Megasports, Detecting Cyanide, National Parks, Snow Cones

Matthew Burbank teaches political science at the University of Utah and has written extensively on the politics, economics and ethics of mega-sporting events.  International sports are Top of Mind today. The US Soccer Team is preparing for a second match tomorrow night in the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada. Meanwhile, the international soccer governing body FIFA has announced it will postpone the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup in light of the ongoing investigations of other World Cup site selections and millions of dollars in alleged bribes.

Dr. Brian Logue is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at South Dakota State University.  If fire strikes an industrial complex which houses chemicals, firefighters not only need to save people and infrastructure, they need to protect themselves and others from being poisoned by chemicals such as cyanide. Potential victims may not be checked quickly for cyanide poisoning, but that could change in the near future.

Dr. Boris Lushniak is US Deputy Surgeon General.  Three-quarters of Americans have fluoridated water flowing out of their taps at home. It’s improved the dental health of so many people that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent counts fluoride as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. For the first time in 50 years, the US Department of Health and Human Services is recommending communities put less fluoride in their water.

Kurt Repanshek is founder and editor of NationalParksTraveler.com – the leading online resource for National Parks-related news.  In honor of the much-anticipated return of the Jurassic Park series in movies this weekend, we’re dedicating our monthly focus on National Parks to dinosaurs. We discuss national monuments, national parks and the differences between the two.

Brennan Platt is a Professor of Economics at Brigham Young University.  It’s summer time, and here in Utah—and perhaps where you live, too--that means snow cone season. Almost overnight – usually right around Memorial Day – the snow shacks pop up everywhere. Today on the show, we discuss the logistics and behind-the-scenes work that goes into owning a snow shack.

Ophelia Deroy is the Associate Director for the Institute of Philosophy at the University of London. She also works as a senior researcher at the Centre for the Study of the Senses.  We're eating bugs on the show today. Well, not literally. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan recently told the Guardian newspaper that, considering how much carbon emission poultry and beef production contributes to the environment, we should give serious consideration to a different source of protein: BUGS. We discuss the natural resistance to eating bugs and the benefits of eating the creepy crawly creatures.