t Get Cancer
Guest: Joshua Schiffman, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Professor of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah
Here’s a scientific mystery to chew on - elephants have 100 times as many cells as humans. Which means there ought to be 100 times more likely to have one of those cells turn cancerous over their long lives – elephants live up to 70 years. But turns out that elephants rarely get cancer.
Marriage and Pressure
Guest: Wendy Birmingham, PhD, Psychology Professor at BYU
Marriage is good for your health. Studies show married people tend to live longer than unmarried people and are at lower risk for depression. Generally speaking, married people are happier people. BUT, and there’s a big but here, the quality of your marriage matters. If you’re unhappily married your health might worse than if you were single.
So what about the in between stages? Marriages that are more-or-less ambivalent – not exactly