Venezuela Re-elects Maduro, Getting the Brain Tingles, Unveiling the Cambridge Library Tower

Guest: Kirk Hawkins, PhD, Professor of Political Science, BYU Venezuela’s leftist president Nicolas Maduro easily won another six-year term over the weekend. But the US and other independent observers say the election was a fraud, and yesterday the US imposed new economic sanctions on Venezuela. Also on Monday, 14 nations from the Americas, including Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, vowed to scale back diplomatic relations with Venezuela. Will these efforts to freeze Venezuela’s dictator out of the international community do anything to help the country’s people, who are suffering widespread hunger and lack of basic medical care?

Guest: Greg Smith, Associate Director of Research, Pew Research Center The fastest growing religious group in America is the “nones” – people who believe “nothing in particular.” But most of those folks still believe in God. In fact, nine out of ten Americans believe in some sort of higher power.  There’s a lot of difference in the details, though, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center. Even among Christians there is a lot of variety in just what they mean when they say they believe in God.

Guest: Jason Mecier, Pop Artist We’ve all been guilty of playing with our food. But Jason Mecier takes it to a whole new level—he’s made a name for himself by creating art out of food. He’s made Kevin Bacon out of bacon, Condoleezza Rice out of rice, and Grumpy Cat out of Friskies cat food… just to name a few.

Guest: Evan Rufrano, Junior at State University of New York at Old Westbury, Winner of the Sixth Annual “Up To Us” National Campus Competition America’s national debt is more than $21 trillion dollars. That large a number is tough to get your head around – even if you check out the US Debt Clock online. There’s a ticker that shows the debt going up at lightning speed as you watch, but it feels like you’re staring at the timer running out on a bomb in a movie. There’s no real sense of what that fast-rising number means or what consequence awaits. College junior Evan Rufrano joined with some of his classmates at the State University of New York at Old Westbury to create a way to get young people thinking about the national debt. Their efforts won the annual “Up to Us” competition sponsored by a bipartisan coalition of advocacy groups concerned about America’s fiscal health.

Guest: Craig Richard, PhD, Professor of Biopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University, and Founder of the ASMR University website, Researcher at The ASMR Research project, Curator of the "Voices of ASMR" Project, Host of the ASMR University Podcast, Author of “Brain Tingles” There’s a new advertising gimmick companies like IKEA, Applebee’s and McDonald’s have been using, that involves people – often celebrities – whispering right into a microphone while bed sheets crinkle or meat sizzles loudly in your ears. If you don’t know they’re tapping into a viral online trend, you’ll think it’s really weird. They’re referencing ASMR. But what on Earth is that? Click here to learn more about ASMR.

Guest: Mark Purcell, Deputy Director, Research Collections at the University Library at the University of Cambridge

Guest: Rachel Wadham, Host of “Worlds Awaiting” on BYUradio, Education and Juvenile Collection Librarian at BYU Children learn in different ways. Those who benefit from hands-on learning have often been labelled as having behavioral problems. Here we discuss how to incorporate tactile learning into the classroom and how it can benefit all students.