Gun Violence, Selfies and Cosmetic Surgery, Talking to Kids about Pornography

Guest: Sandro Galea, MD, ER Physician and Dean, Boston University School of Public Health, Author of "Healthier: Fifty Thoughts on the Foundations of Population Health" Over the weekend, hundreds of thousands of people participated nationwide in “March for Our Lives," one of the events organized in the wake of the Parkland, Florida school shooting that left 17 dead. Mass shootings – including those that take place in schools – capture attention and stir emotion, but the truth is they represent just a tiny fraction of what epidemiologist Sandro Galea calls a public health crisis: in the United States, you’re as likely to die by a gun as you are to die in a car crash.

Guest: Boris Paskhover, MD, Assistant Professorof Otolaryngology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Everyone who’s tried it knows there’s an art to taking a good selfie. But some people are willing to go much farther than trying new angles or lighting to improve their selfies. The American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery says more than half of surgeons they surveyed last year had seen patients who came in looking for cosmetic procedures to look better in selfies. But, those people may not realize how deceptive a selfie is.

Guest: Tamar Carroll, PhD, Associate Professor of History, Rochester Institute of Technology When I was young and had a random question about the world, my dad would send me to our book shelf of encyclopedias to find the answer. Remember how the full collection literally took an entire shelf? These days we ask Alexa, Siri or Google, and up comes a Wikipedia entry. The genius of Wikipedia is that anyone can edit and contribute to it. But most of the 33 million volunteer editors constantly keeping Wikipedia up-to-date are men. Combine that with the rules Wikipedia follows to make sure entries are accurate, and it’s not surprising that content about women is under-represented on the site.

Guest: Kevin John, PhD, Assistant Professor of Communications and Director, Eye-Tracking Lab, School of Communications, Brigham Young University Eyes are the window to the soul. Which is a lovely thing to say, but it could actually be scientifically correct. Communications professor Kevin John runs the Eye-Tracking Lab here at BYU. He joins me now in studio to explain how following people’s eye movements can tell us what people are really thinking – and when they’re lying.

Guests: George Nelson, Professor of Theatre Arts; Jordan Kamalu, Songwriter, Producer, Film Composer; Maclain Nelson, Writer and Director Four full-sized single-wide trailers are sitting on the stage of the Pardoe Theater here at BYU to provide the backdrop for a new musical that’s just back from a successful run in New York City. The play’s called “Single Wide.” Written by Maclain Nelson and BYU theater arts professor George Nelson and composed by recent BYU grad Jordan Kamalu, it’s a sympathetic look at the residents of a trailer park.

Guest: Donna Gustafson, Parent Previews

Guest: Brian Willoughby, PhD, Associate Professor of Family Life, Brigham Young University When kids used pornography a generation ago, it usually meant racy magazines stashed under a bed. But kids today live their lives on screens, often being fed content that they weren’t even looking for. What can parents do to prepare their children for pornography that pops up during an internet search or in the sidebar ads on their favorite sports page?