Privacy and Pandemics, National Emergency Library, Tooth Rings

To End Pandemic Closures, Americans May Have to Give Up Privacy. (0:32) Guest: Leslie Francis, Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Utah, Director of the Center for Law and Biomedical Sciences, Co-Author “Privacy: What Everyone Needs to Know” It’ll be at least a year before a vaccine for COVID-19 is widely available. Meantime, how do we resume normal life, if anywhere you turn, someone who doesn’t even have symptoms could be spreading the virus? Public health officials will have to get very good – very quickly – at something called “contact tracing” where they track down anyone who came into contact with someone that’s been diagnosed with COVID-19 and test those people for the virus, too. Dozens of countries are now monitoring the movement of their people and exposure to COVID-19 through their cell phones. Will the pandemic force Americans to give up their privacy? Is the Internet Archive’s National Emergency Library Legal? (19:52) Guest: Kevin Smith, Dean of Libraries, University of Kansas Across the country, libraries are closed and, I don’t know if you’ve checked your local library’s website, but the waiting lists to borrow an e-book can be very long. Which is why the nonprofit that runs the Internet Archive has launched the National Emergency Library and removed all borrowing restrictions from its vast collection of digital books through the end of June. So, no wait lists and anyone can set up a free account with the library.  Many readers and librarians are thrilled. Many authors and book publishers are not. They’re also struggling right now with bookstores closed and book tours cancelled. Authors would much prefer you buy their e-books, obviously. New Discovery Shows That Neanderthals Used Rope (37:11) Guest: Bruce Hardy, Professor of Anthropology, Kenyon College  From Barney Rubble to the dimwitted cavemen of The Far Side cartoons, neanderthals have a reputation for being not-so-smart. But that may simply be because the best evidence of their smarts hasn’t survived for us to inspect and a