Simple is the New Black

Guest: Eric Jensen, JD, Professor of International Law and Law of Armed Conflict, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University Congress is expected to pass a measure this week extending a controversial National Security Agency surveillance program for another six years. It allows the government to collect a large amount of phone and email communications between Americans and foreigners without getting a warrant. An unusual coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats in the House tried to get additional restrictions written into the measure, but failed. Also, a reaction to President Trump's bill of health.

Guest: Gretchen Rubin, Author, “The Four Tendencies” This is the time of year a lot of people set goals for developing new habits, and the practice makes life better for a lot of people. But then there are some people who just don’t bother anymore because, what’s the point of articulating a New Year’s resolution they know they won’t stick to for longer than a week? For some people, personal goal setting works and for others it doesn’t. Some people thrive in structure, others wither. A new book suggests the secret to making sense of this lies within a simple question.

Guest: Noah Petro, PhD, Research Space Scientist, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA In a couple weeks, the Western US will witness a rare celestial event, a blue blood supermoon. If that sounds like a royal spectacle, it is something of a treat: three lunar events in one. To see it, you’ll have to set your alarm and get up a little early on January 31st.

Guest: Douglas Gentile, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, Iowa State University The World Health Organization is considering adding obsessive video-game playing to its official list of disorders. Does that mean your teenager who loves video games is sick? Not all psychological development experts agree on this, but one psychologist has published several of the seminal studies that suggest gaming addiction is a disorder worth classifying.

Guest: Reshma Naik, DrPH, Senior Policy Analyst, Population Reference Bureau  Diabetes, stroke and heart disease are sometimes considered “rich country” diseases, a major problem mainly in countries like the US. Whereas, poorer countries struggle more with contagious disease like malaria or HIV/AIDs. And yet, global health researcher Reshma Naik says non-communicable diseases are actually a serious problem in poor and middle income countries.