Common Ground, Bat Longevity, Thermostats and Gender

Guest: Amy Wilson, Managing Director of Inclusion, NCAA Sports is one of the few areas in American life where segregation is still the name of the game. Men compete against men and women against women. That makes issues of gender identity and sexual orientation particularly thorny in athletics –especially on the campuses of faith-based universities. In 2014, the NCAA decided to tackle the discomfort head-on in a series of workshops called Common Ground.

Guest: Gerald Wilkinson, Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland For most mammals, the larger they are the longer they live. Larger mammals have slower metabolisms and longer lifespans as a result. That's why most pet owners are around longer than their animals. The notable exception to this rule is the bat, which lives much longer than other mammals of comparable size. In fact, researchers recently published that "Nineteen species of mammals live longer than humans, given their body size, of which 18 are bats." Scientists have made some remarkable discoveries as to why bats live so long. Part of it stems from body temperature fluctuation, hibernation, and differing sizes between males and females.

Guest: Tom Chang, Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics, USC Marshall School of Business Summer is sweater-season for women who work in office buildings. I’ll sometimes get into my sweltering car after work and just revel in the heat for a moment after being in the chilly office all day. Most buildings are set to the ideal temperature for the metabolism of a typical male, which different from a typical female. But it’s not just a matter of comfort. Economist Tom Chang at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business found, in some recently-published work, that women perform better when they’re not shivering at their desks.

Guest: Adrienne Schweer, the leader of the Paid Family Leave Task Force for the Bipartisan Policy Center and founder of the nonprofit, Family Leave Works. Most Americans think working mothers should receive paid maternity leave, and politicians across the ideological spectrum think so, too. So why is America the only developed country in the world that does not require employers to offer it?

Guest: Nicholas Hillman, PhD, Associate Professor of Educational leadership and policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison For a lot of teenagers, the main appeal of college is that it’s not home. Their parents probably feel the same way. However, about half of all college freshmen in America go to a school within 50 miles of home. Maybe they’re lucky enough to have a great school right in their backyard. Or, maybe finances and family responsibilities force them to stay close to home. And what if there’s not a school nearby?

Guest: Glenn Orton, Senior Research Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Jupiter’s distinctive red eye is disappearing. For centuries it’s been the giant planet’s most prominent feature. But within 20 years, solar system diagrams in classrooms the world over will need a revision to erase it. So, that’s a little sad. The really fascinating thing though, is why that spot has stuck around so long, considering it’s just a storm. Can you imagine if a storm system hovered for centuries over one spot on Earth?