Catalan Independence, Smart Helmet, Improv Children's Theater
Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Season 1, Episode 656
- Oct 9, 2017 6:00 am
- 1:42:03 mins
Catalonia’s Separatist Threat to Spain and the EU Guest: Mònica Clua-Losada, PhD, Professor of Global Political Economy, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Imagine if a state – say Texas – gets serious about seceding from the US and holds a vote about it. And the federal government sends soldiers to polling places to stop Texans from voting. Hundreds of people get hurt in the melee. And then imagine the vote goes ahead anyway and the result is a resounding “yes” for Texas independence. And then the Governor of Texas tries to have his state legislature formalize the vote, but the US Supreme Court says he can’t and then imagine a week of protests for and against independence in the streets of Texas while the rest of the world watches in disbelief. That is what’s gone on in a region of Spain called Catalonia over the last week. Tourists know Catalonia for its beautiful capital, Barcelona. As early as tomorrow, Catalonia’s leader could follow through on his threat to declare independence from Spain. What happens next will have serious consequences for Spain and the rest of the European Union. Smart Foam Detects Concussion Risk Guest: Jake Merrell, President, XOnano Smartfoam, Mechanical Engineering student, Brigham Young University A few weeks ago, researchers at Boston University announced they may have found a way to detect the degenerative disease CTE in football players while they’re still alive, which is a big deal because right now the only way to know if someone has it is by slicing up their brain after death. Which is obviously way too late to help the player. The focus on preventing concussion in football may also be of limited help in preventing CTE, because the latest science suggests it’s not those big bell-ringers that are the main culprit. Rather, it’s a lifetime of repetitive hits to the head that don’t even register as a problem for the player or coaches on the sideline. But now those hits can register on the sidelines, if the player is wearing a helmet outfitted with sensors developed at
