2016 Predictions, Effects of Antibiotics, Airline Near Misses

Guest: Quinn Mecham, PhD, Professor of Political Science at BYU  Regular contributor and BYU Political Science Professor Quinn Mecham is here for his monthly visit and he’s come with his crystal ball in hand to talk about how he sees global events shaping up over the coming year.

Guest: Anita Kozyrskyj, PhD, Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Alberta  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that women be screened for group B strep several weeks before their due dates. If they test positive—and 25% of all women do—they should receive antibiotics through an IV during labor, according to the CDC, to prevent the newborn from contracting group B strep from the mother.  But according to a recent study published in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, those antibiotics given during delivery may have unintended consequences and alter the bacteria in the infants’ gut.

Guest: Lisa Garcia Bedolla, PhD, Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Political Science Department at the University of California, Berkeley  Nearly a quarter of all eligible voters in the US are African American, Hispanic or Asian—which makes their support critical to candidates eyeing a victory in the 2016 presidential election.  Just how to make sure those minority voters actually go to the polls on Election Day is the challenge for campaigns. There’s been a lot of thought that high-tech solutions like texting or Facebook outreach could be the key to mobilizing both minority and young voters.  New analysis funded by the James Irvine Foundation finds old-fashioned methods, like going out and knocking on doors, are still best.

Guest: Olga Davis, PhD, Professor of Human Communication at Arizona State University and Founder of the “African American Cardiovascular Health Literacy Exploration”  The list of health problems that affect African Americans disproportionately in the US is long: heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, colorectal cancer and HIV are some of the most worrisome according to CDC data. The average life span for African Americans is three years shorter than the nation as a whole. Why? Racial discrimination, cultural barriers and lack of access to health care all contribute.  A project out of Arizona State University is targeting those factors from an unlikely place—the barbershop.

Guest: Peter Madsen, PhD, Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership and Strategy at BYU  Taking a commercial flight is safer today than it’s ever been. Does that mean that no one in the crew made a mistake on that last flight you slept through? Of course not. According to organizational leadership expert Peter Madsen, potentially hazardous mistakes happen on 68% of commercial flights. Since so few of those mistakes end up causing any arm, Madsen says it’s easy—too easy—for airlines and crewmembers to get complacent about their own skill and the strength of their safety procedures.