EU in Transition, Spacesuits, Gluten Relationships, Aging Aquarius

Guest: Hans Kundnani, Senior Research Fellow, Royal Institute of International Affairs, London Britain is on the verge of a messy exit from the European Union. A number of countries in the EU continue to struggle economically and financially – including Greece. The massive wave of migrants fleeing into Europe from Syria, Afghanistan and Africa has destabilized politics, across the European Union. Is it still realistic for European countries with drastically different histories and current realities to be joined at the hip through a common currency and government?

Guest: Dava J. Newman, PhD, Apollo Program Professor of Astronautics, MIT, Faculty Member, Harvard-MIT, Health Sciences Technology, former NASA Deputy Administrator In the next couple of decades, America hopes to be sending astronauts back to the Moon and on to Mars. But before they launch, they’ll need to update their wardrobe. The spacesuits NASA has currently won’t cut it for these kinds of long missions and for walking around on Mars. So how does a space agency do a fashion makeover?

Guest: Mark Roderick, Business and Corporate Attorney for Flaster Greenberg, Law Firm, Philadelphia. Nearly a quarter of Americans have contributed to one of those crowdsourced fundraisers online like GoFundMe or Kickstarter. The ability to quickly raise money from lots of people has launched successful startups and led to heartwarming tales about a sick child’s hospital bills getting paid, or a young widow getting help with burial expenses or a viral story of a good deed leading to a huge cash windfall for a lucky Good Samaritan. But it’s not all warm fuzzies and faith in humanity on these sites. Fraud happens.

Guest: Sam Payne Today, a story from the great Lakota/Kiowa storyteller Dovie Thomason. The story is "Mouse and the Moon," from a collection called "Voices of the Animal People." Dovie points out that through the antics of the Animal People in these stories, we are gently and humorously made aware of human foibles. The entire collection features a cast of bears, chipmunks, turtles, and more.

Guest: Maya Aloni, PhD, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Western Connecticut State University Let’s be honest – when you end up at a dinner party with someone who has very specific diet requirements, you judge, right? Oh I’m vegetarian. Or I only eat clean. Or gluten-free. There’s some really interesting research about how your diet habits reflect on you. And some of the latest research looks specifically at how a gluten-free diet reflects on a person generally and as a potential romantic partner.

Guest: Helen Wilkes, Author, “The Aging of Aquarius, Igniting Passion and Purpose as an Elder” and “Letters from the Lost” They used to call it the golden years, but retirement was never really that simple. Saving enough money is not easy, and staying healthy is a challenge. Then there is the question of what do you do with yourself?