Biopesticides, Cabin Pressure, Mid-East Panel, Feedable Cities

Bob McNally is the director of Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention at the Environmental Protection Agency.  Pesticides are Top of Mind today. For generations we’ve purchased fruits and vegetables, basing our decisions on the appearance of the produce, and on the cost. More recently, we’ve seen consumers interested in how the food was produced. “Organic” is a sought-after label in most grocery stores now.

Dr. Barbara St. Pierre Schneider is an Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  The ability to transport an injured person by plane or helicopter has saved countless lives. But there’s also evidence that in some types of injuries, high altitude and cabin pressure could cause further damage to tissues. Dr. Barbara St. Pierre Schneider is studying the short-term effects of cabin pressure on skeletal muscle.

Sam Payne visits the Treehouse Museum where children learn to step into a story.

The Middle East is always TOP OF MIND these days and so it’s time again to get some analysis from our monthly panel of experts on the region. Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Yemen are on our list to discuss – and ISIS, of course.  Professor Steven Lobell is from the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah and the author of six books on International Relations and Middle Eastern studies.  Fred Axelgard is a senior fellow in international relations at the Wheatley institution at BYU.  Adjunct Utah Valley University political science professor John Macfarlane teaches a course on international terrorism and leads UVU’s study abroad program to the Middle East.

Professor Elliott Campbell teaches Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Merced. His recent paper on local food potential was published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.  The “local food” movement has gone beyond a handful of hip, progressive towns to touch nearly every city in America. Farmer’s markets and locally-grown produce are fairly easy to find these days. But even the most devoted locavores have to get some of their diet from beyond the 50-mile radius generally considered the boundary of “local.”