Riots and History, National Parks, Sound of Music, CVTs

Guest: Elizabeth Nix, professor of legal, ethical and historical studies at the University of Baltimore and co-founder of the Baltimore ’68 Project that resulted in an anthology of stories and essays published in 2011 titled: “Baltimore '68: Riots and Rebirth in an American City” A curfew imposed on the city of Baltimore after rioting and looting broke out last week has been lifted. National Guard troops called in to restore order are pulling out. What had been planned as a major protest over the weekend turned into a celebration when the city’s top prosecutor announced six police officers would face murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Freddie Gray.  Calm is returning, but the scars remain—in the form of burned buildings, broken windows. But we need to look much deeper to understand what really happened in Baltimore last week.

Guest: Kurt Repanshek, founder and editor of NationalParksTraveller.com: the leading online resource for National Parks-related news The National Park Service has had a decades-long policy of not partnering with alcohol and tobacco companies, but recently the Park’s fundraising arm signed a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with the makers of Budweiser beer. The decision is raising lots of questions, which reporter Kurt Repanshek has been chasing down in the last week.

Guest: Jamie Farrell, postdoctoral researcher in Geology at the University of Utah and co-author of a recent report on the existence of an even larger magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park, where hot springs bubble and more than 300 geysers erupt spontaneously, is actually situated inside the crater of one of the world’s largest volcanoes, 45 miles wide in places. Scientists have long known that the magma in the reservoir beneath Yellowstone could fill the Grand Canyon a couple times over. But a team of geologists has just discovered that, in fact, there is a second, much larger magma chamber that sits below the previously known chamber containing enough magma to fill the Grand Canyon 11 times!

Guest: Matt Might, associate professor of computer science at the University of Utah and co-leader of a team working on a new Defense Department initiative called “Space/Time Analysis for Cybersecurity” Major hacks on US corporations seem to have become commonplace—whether it’s a store like Target or Home Depot, a bank like JP Morgan Chase, a major health insurer like Anthem or a movie studio like Sony Pictures. All fell victim to hackers in the last year, who gained access to customer data, sensitive internal discussions and financial information. Corporations and the US government are now concerned about what happens when we’ve plugged the obvious holes that hackers are using now. They’re not going to give up; they’re just going to get more sophisticated. So, the Department of Defense has launched a four-year initiative to prepare for that next generation of cyberattack.

Guests: Rod Gustafson and Kerry Bennett of ParentPreviews.com Fifty years ago, the movie version of a popular musical smashed box-office records. It was the first to break the 100-million-dollar barrier and became a Hollywood icon. This year, The Sound of Music is being shown in theaters nationwide to mark its 50th anniversary. Rod and Donna Gustafson of ParentPreviews.com discuss the Sound of Music’s staying power.

Guests: Robert Todd, emeritus professor of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University Mike Alder, directs BYU’s Technology Transfer office which license and markets innovations made on campus. More information about technology developed at BYU is available at techtransfer.byu.edu Suppose a car, instead of having maybe 5 or 6 gears, had an infinite number that were always engaged. The transmission could slide seamlessly from one gear to the next, without that momentary interruption in power before a new gear engages. This is the vehicle transmission that BYU mechanical engineering emeritus professor Robert Todd has designed.