Song-A-Day, Obsession With WWII, Who Built the Railroad

Guest: Jonathan Mann, Musician and Songwriter For more than 10 years, Jonathan Mann has written a new song every day. Every single day. Originally this was just going to be a one-month. It was just a whim. But after he wrote a new song every day in the month of January 2009, he just wasn’t finished. So, he kept going. Thousands of songs later, he’s still going. Along the way he’s learned a lot about the process of creativity.

Guest: Keith Lowe, WWII Historian, Author of “The Fear and the Freedom: How the Second World War Changed Us” Of all the conflicts America has been involved in, World War II seems to get the most attention from authors, academics, politicians and Hollywood. “The Greatest Generation” as American WWII veterans are known, is quickly shrinking as the 75 anniversary of the end of World War II approaches. What is it about that war and those veterans that captures the imagination and stokes such admiration?

Guest: Pamela Weathers, Professor of Biology and Biotechnology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Efforts to fight malaria have stalled out in recent years, according to the World Health Organization, and one of the reasons is drug resistance. The parasite that causes malaria is developing defenses against the best medicines currently available to treat the illness. The expense of those medicines is another challenge facing the global malaria response. Both of the cost and drug resistant problems might be solved by a plant.  Biologist Pamela Weathers has found evidence that drying and grinding the leaves of a certain plant may treat malaria better than current drugs.

Guest: Gordon H. Chang, Professor of American History, Stanford University, Author of “Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad” The Transcontinental railroad was a triumph of American grit and ingenuity when it was completed 150 years ago. But the work was done largely by immigrant workers –and the most technically difficult stretches of rail through the Sierra Nevada mountains were laid by workers from China. Those workers, however, were almost invisible at the grand Golden Spike ceremony commemorating the railroad’s completion in 1869.

Guest: Robert Niles, Editor of ThemeParkInsider.com and Contributing Columnist for the Orange County Register Theme parks can be magical with that thrill of anticipation when you’re about to drop on a rollercoaster, spending time with family, and, of course, the nostalgia. But theme parks can also be a nightmare with the hordes of people, crying children, and overpriced food.

Guest: Robert Stern, Co-Founder and Director of Clinical Research, Boston University CTE Center Repeated head trauma ranging from full-blown concussions to the constant rattling of the brain inside the skull that can happen during impact sports, is believed to be the culprit in a disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy–or CTE. It was first diagnosed in a former NFL player 17 years ago and over 100 athletes, military veterans and victims of abuse have been diagnosed with it since. But the problem is, doctors can only diagnose CTE by cutting open a person’s brain after they’ve died.