Building a Quieter Airplane Toilet

Guest: Michael Barber, PhD, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Brigham Young University Mid-term primaries have already taken place in several states. Traditionally the party that came into power during a presidential election suffers a setback in the midterm two years later. One big question for Republican candidates is how much they can rely on President Trump’s supporters to show up and support them, too. The extent to which a Trump supporter shows up to vote for another Republican may depend on just how much that voter identifies with the party.

Guest: Judge Steve Leifman, Associate Administrative Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, and Chair, Florida Supreme Court Task Force on Mental Health The Miami-Dade County jail is effectively the largest psychiatric facility in Florida. But Judge Steve Leifman wants to change that. We recently learned about his Criminal Mental Health Project through the New York Times: Instead of sending mentally ill offenders to jail, he gets them into treatment. He's hopeful that his effort could prevent future violence like mass shootings, which so often seem to be linked to mental illness.

Guest: Rupal Patel, PhD, Professor of Speech Pathology and Computer Science, Northeastern University, and CEO, VocaliD The late physicist Stephen Hawking’s computerized voice famously had an American accent, even though he was British. Why didn’t he have a British accent? Hawking explained on his website that, when he started using the technology, only the American accent was available and he just got attached to it. But speech pathologist Rupal Patel points out, that even today, there are just a handful of generic options for people using computerized devices to communicate. She’s developed a way to create custom voices based on the unique vocal characteristics of people who may only be able to make a few sounds. To do it, though, she needs a large bank of voice recordings donated by people like you and me. Donate your voice here.

Guest: Steven Wallace, Founder, The Omanhene Cocoa Bean Company, and Author, "Obroni and the Chocolate Factory"  Those chocolate bunnies and Cadbury eggs in your Easter basket were made somewhere in the US or Europe. But the cocoa beans they came from were probably grown in Ghana or Ivory Coast, where the majority of all cocoa in the world comes from.  One of the few companies that actually makes chocolate in the same place the cocoa beans are grown is Omanhene and it’s in Ghana.

Guest: Rod Gustafson, Host, Parent Previews The only way to escape the dreariness of life in 2045 is to escape to the OASIS. The virtual reality game lets players toy with anything or identity they came imagine. But a new challenge disrupts this pastime when the death of video game creator reveals he has hidden an Easter Egg in the program -- and the first person to find it will inherit his fortune. Also, the third installment in the "God's Not Dead" series is the best so far.