BYU Professor's Census Tree links families together through generations

BYU Professor's Census Tree links families together through generations

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 946 , Segment 5

Episode: California Fires, Nuclear Energy, Secure Design, American Math

  • Nov 19, 2018 10:00 pm
  • 20:40 mins

Guest: Joseph Price, Professor of Economics at Brigham Young University, Director of the BYU Record Linking Lab Finding your roots through DNA tests is a lucrative industry that has enabled many, many people to find relatives or distant ancestors. But there’s still a lot of manual work involved to flesh out the details of your family tree beyond the first few generations. US Census records are a key source for that, but anyone who has searched them knows how tricky it is to connect ancestors from decade to decade. BYU’s record linking lab is working to automate the process drawing from more than a hundred million US Census records now available online.

Other Segments

The Future is Looking a Bit Hazy and Nuclear

19 MINS

Guest: Allison M. Macfarlane, Professor of Science Policy and International Affairs and Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, George Washington University Nuclear power is fading in the US. Most of the nation’s 100 or so nuclear reactors are near the end of their 40-year-life-span initially approved by regulators. More than a dozen have become so expensive to maintain they are slated to be shut down permanently. The nation’s oldest commercial nuclear plant was 49-years-old – and it just closed down for good in Lacey, New Jersey. Meanwhile only one new nuclear power plant is currently under construction in the US.  But America’s nuclear safety rules and regulations were designed for building and maintaining plants, not tearing them down.

Guest: Allison M. Macfarlane, Professor of Science Policy and International Affairs and Director of the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy, George Washington University Nuclear power is fading in the US. Most of the nation’s 100 or so nuclear reactors are near the end of their 40-year-life-span initially approved by regulators. More than a dozen have become so expensive to maintain they are slated to be shut down permanently. The nation’s oldest commercial nuclear plant was 49-years-old – and it just closed down for good in Lacey, New Jersey. Meanwhile only one new nuclear power plant is currently under construction in the US.  But America’s nuclear safety rules and regulations were designed for building and maintaining plants, not tearing them down.