Taliban in Afghanistan, Libraries, Reason for Flowers

Taliban in Afghanistan (1:03) Guest: Dodge Billingsley, Fellow at the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies at BYU  The American commander in charge of operations in Afghanistan testified in front of Congress this week that an airstrike on a hospital in the city of Kunduz was a mistake. Twenty-two patients and hospital staff were killed. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders, which runs the clinic, calls the bombing a “war crime.”  Libraries at the Crossroads (25:27) Guest: John Horrigan, Ph.D., Senior Researcher at the Pew Research Center  The role of the public library has changed in the last decade – and it’s still changing. They could even disappear in the digital future. But for the moment, Americans are okay with the cost that comes with keeping a bricks-and-mortar-books-on-shelves and story time-on-Tuesdays library open in their communities.  Body Maps in Babies’ Brains (38:34) Guest: Peter Marshall, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Temple University  Ever watched a baby discovering her tiny feet for the first time? Unable to stop touching them or keep the little toes out of her mouth, the knowledge of this new body part is an exciting moment in the life of an infant. New research involving something called “body maps” is giving us a peek inside that baby’s brain to explain what’s going on – and why it’s an important part of human development.  American Heritage (51:50) Guest: Grand Madsen, Ph.D., History Professor at BYU  BYU history professor Grant Madsen shares insights from the US history courses he teaches on campus here.  This week he sat down with BYU Radio’s Marcus smith to discuss civil rights.  The Reason for Flowers (1:18:60) Guest: Stephen Buchmann, Ph.D., Pollination Ecologist and Author of “The Reason for Flowers”  “Say it with flowers” goes the well-known advertising slogan. Flowers are an integral part our daily landscape: we decorate with them, inside and out; we incorporate them into our celebrations and our mourning. We rely on them to convey messages tha