Trump’s Military, Arsenic, Autism Brain Scans, Cute Aggression

Guest: Thomas M. Nichols, PhD, University Professor, National Security Affairs, U.S. Naval War College In his prime time speech to the nation Tuesday night, President Donald Trump said Americans are in grave danger from people and drugs sneaking over the US-Mexico border and only a wall can protect us. Trump’s depiction of the situation as a crisis is questionable, since US Customs and Border Protection says the number of people apprehended at the border has been declining for more than a decade. Plus, nearly all of the heroin that comes into the US from Mexico arrives with people legally crossing at ports of entry, which a wall would not fix.

Guest: John Parascandola, Author of “King of Poisons: A History of Arsenic” Legends tell of people taking small doses of poison until they develop a tolerance to it. That might come in handy if you’re a ruler worried about being poisoned by someone in your court. Or if you’re Westley in The Princess Bride and you have to challenge a villain to a battle of wits in order to win the freedom of your beloved Buttercup. But is developing tolerance to poison really a thing? It turns out that is kind of is. But it's not recommended.

Guests: Terisa Gabrielsen, Assistant Professor of School Psychology, BYU; Ryan Kellems, Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, BYU; Mikle South, Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, BYU  To undergo an MRI, you lie down and slide into a huge machine that makes loud noises while you hold completely still for up to 45 minutes. It’s a stressful thing for anyone –but for a child with autism, it can be totally overwhelming. Which is why not much brain scan research has been done to understand the neuroscience behind autism. But a team of researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah have developed a technique to ease the MRI process for autistic children.

Guest: Sam Payne In the 60’s and 70’s, riding the wave of a folk music revival, three pals named Dick, Dennis, and Duane got together and wrote and performed songs under the name “The 3D’s.” Duane is still around, and still advocating for the power of stories and music as a bridge between generations. Today’s Top of Mind visit from Sam Payne features an oldie: the 3D’s folky setting of Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade.”

Guest: Oriana Aragón, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Clemson University Have you ever seen something so cute like a kitten or puppy that you just wanted to squeeze it? Or have you heard someone tell a baby, “You’re so cute, I could just eat you up” or “I want to smother you in kisses.” These aggressive responses to cute things are kind of weird when you think about it, but research shows they actually serve a purpose.

Guest: Nicole Chung, Editor-in-Chief of Catapult Magazine and Author of “All You Can Ever Know” Nearly all infant adoptions in America today allow for some contact between the birth and adoptive families. Until the last decade or so, the opposite was true. Adoptions were routinely closed and adoptive families shunned contact with birth parents. That was the case for Nicole Chung, who was born severely premature and raised by a white family in Oregon after being placed for adoption by her Korean parents.