Sliding or Deciding, Goat Silk, Saving Asian Elephants

Living Together Before Marriage Should Make for Better Marriages. So Why Doesn’t It? Guest: Scott Stanley, Research Professor and Co-Director, University of Denver’s Center for Marital and Family Studies One of the most striking trends in America over the last forty years has been the rise cohabitation. Unmarried couples of all age groups, are living together in greater numbers. Among 18-24 years old, it’s now more common to cohabitate than to actually be married. And the justification is often that living together is a way to test the waters before marriage. But it generally does not lead to better odds that a marriage will succeed. Why?  Milk from Genetically-Modified “Spider-Goats” is Source of Valuable Silk Guest: Justin Jones Spider silk is stronger than steel, super lightweight and surprisingly elastic. If we could make it in bulk, it it’d be great for everything from parachutes and sports gear to replacement tendons and ligaments. Which is why the US Navy has been investing for years in a lab at Utah State University that’s figured out how to coax the building blocks of spider silk out of goats and alfalfa and even E. coli bacteria. Countering New Threats to Asian Elephants Guest: Peter Leimgruber, Center Head and Conservation Biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute Ivory poachers have long been a serious threat to African elephants, because both male and female African elephants can grow large tusks. Asian Elephants have escaped some of that poaching pressure, because only their males have tusks and they’re often smaller. But a new type of poaching has emerged in the last several years that has conservationists very worried about Asian elephant populations. Males, females and even juveniles are being killed for their skin. From Rotten Seal to Root Beer: The Disgusting Food Museum (Originally aired October 24, 2018) Guest: Samuel West, psychologist, Curator of the Disgusting Food Museum There’s a Latin phrase my father often quoted: “De gustibus non est disputandum.” It means