Wildfires, Pain, and Shakespeare Fest

Guests: Jason Forthofer, M.S., and Bret Butler, Ph.D.; Researchers at the U.S. Government’s Fire Sciences Laboratory  Wildfires are Top of Mind today. There are currently about a dozen large ones burning in the Western United States. One in the San Bernardino National Forest of Southern California has already burned 17-thousand acres over five days and is threatening hundreds of homes and buildings. Another is racing through the densely wooded Olympic National Park in Washington. The number of mega-fires burning tens of thousands of acres has jumped exponentially since the 1980s, and fire experts say that’s partly because we’ve gotten so good at fighting fires.

Guest: Tor Wager, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado, Director of the school’s Cognitive and Affective Control Laboratory  In the heat of the moment – on the battlefield or on the court, say – an injury may not feel as painful as it could – or should. There’s something about being in the moment, maybe the power of attitude and emotion, to moderate the pain. And when things have calmed down, well that’s when the hurt really hits.

Guest: Sam Payne, Host and Storyteller of The Apple Seed  Sam Payne, host of BYU Radio’s The Apple Seed, brings us a hilarious story from one of the greats, Kevin Kling.

Guest: Wei Mei, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholar at Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the current hurricane and typhoon season – which started in May and goes until October – will produce an above-normal number typhoons coming off the Pacific Ocean. New research out of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego indicates typhoons will be stronger and more intense in the coming years, thanks to warmer surface temperatures on the Pacific Ocean.

Guest: Katharine Hayhoe, Ph.D., Director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University  The Pope’s encyclical calling on Christians to embrace their responsibility as stewards of the Earth was discussed yesterday on Top of Mind. There’s often a tension between religion and environmentalism. So, too, is there a long-standing tension between science and religion. Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe wrote an entire book about that tension as an evangelical Christian. It’s called “A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions.”

Guest: Fred Adams, Founder of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah  When the Utah Shakespeare Festival opens in Cedar City this summer, its longest running character will take a final bow. The Adams Memorial Shakespearean Theater gave the festival its first permanent stage when it was completed in 1977. Shakespeare would have approved – it was, after all, designed to echo his own Globe Theatre: open air with tiered seating-in-the-round.