World Events, Equifax Breach, How Fair is the Nobel Prize?

Guest: Quinn Mecham, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Brigham Young University Quinn Mecham is a professor of political science here at BYU, and he’s also regular contributor here on Top of Mind, where he joins us monthly with a look at three international events worth closer consideration.

Guest: Mary Young, Certified Speech-Language Pathologist, Director of Provo Speech Clinic, Adjunct Clinical Educator, School of Education, Brigham Young University When you meet someone for the first time and they speak with an accent, do you immediately make assumptions about where they’re from, and even how intelligent they are? Though we’d like to think it’s the content of our communication that matters most, a lot rides on the way we say what we say. In fact, there’s a whole industry of speech and language pathologists who help people minimize their accents.

Guest: Julianna Holt-Lunstad, PhD, Professor, College of Family, Home and Social Sciences, Brigham Young University If your doctor told you to get more exercise – or get more sleep – you wouldn’t be too surprised. But what if your doctor gave you a prescription to spend more time with friend? What business is your social life to your doctor?  Well, if your longevity is of concern to your doctor, then your social life should be, too, according to research done by BYU psychology professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad. In fact, she’d like to see social connectedness given priority by public health officials – right up there with eating a balanced diet and avoiding smoking.

Guest: Christopher Peterson, JD, Professor of Law, University of Utah, former Special Advisor, Office of the Director, United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Just over a month ago, we got word of a big security breach at the credit-reporting agency Equifax. And since then, reports have told us to take immediate action to protect our identities. But how many of us have? What good can it do? Big hacks are getting so common, trying to protect information in one spot feels like stopping one hole in a boat that’s already so leaky it barely floats.  So how do know if this Equifax breach is one to really take seriously?

Guest: Caroline Wagner, PhD, Professor and Endowed Chair of International Affairs, The Ohio State University The Nobel Prize is the most coveted prize in science. But it’s also a relic from another time, when scientists stayed in their own specialty lane and made discoveries in solitude. Today, international collaboration is the hallmark of big breakthroughs. Take the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded last week: hundreds of people from all around the world, and from a range of fields beyond physics, participated in the detection of gravitational waves, but only three American men received the award. In fact, the Nobel rules don’t allow the award to be split more than three ways. Has science outgrown the Nobel Prize?

Guest: Mohammed Amin, Chairman of the Conservative Muslim Forum Mohammed Amin has been named one of the hundred most influential Muslims in the UK. Since the 9-11 terror attacks, he’s made it his mission to explain his faith to others. But he’s especially interested in speaking to young Muslims – helping them see the possibilities for their lives. And he does it by telling them the story of his own life. The son of poor immigrants from Pakistan, Amin grew up in the slums of Manchester to become a partner at the prestigious accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Visit Mohammed Amin’s website here.