Mexico Relations, Presidential Lawsuits, Endangered Species

Guest: Evan Ward, PhD, History professor, BYU America’s relationship with Mexico is not great right now. Maybe as bad as its been in decades, actually, thanks to tough talk by President Trump. He and Mexican President Pena Nieto were supposed to have met in person last week, but they called it off after some angry rhetoric and a tweet from Trump saying, “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.”  The two have since had a phone conversation in which Trump is reported to have criticized Pena Nieto’s for not doing enough to fight drug cartels.

Guest: Stephen Vladeck, JD, Professor of Law, University of Texas One way to measure a new President’s momentum is to tally the various official actions and executive orders he issues during his first week and a half. By that measure, Donald Trump has far outpaced Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but he stands just shy of Barack Obama’s 19 executive orders and memorandums during his first 12 days in office.  Not all orders and memos are created equal, though, so another measure of a President’s initial time in office is to look at the lawsuits filed against him. And on that score, Donald Trump is winning, with over 50 federal lawsuits to Obama’s three.

Guest: Wilfred Jefferies, D.Phil., Professor of Medical Genetics and Immunology, Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia Among the reasons cancer is difficult to detect and treat is that cancer cells are experts in evading the body’s defenses. In the direst of cases, cancer cells have a way of donning an “invisibility cloak” that allows them to spread beyond the initial tumor without the immune system noticing or fighting back. Researchers at the University of British Columbia believe they’ve discovered the secret weapon of invisibility in certain types of cancers. Their results appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.

Guest: Martine Postma, founder of Repair Cafes When your toaster breaks, or your favorite blouse has a hole in it, or the soles of your shoes wear out—your first instinct may be to throw them away. But what if those items could easily be fixed….for free? Repair cafes are popping up around the US, and they offer a place for people to bring their broken items and learn how to repair them with the help of a knowledgeable volunteer. The cafes originated with a Dutch woman named Martine Postma; since she opened the first one in 2009, more than 1,100 repair cafes have popped up in 29 different countries. Get your repair starter kit here.

Guest: Peter Alagona, PhD, Associate Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara The Endangered Species Act is credited with saving some beloved animals, including the bald eagle and the gray whale. But they are the rare exception. Some 1,600 US plant and animal species are currently on the endangered list and only 47 have ever been taken off the list – like the bald eagle and gray whale were - because they’ve recovered enough.

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Host of BYUradio’s “Worlds Awaiting”  Rachel Wadham joins us now in studio. She’s the education and juvenile collections librarian here at BYU and host of Worlds Awaiting on BYUradio. It’s a show dedicated to encouraging a love of reading and discovery in children. It airs Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. Eastern and you can also hear it weekdays at 8:30 p.m. Eastern on BYUradio.