Puerto Rico After Maria

Guest: Charles Venator-Santiago, PhD, Associate Professor, Joint Appointment, Department of Political Science and El Instituto, University of Connecticut A year after Hurricane Maria struck the island, government officials there have now acknowledged the death toll was much, much higher than they originally said. Nearly 3,000 people died in connection with the storm, making it the deadliest natural disaster in America in more than a century. Yes, Puerto Ricans are Americans. And while they struggle to recover from the hurricane’s damage, Puerto Rican officials are also renewing their push for US statehood. President Trump said in an interview with WTAM radio on Monday that he won’t support Puerto Rican statehood, so long as the current leaders are in office. Creating Mini-Leopard House Cats(Creating Mini-Leopard House Cats) Guest: Anthony Hutcherson, Bengal Cat Breeder, Ocelot Enthusiast Humans have lived side by side with cats just about as long as human civilization has existed, at least as far back as 4,000 years in Egypt. And there are plenty of cats to go around: hundreds of thousands of them are euthanized at animal shelters every year. But for some cat enthusiasts, housecats just aren’t exotic enough. Hybrid cat breeders are crossing domestics with wildcats to create tiny – and hopefully tame - versions of big cats that can cost over $10,000 to purchase. Should Elite Colleges Select Applicants by Lottery?(Should Elite Colleges Select Applicants by Lottery) Guest: Barry Schwartz, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Swarthmore College and Visiting Professor at U.C. Berkeley Ambitious high school students around the country have begun preparing their college applications. Many of them will have perfect GPAs, stellar ACT scores and outstanding extracurricular records. With competition so stiff, getting into an elite college can feel like a game of chance. So why not just go with it and make the application process a simple lottery? If you meet the minimum criteria, you get into the pool and the rest is left to luck. Proponents of this idea think it would be fairer and reduce some of the pressure high school students feel to be the perfect applicant. The Ancient Human History of Cheese(The Ancient Human History of Cheese) Guest: Paul Kindstedt, PhD, Professor of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Vermont Americans eat an average of 35 pounds of cheese a year- and some of us even wear it on our heads (we're talking to you Wisconsinites). Apparently our love of cheese goes way, way back. In an ancient Egyptian tomb this summer, archaeologists just uncovered a bowl with a lump of 3,200 year old fromage. Ancient Egyptians loved cheese so much that they even gave it as a funerary offering. Who How did cheese become such a central part of the human diet? Pollution & Dementia(Pollution & Dementia) Guest: Nicolai Kuminoff, Associate Professor of Economics, Arizona State University There’s a kind of pollution called PM2.5, tiny particles in the air, just a fraction the width of a human hair. Their tiny size allows them to sneak past the body’s natural defenses and they’ve long been known to cause respiratory problems. But a new study now links these tiny particles with increased risk of dementia.  The Psychological Impact of Social Media Comparisons(The Psychological Impact of Social Media Comparisons) Guest: Sarah Coyne, PhD, Associate Professor of Family Life, Brigham Young University Taking the perfect selfie is an art – you’ve got to get the angles and lighting just right or your face will look all distorted. Those who are great at it, actually manage to make themselves look more attractive in selfies than they do in real life. Mental health professionals say a similar distortion happens on social media with efforts to portray the perfect life – the perfect kids, spouse, vacation and even the dog. Comparing yourself to the people who see living their best lives online will only lead to heartache.