Aging Isn't All Bad, Asylum Seekers, Human Navigation

Guest: Marc Agronin, Geriatric Psychiatrist, Vice President, Behavioral Health and Clinical Research, Miami Jewish Health Systems, author of “How We Age: A Doctor’s Journey into the Heart of Growing Old” The prospect of growing old is terrifying. Once we're solidly in middle age, we look to the post-retirement years down the road and worry about losing body function – or worse, brain function. One in seven people over the age of 70 has dementia in the US. When you look at Americans 85 and older, a third have Alzheimer’s. But aging isn't all that bad, according to Dr. Agronin, and few people have seen the realities aging as fully as he has.

Guest: Wesley Dotson, PhD, Assistant Professor of Special Education in the School of Education, Director of the Burkhart Center for Autism Education & Research, Texas Tech University Last week, Sesame Street got a new friend and, in a first for the show, she has autism. Wesley Dotson says the PBS show’s move to include a character with autism is a huge step forward for those on the spectrum.

Guest: Jeffrey Reitz, Director of Ethnic, Immigration, and Pluralism Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto In light of uncertain immigration policies taking shape under the Trump Administration, there’s been a recent spike in refugees leaving the US to take their chances in Canada.  What prospects do these asylum seekers face when the sneak across the border into Canada? What about Canada is more attractive to refugees?

Guest: Sam Payne, Host of BYUradio's "The Apple Seed" Sam Payne joins us in the studio to share tales of tellers and stories.

Guest: Vail Reese, Dermatologist, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco Warts and scars, pale skin, facial lesions and balding heads . . . have you ever stopped to think how many movie villains have serious skin problems? Darth Vader's got just about every one of those problems just mentioned hiding under that mask of his.  Some dermatologists recently set about calculating just how often filmmakers use skin conditions to make villains seem even more evil – and the answer's probably not going to surprise you if you watch a lot of movies. It's a lot.

Guest: George Michelsen Foy, Professor of Creative Writing, New York University, Author of “Finding North: How Navigation Makes Us Human” Smart phones and GPS are lifesavers for those of us who were born with a poor sense of direction. But though GPS relieves us of the fear and responsibility of navigating, does it rob us of something essentially human when we don’t have to find our own way, literally, in the world?