Government Shutdown, No More Cavities, Preeclampsia Test

Guest: James Curry, PhD, Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Utah, and Co-Director of the Utah Chapter of the Scholars Strategy Network The government shutdown began at midnight on Friday, when the US Senate failed to pass a spending bill before a government-funding deadline. As we speak late Monday afternoon, the shutdown continues, but will probably end soon: Republicans and Democrats in the Senate have agreed fund the government through February 8 while they continue negotiating on immigration and other sticking points. The US House and President Trump will need to approve the plan for the shutdown to actually end, but that’s considered likely to happen soon.

Guest: Ben Abbott, PhD, Assistant Professor, Plant and Wildlife Sciences, Brigham Young University To the US Geological Survey’s satellites snapping photos of Earth from 400 miles up, the US looks very green. But not all of that green is good. Lakes and ponds in every single state frequently turn lime green with toxic algae growing out of control. The EPA says algal blooms are a major environmental problem: they kill fish, poison humans who swim in it and threaten drinking water. Preventing them is not easy, though, because the primary cause of algal blooms is agriculture – which feeds us.  BYU ecosystem ecologist Ben Abbott offers a way to anticipate where algal blooms will become a problem.

Peter Rechmann, DMD, PhD, Professor of Preventative and Restorative Dental Science, University of California, San Francisco “You’ve got a cavity.” Dreaded words from the dentist because that means that means needles, drills, and, for many of us, anxiety. But Dr. Peter Rechmann would like to end the days of “drill and fill” at the dentist’s office. What does he propose, instead? Lasers. And not just to fix cavities, but also to prevent them in the first place.

Guest: Michael Kugelman, Asia Program Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center Over the weekend, gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in Kabul, killing more than eighteen people. Afghanistan’s government says the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani terror network is responsible for the attack. And that puts further stress on the relationship between the US and Pakistan, which President Trump blames for harboring the Haqqani terror network and not doing enough to fight terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan. In an attempt to force Pakistan to take that fight more seriously, the US recently suspended nearly all of its aid to Pakistan’s military. What are the odds that cutting off aid will work?

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Parent Previews Lovable, marmalade-eating Paddington Bear’s latest film has yet to receive a single negative review on the movie site Rotten Tomatoes. That’s a rare feat for a film. And then you consider this is a CGI movie about a talking bear and it’s a sequel, too. But Parent Previews.com is right there with all the other positive reviewers – they gave it a solid A grade.  Forever My Girl is a predictable but pleasing romance.

Guests: Steven Graves, PhD, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University; Mike Alder, Director of BYU Technology Transfer Office Every year around the world, an estimated 75,000 mothers and half-a-million babies die from a disease about which we understand very little.  It’s a pregnancy complication called preeclampsia and the majority of deaths are avoidable if it’s caught and treated early. BYU biochemistry professor Steven Graves has found a way to test for the risk of preeclampsia in pregnant women months before it emerges.