Concussions, Astronomy, Saving Species, Vanity Plates

Guest: Kelly Pearce, a postdoctoral fellow with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Sports Medicine Concussion Program  In recent days, several high-profile athletes have been in the news because of them. New York Yankees rookie Jose Pirela suffered a concussion after running into an outfield wall. If you follow “March Madness,” then you probably saw that Maryland guard Melo Trimble was inadvertently kneed in the head by a teammate. And, you may have also seen the news that 24-year-old NFL linebacker Chris Borland decided to retire from professional football after just one year, in order to protect his long-term neurological health. Many of today’s athletes are facing competition that is bigger, stronger and faster. If you have family members who compete in sports, then you may be concerned about the risks.

Guest: Patrick Wiggins, NASA Solar System ambassador to Utah  It’s been a lovely couple of weeks for sky-gazers. Last Tuesday, a geomagnetic storm caused beautiful aurora over the Midwest and Northeast. And March 20th brought a trifecta of excitement – a total solar eclipse, a supermoon, and the vernal equinox all in one night.

Guest: Burak Guneralp, professor at Texas A&M University  What would you do with a million dollars? Buy a house or a large stretch of land? Maybe a few cars? Travel the world? How about save an entire species? According to a new study, a subset of species can be saved from extinction for about 1.3 million dollars per year.

Guest: Grant Madsen, BYU History Professor  This is the weekly appointment we have with BYU history professor Grant Madsen.

Guests: Michael Kraczek and Allison Dobbins  There’s a dance performance moving its way across the country right now that encourages its audience to use their phones during the show. In fact, people are instructed to download a special app when they enter – and through that app, they’re given the power to control the entire performance. In real time. Whatever the audience wants the dancers to do on stage, the dancers do. It’s like a “choose your own adventure” dance recital and it’ll be performed here on BYU’s campus this weekend.

Guest: RonNell Anderson Jones, BYU professor and constitutional law expert