Trade Wars and US Allies, The Science of Plot Twists, Mother of a Potential Shooter

Trade Wars and US Allies, The Science of Plot Twists, Mother of a Potential Shooter

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

  • Jun 5, 2018 11:00 pm
  • 1:43:14 mins

Trump Is Making Enemies of America’s Allies Guests: Chris Karpowitz, PhD, Professor of Political Science, BYU; Grant Madsen, PhD, Assistant Professor of History, BYU As President Trump heads to the annual summit of the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, he won’t get a very warm reception. A number of Trump’s moves over the last year have angered America’s closest allies. Just last week, President Trump drew outrage from Canada, Mexico and the European Union by putting an extra tax on all steel and aluminum those countries sell into the US. The EU is planning to tax iconic US products including motorcycles, denim, cranberry juice and peanut butter in retaliation.  The Science of Plot Twists Guest: Vera Tobin, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science, Case Western Reserve University, and Author of “Elements of Surprise: Our Mental Limits and the Satisfactions of Plot” Have you ever flipped to the end of a book just to find out what happens before you commit to reading it? Believe it or not, spoilers can actually enhance the audience’s enjoyment of a film or book. Cognitive scientist Vera Tobin explains why. Politically Linked Charities Guest: Raymond Fisman, PhD, Slater Family Professor in Behavioral Economics, Boston University It’s not that hard to track how much businesses donate directly to campaigns and politicians, since that information has to be disclosed. But when businesses donate to a politician’s favorite charity, connecting the dots is a little trickier. Should that kind of giving be considered political, too? And disclosed like campaign donations are?   The Suffocating Sea: The Dead Zone in the Arabian Sea Guest: Bastien Queste, PhD, Marine Biogeochemist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Pirates and political conflict make a large stretch of the Arabian Sea dangerous for scientists concerned about the water quality there. So a team of researchers deployed human-sized underwater drones to get a closer look at the problems lurking below the water in the Gulf of Oman, which is bordered by Oman, Iran, Pakistan and India. Their findings show a dead zone that’s grown to roughly the size of Florida.  ChatterBaby: An Instruction Manual for Your Baby? Guest: Ariana Anderson, PhD, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehvioral Science, UCLA, and the Director of the Laboratory of Computational Neuropsychology in the Medical Psychology-Neuropsychology Division, UCLA Babies don’t come with instruction manuals, so one of the first challenges for new parents is learning how to interpret their child’s cries. Now there’s an app for that called ChatterBaby. UCLA statistician Ariana Anderson has created an algorithm that can tell the difference between a cry of pain and a cry that means “Feed me!”  Mother of a Potential Shooter Guests: Liza Long, Freelance Writer, Mental Health Activist, and Author of “The Price of Silence: A Mom’s Perspective on Mental Illness”; Eric Walton, Son of Liza Long, High School Grad, and Presenter of the TED talk “Surviving With Mental Illness” Investigators are still trying to sort out why a 17-year-old at Santa Fe High School in Texas allegedly opened fire, killing ten people and injuring 13, last month. The shooter’s family said in a statement that the details of the shooting are “incompatible with the boy we love.” Police and people who knew the alleged shooter say there were no obvious warning signs of what he intended to do. That’s unusual. There are almost always warning signs. Six years ago when a troubled young man who exhibited a lot of warning signs killed 20 first graders and six employees at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Liza Long wrote a blog post about her own mentally ill son that went viral. The blog had a provocative title, "I Am Adam Lanza’s Mother," a reference to the Sandy Hook shooter. Liza Long’s son did not become a school shooter, but it’s been a painful road getting him the help he needs for his mental illness. She shares her experience as a parent and advocate, and her son, Eric Walton, shares his personal experience with mental illness.

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