World Events, Interfaith Youth, Ugly Laws, Pollution Fighting Oysters

Guest: Quinn Mecham, Professor of Political Science, BYU It’s been nearly two weeks now since the leader of the opposition controlled legislature in Venezuela –Juan Guiado –declared himself the rightful interim president of the country and demanded Nicolas Maduro step aside. Maduro has not done so, despite the US throwing its weight behind Guaido’s effort to force Maduro out.

Guest: Eboo Patel, Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core, Author of “Out of Many Faiths Religious Diversity and the American Promise” People who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged, according to new analysis by the Pew Research Center. So, religious parents have good reason to want to instill faithful devotion in their kids. But how can we raise kids to believe deeply in their own faith while still respecting the religious beliefs of others?

Guest: Susan Schweik, Professor of English, UC Berkeley and Author of “The Ugly Laws: Disability in Public” Up until the 1970s, a number of US cities had laws on the books that made it illegal to be seen in public if you had a physical deformity. Can you imagine? It sounds so appalling –and today we can pat ourselves on the back for having seen the error of our ways. But the history of how these so-called “ugly laws” came about be offers insight into how we think about disability in America.

Guest: Pete Malinowski, Executive Director of the Billion Oyster Project New York Harbor is famously polluted and has been for a century. But before that, it was world famous for oysters. They were delicious and plentiful. And, because oysters are nature’s water filters, they kept the harbor healthy. But there was only so much the dwindling oyster colonies could do in the face of so much industrial waste and raw sewage being dumped in New York harbor. By 1900, they were gone.

Guest: Diana Duan, Professor of History, Brigham Young University Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the Chinese Lunar calendar –and this is the Year of the Pig. People all over the world are celebrating the Chinese New Year with lots of food, festivals, fireworks, and more food. Legend has it the festivities first began after a monster terrorized a village.

Guest: Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Director, Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism, University of California, Irvine Fasting is often associated with religious rites and traditions, but new research suggests that fasting has a lot of really interesting health benefits. Researchers have been doing tests on both mice and humans and the results have been interesting.