Best of Europe with Rick Steves

Guest: Neeru Paharia, Assistant Professor of Business, Georgetown University  A show called, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” was popular in America in the 1980s. On the show, conspicuous consumption and leisure time were the hallmarks of extraordinary wealth. You knew you’d arrived if you could buy anything you wanted and spend your time lounging on a yacht, not having to lift a finger. But somewhere in the last 30 years, there’s a been a shift in America toward busyness as a symbol of status. It’s all over social media, if you know what to look for. It’s also probably part of your own habits. When somebody asks how you’re doing, what’s your response? I bet “busy” comes up a lot.

Guest: Adrian Martineau, PhD, Clinical Professor of Respiratory Infection and Immunity, Queen Mary University, London Everybody knows Vitamin C is the cold-fighting vitamin. But there’s new evidence that Vitamin D, the “sunshine vitamin,” also protects against respiratory infections.

Guest: Jonathan Supovitz, Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania Social media has been touted as a great democratizing force: everyone has access to the same platform, so everyone has an equal voice, right?  But that assumes we’re all equally savvy about wielding our influence on social media. And one look at my 1,200 followers on Twitter compared to President Trump’s 27 million is proof some people have a much bigger megaphone.  A very cool project out of the University of Pennsylvania has mapped exactly how influence works on social media during debates over hot topics like the Common Core standards. Their work also uncovered some surprises about how particularly savvy users can hi-jack a debate to flood the system with their views and drive policies in their favor.  Check out the Common Core debate analysis here.

Guest: Professor Daniel Mochon, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Tulane University Everybody wants your likes on Facebook these days. What’s less clear is just what those “likes” mean. If you Like a company’s Facebook page, does that make you more likely to buy their products? Or maybe you liked the page because you already buy the products?  Most companies have yet to crack the code. Some new research about to be published in the Journal of Marketing Research suggests there’s nothing like good old advertising to reach customers – even in the age of social media.

Guest: Dr. Jon Schull, PhD, Founder of the e-NABLE Movement Every year roughly 1,500 babies in the US are born missing all or part of an arm.  Simple activities like getting dressed or opening door can be a challenge for these children. A prosthetic hand can cost tens of thousands of dollars and kids tend to out-grow them in a few years.  Enter the e-NABLE movement, a fast-growing network of more than 6000 volunteers that use 3-D printers to create custom-made prosthetics for less than $50. The movement has already provided about 2,000 prosthetics for people in more than 40 countries. enablingthefuture.org