War on Poverty, Coping With Suicide, Happy Birthday, Harry!

Guest: Robert L. Fischer, PhD, Co-Director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, Case Western Reserve University More than 50 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared "unconditional war on poverty in America." Today, the Trump Administration has declared that war “largely over and a success” in a White House report, which also calls for major changes to some of the programs launched by LBJ to wage war on poverty all those years ago – including food stamps and Medicaid.

Guest: Lekeisha Sumner, PhD, Clinical Professor, Psychiatry & Bio-behavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles When someone dies by suicide, it’s hard to know how to help that person’s loved ones as they grieve. There’s a stigma and discomfort that makes it easy to justify just staying away. You don’t want to say the wrong thing or make the pain worse. And yet those who’ve lost a loved one to suicide are at increased risk themselves. They need your support.

Guest: Richard Gill, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology, Brigham Young University; Associate Director, Rheumatic Relief Strep throat is an unpleasant but minor illness in developed countries like the U.S.: a quick trip to the doctor for an antibiotic and you’re quickly on the mend. But in places where kids don’t have that kind of treatment as readily, a strep infection can progress to rheumatic fever – and from there to permanent heart damage. This especially common in Samoa, and for nearly a decade now, the Rheumatic Relief program has been working to tackle the problem.

Guest: Hans Van Dongen, PhD, Professor, Department of Medical Education and Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine, Director, Sleep and Performance Research Center, Washington State University  Did you know working the graveyard shift can lead to an early grave? People who work nights and sleep during the day are at higher risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease and some types of cancer. Researchers have always thought the problem had something to do with a person’s biological clock getting out of whack, but recent research might have uncovered that two clocks are involved.

Guest: David Hondula, Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences, Senior Sustainability Scientist, Arizona State University Phoenix, Arizona hit 115 degrees last week. Today could reach 108. The desert city is so hot it tracks deaths due to heat — last year there were 155 fatalities. Is there anything a hot city can do to cool itself down?

Guest: Neil Randall, Professor of English Language and Literature, University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada Today is Harry Potter’s birthday. If Dobby is up to his tricks, the Boy Who Lived may not hear from his friends, but millions of people around the world are thinking of him. Harry’s story strikes chords with contemporary issues and with readers too, and that’s why you’ll find entire classes taught about the series at universities across the country.  English professor Neil Randall teaches one such course at the University of Waterloo.