Tech Transfer

Claudio Holzner is a professor of political science and director of the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Utah.  Politics and drugs in Mexico are Top of Mind today. A little over a week ago, the world’s biggest drug lord - Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman - escaped from a maximum security prison. He’s still at large and widely assumed to have been aided in his escape by corrupt guards and prison officials. It was his second prison break. And it’s an embarrassment for Mexico’s president Enrique Peña Nieto who took office two and a half years ago with a promise to tackle drug trafficking and “change the narrative” on Mexico’s criminal violence.

Michael Schoenbaum, Ph.D. is Senior Advisor for Mental Health Services, Epidemiology, and Economics at the National Institute of Mental Health.  Parents have a big decision to make when their children are prescribed antipsychotics.  These drugs will allow their children to better function in society, but at what cost?  Antipsychotics can lead to long-term health problems, especially in children.  This month the National Institute of Mental Health studied the trends of antipsychotic use among children and young adults.  A surprising finding was that many of the prescriptions made for antipsychotic drugs were off-label, meaning these drugs were prescribed in ways not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Andrew Graham is the son of Poldark series author Winston Graham. He was a consultant on the new Mammoth Screen adaptation of the story on behalf of the Poldark Estate. The series is currently airing Sunday nights on Masterpiece on PBS in conjunction with WGBH.  The story of British army officer Ross Poldark was a huge international hit in 1975, when the BBC made it into a TV series. A new generation of fans is now enthralled by Poldark galloping along the cliffs of Cornwall, pining for lost love, finding new love with his fiery young maid Demelza and fighting to keep his copper mine open for the sake of his own inheritance and the workers who depend on him. The Mammoth Screen remake of Poldark is airing Sunday evenings on PBS’s Masterpiece in conjunction with WGBH here in the US. I should disclose that I am one of those fully-enthralled new fans.

Michael Sloan is a social entrepreneur and a business professor at San Diego State University. He and his team have developed an award-winning concept to create portable thresholders for farmers in Ethiopia.  In the small, rural town of Simbo, Ethiopia farming is life, but without modernized farming equipment it’s not an easy one. The traditional method of harvesting grain takes hours of work, lots of manpower, and produces a measly 2 lbs. of grain. Many times people aren’t even able to harvest enough grain to feed themselves, let alone sell any for profit, and children often miss school to help on the family farm.

Rod Gustafson reviews films at ParentPreviews.com and joins us weekly.  The little yellow tic-tac-shaped characters from the Despicable Me animated films showed everyone up over the weekend with the second-biggest animated film opening of all time. And they did it without speaking a word of English. But their goofy antics apparently make up for their gibberish. The movie is prequel to the Despicable Me story line and has them on the hunt for a suitable villain to serve.