Pakistan Leadership, Peace After Conflict, The Hormone Myth

Guest: Michael Kugelman, Asia Program Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia, Wilson Center, Washington, DC The prime minister of Pakistan stepped down over the weekend after the country’s Supreme Court ruled him too dishonest to finish out his term in office.  Hard to fathom as that may be to Americans, this is nothing new for Pakistan, says Wilson Center South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman. The shakeup also comes at a troublesome time for US-Pakistan relations.

Guest: James Patton, President and CEO, International Center for Religion and Diplomacy With so many regions of the world embroiled in war, what lessons can we glean from a historic peace deal that ended the world’s longest conflict? Colombian government forces and FARC rebels signed an agreement in November to end fighting that had been going on since 1964. More than 220,000 Colombians had been killed - mostly civilians – and 8 million were driven from their homes in the conflict. What brought these two sides to peace?  And now that both sides are laying down their arms, is the work done?

Guest: Lindsay Graham, PhD, Research Specialist, Center for the Built Environment, UC Berkeley The majority of new houses built in 2015 were larger than 2,400 square feet. But there is also something of a movement toward tiny houses, which boast floor spaces of anywhere from 400 to a miniscule 100 square feet. Talk about downsizing. We talk to an expert on the psychology of home environments.

Guest: James Gaskin, PhD, Creator of uDreamed app, Professor of Information Systems, Brigham Young University Dreams aren’t always obvious, are they? If you’re the type of person who likes to derive meaning from them, you could try UDreamed—an app that interprets them.

Guest: Robyn Stein DeLuca, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Author of “The Hormone Myth: How Junk Science, Gender Politics & Lies About PMS Keep Women Down" Hormones do not make women crazy, according to Professor Robyn DeLuca. But what about the PMS, the mood swings, the chocolate cravings, the menopausal looniness? What woman hasn’t used PMS to explain an emotional outburst? What woman hasn’t been chided for “PMSing” when she gets angry?  But Robyn Stein Deluca says it’s all a myth - “The Hormone Myth,” as she calls it in the title of her new book.