Exercise your ears: the 36 podcasts shown below present the best ideas, information and stories from a larger group of 452 for the week, to hear while your hands and eyes are busy. Get all the files as a group here, or double (ctrl-click) individual titles to get single podcasts and explore the source. A collection of 30,000 podcasts, listed alphabetically and grouped by topic, can be downloaded piecemeal, with files A-E at this link, and the remainder here. You’ll be limited to a 4GB maximum per download at the last place, so multiple group downloads will be needed to get all files, totaling over 170GB and may take a few hours. The first entry in the collection is a text file with just titles for quicker reference. A collection of abstracts for all the podcasts is available at this link and updated quarterly. Get the discarded material, too, using a podcast aggregator loaded with this opml file of the 503 sources. And try PodcastRE from the University of Wisconsin with over 150,000 titles. Exercise your ears and relax the rest.
1918 Influenza Pandemic 33 mins – “In his recent article for The Atlantic, Dr. Jeremy Brown, author of Influenza: The 100-Year Hunt to Cure the Deadliest Disease in History, wrote: “If the terrible influenza pandemic of 1918 and the current coronavirus outbreak share one feature, it is this: People are terribly afraid.” According to Dr. Brown, while fear links these two outbreaks together, that is where the similarities end between the coronavirus and the influenza pandemic. We’ll talk on Friday at noon about what happened in 1918, how the country handled it and how our responses to these medical emergencies have changed over the past 100 years.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Abortions in Canada 18 mins – “Lack of funding, distance, a patchwork of provincial laws and stigma are some of the barriers facing women seeking abortions in Canada, says Shannon Hardy, who volunteers as an abortion doula.” At the link you can listen, but not download; however, a copy is included in this blog archive.
Air Pollution Decreases 8 mins – “If you live in the Salt Lake area, you may have noticed that the air is a little clearer these days, with so few cars on the road due to the COVID-19 shutdown. Air quality – something the Wasatch Front contends with regularly – is a factor in how people respond to the coronavirus. Bad air can make people more susceptible to the virus, and potentially make our response to it worse if we contract it. L.A. Times environmental reporter Tony Barboza recently asked the question “Does air pollution make you more susceptible to the coronavirus?” in an Times article, and we asked him to talk us through his findings. This is a special, short RadioWest segment as part of our continuing COVID-19 coverage.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Atomic Artifacts 29 mins – “Back in the 1950s, facing the threat of nuclear annihilation, federal officials sat down and pondered what American life would actually look like after an atomic attack. They faced a slew of practical questions like: Who would count the dead and where would they build the refugee camps? But they faced a more spiritual question as well. If Washington DC were hit, every object in the the National Archives would be eviscerated in a moment. Terrified by this reality, they set out to save some of America’s most precious stuff. Today, we look back at the items our Cold War era planners sought to save and we ask the question: In the year 2020, what objects would we preserve now?” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
AUMF Discussion 45 mins “This hour we pull apart one sentence, written in the hours after September 11th, 2001, that has led to the longest war in U.S. history. We examine how just 60 words of legal language have blurred the line between war and peace. Last weekend President Trump authorized a strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq. The news had us thinking about an episode we produced in 2014. We pulled apart one sentence, written in the hours after September 11th, 2001, that has led to the longest war in U.S. history. We examine how just 60 words of legal language have blurred the line between war and peace. In the hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a lawyer sat down in front of a computer and started writing a legal justification for taking action against those responsible. The language that he drafted and that President George W. Bush signed into law – called the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) – has at its heart one single sentence, 60 words long. Over the last decade, those 60 words have become the legal foundation for the ‘war on terror.’” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Cataclysm Sentence 45 mins – “One day in 1961, the famous physicist Richard Feynman stepped in front of a Caltech lecture hall and posed this question to a group of undergraduate students: “If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence was passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words?” Now, Feynman had an answer to his own question – a good one. But his question got the entire team at Radiolab wondering, what did his sentence leave out? So we posed Feynman’s cataclysm question to some of our favorite writers, artists, historians, futurists – all kinds of great thinkers. We asked them, “What’s the one sentence you would want to pass on to the next generation that would contain the most information in the fewest words?” What came back was an explosive collage of what it means to be alive right here and now, and what we want to say before we go.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Covid Autopsies 11 mins – “Pathologists are starting to get a closer look at the damage that COVID-19 does to the body by carefully examining the internal organs of people who have died from the novel coronavirus.” At the link right-click the down-pointing arrow and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Covid Racial Disparities 16 mins – “This year we’ve launched two special audio series to help clinicians practice the best medicine possible: one on the Covid-19 pandemic, and the other on dismantling systemic racism in medicine. In this special conversation, these two audio series come together for an in-depth view of racial disparities in Covid-19 outcomes and how we can do better by our patients. Our usual hosts, Drs. Jay-Sheree Allen and Neda Frayha, interview Infectious Diseases specialist and Diversity and Inclusion expert Dr. Jasmine Marcelin for a rich discussion that sits right in the center of the Covid-19/Race and Medicine Venn diagram.” At the link you can listen, but not download; however, a copy is included in this blog archive.
Data Breaches 18 mins – “Countless Congressional hearings, 48 state data privacy laws and GDPR and mega breaches like the discovery of data on 500 million Facebook users just keep happening. Why? In this episode of the podcast, Paul is joinep d by experts from the firm BitSight and BigID to discuss why we can’t seem to stop the breaches.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Distance Learning 34 mins – “In mid-March, with the coronavirus crisis breaking in Utah, Governor Gary Herbert announced that all of Utah’s K-12 public schools would close and learning would go online. That’s 1,200 schools closed. Almost 667,000 students are now stuck at home, more than 36,000 educators are trying to teach those kids remotely and hundreds of thousands of parents are caught in the middle. Nobody saw this coming, and now everybody is trying to figure out, on the fly, how school happens online. Friday at 11 a.m. MDT, we’re talking about this massive social experiment and exploring how teachers, kids and parents are dealing with what one school administrator calls “a perfect storm of learning.” Tips for parents with school-age children at home (in no particular order): Work with your partner and your kids to build a daily routine that works for everybody; Get the family outside! Build regular screen-time breaks into your family’s schedule; Focus on learning and work quality, not time spent at the desk; Create dedicated spaces in your home where your kids can do school work and you can do your work; Think about how or if you could sacrifice some work productivity for the good of your family and your sanity; Get dressed! Allow yourself breaks to do tasks around the house and with your kids.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Drug Disposal 38 mins – “In June 2012, Alameda County in California became the first local government body to pass a safe drug disposal ordinance that would hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for the safe collection and disposal of unused medications from the public. Now San Francisco and numerous additional local governments are on the cusp of doing the same. Today we’ll talk with former Center for Disease Control physician, Dr. Matt Willis; Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the CA Product Stewardship Council; Guillermo Rodriguez of the San Francisco Department of the Environment; and Conor Johnston, from the office of the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.” At the link right-click “Download MP3” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
East India Company 34 mins – “It was an international corporation that became an eighteenth century colonial power with its own army – and all entirely run by British stockholders who reported to a board of directors in London, most of whom had never been to India. When the East India Company won the right to collect taxes in Bengal in 1765, the Company’s abuse of corporate power – such as the world had never seen – ran essentially unchecked for almost 50 years. In his book The Anarchy, historian William Dalrymple explores the wild history of the East India Company, and how, over 200 years later, we continue to see the impact of their influence.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Exercise 20 mins – “Health journalist Judy Foreman talks about her new book “Exercise Is Medicine: How Physical Activity Boosts Health and Slows Aging.” At the link you can listen, but not download; however, a copy of the podcast is included in this blog archive.
Homeschool STEM Resources 44 mins – “With many schools closed and parents looking for resources to help keep children stuck at home engaged and still learning, the hosts of Science for the People stuck on our curation caps and did some digging to create a list of STEM themed online resources for students of all ages and interests. This week we take a break from our usual format so that hosts Bethany Brookshire and Rachelle Saunders can showcase these great resources and hopefully help you find a few that your at-home student is keen to explore. Find a link to every learning resource we talk about in this episode in a blog post in our news section, with a brief sentence explaining it and our best understanding of what age groups these resources are aimed at. We’ve also put together a second blog post with a list of our own previous episodes of Science for the People and the books we talked about in them that we think are suitable for science-savvy teenage students aged 15+.” At the link left-click the down-pointing arrow and select “Save As” and “OK” from the pop-up menu to download the podcast.
Ignaz Semmelweis Day..23 mins.- “It began with a tweet: “EVERY DAY IS IGNAZ SEMMELWEIS DAY.” Carl Zimmer — tweet author, acclaimed science writer and friend of the show — tells the story of a mysterious, deadly illness that struck 19th century Vienna, and the ill-fated hero who uncovered its cure … and gave us our best weapon (so far) against the current global pandemic.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Kingdom of Nauvoo 34 mins – “As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered for their semi-annual General Conference April 4-5, historian Benjamin E. Park shared the fascinating history of the city of Nauvoo, an LDS religious utopia situated on the banks of the Mississippi. Founded in 1839 by Joseph Smith Jr., LDS church prophet and founder, Nauvoo, Illinois had its own army – with Smith as general – a constitution, a court system and at its height, more inhabitants than Chicago, over 12,000. Park’s book, Kingdom of Nauvoo, examines this unique city, which eventually fell apart largely because of the rise of the Mormon practice of polygamy, and how it challenged the limits of America’s tolerance for religious freedom. Benjamin E. Park’s book is Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story 1 30 mins – “Radiolab’s Latif Nasser always believed his name was unique, singular, completely his own. Until one day when he makes a bizarre and shocking discovery. He shares his name with another man: Abdul Latif Nasser, detainee 244 at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. government paints a terrifying picture of The Other Latif as Al-Qaeda’s top explosives expert, and one of the most important advisors to Osama bin Laden. Nasser’s lawyer claims that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and that he was never even in Al-Qaeda. This clash leads Radiolab’s Latif into a years-long investigation, picking apart evidence, attempting to separate fact from fiction, and trying to uncover what this man actually did or didn’t do. Along the way, Radiolab’s Latif reflects on American values and his own religious past, and wonders how his namesake, a fellow nerdy, suburban Muslim kid, may have gone down such a strikingly different path.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story 2 33 mins – “Latif travels to Abdul Latif’s hometown of Casablanca, Morocco, to try and find out: was he radicalized? And if so, how? Latif begins by visiting the man’s family, but the family’s reaction to him gets complicated as Latif digs for the truth. He finds out surprising information on a political group Abdul Latif joined in his youth, his alleged onramp to extremism. Tensions escalate when Latif realizes he’s being tailed.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story 3 27 mins – “Latif turns his focus to Sudan, where his namesake spent time working on a sunflower farm. What could be suspicious about that? Latif scrutinizes the evidence to try to discover whether – as Abdul Latif’s lawyer insists – it was just an innocent clerical job, or – as the government alleges – it was where he decided to become an extremist fighter.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story 4 43 mins – “Latif investigates the mystery around Abdul Latif’s classified time in Afghanistan. He traces the government’s story through scrappy training camps, bombed out Buddhas, and McDonald’s apple pies to the very center of the Battle of Tora Bora. Could Abdul Latif have helped the most sought-after and hated terrorist in modern history, Osama bin Laden, escape? The episode ends with a bombshell jailhouse interview with Abdul Latif, the most reliable evidence yet of what was going on in this man’s mind in the months after 9/11.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story 5 40 mins – “Latif heads to Guantanamo Bay to try to speak to his namesake. Before he gets there, he attempts to answer a seemingly simple question: why Cuba? Why in the world did the United States pick this sleepy military base in the Caribbean to house “the worst of the worst”? He tours the “legal equivalent of outer space,” and against all odds, manages to see his doppelgänger… maybe.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story 6 35 mins.- “Despite being cleared for transfer back to his family in Morocco in 2016, Abdul Latif Nasser remains stuck at Guantanamo Bay. Why? Latif talks to some of the civil servants actually responsible for Abdul Latif’s transfer and they tell him a dramatic story of what went on behind the scenes at some of the highest levels of government. It’s a surprisingly riveting story of paperwork, where what’s at stake is not only the fate of one man, but also the soul of America.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Latif Story Bonus 14 mins – “Since we released the first episode of The Other Latif, we’ve been contacted by many new sources. Which is great! But it also means we need a little extra time to cobble together Episodes 5 and 6. So while we wait, Jad and Latif chat about Abdul Latif’s response to the series, a character who fell out of episode 4, and a tiny moment in Latif’s youth that helped put him on the path he’s on now.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Obesity Control 8 mins – “According to the World Health Organization, the global prevalence of obesity has tripled since the mid-1970s. More than 1 billion adults are overweight, and 650 million adults and 124 million children and adolescents have obesity. Globally, obesity is responsible for 41% of uterine cancers; more than 10% of gallbladder, kidney, liver, and colon cancers; 40% of cases of cardiovascular disease1; and most cases of type 2 diabetes. SARS-CoV-2 infection is more likely to cause serious illness or death in people with obesity than in those with a healthier body-mass index (BMI).2 The prevalence of obesity is higher in the United States than in other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: nationwide, about 42% of adults, 14% of children 2 to 5 years of age, and 20% of children 6 to 19 years of age have obesity. Obesity disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minority groups and rural and low-income populations in the United States. Obesity rates have increased during the past two decades in all age groups except the youngest children.3 “ At the link right-click “Download Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Pandemic in Rome 33 mins – “We know we’re not the first civilization to face a paralyzing pandemic – the history of plagues and pandemics is a long one when you look back over time. According to historian Kyle Harper, the great Roman Empire is one of the most notable that was hit with and ultimately lost to the power of forces like viruses and natural disasters. He’s the author of The Fate of Rome, where he charts how Romans stood against infectious diseases and climate change until the added burdens of outside forces eventually changed their whole society.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Pollution Control 37 mins – “California has a compelling need to reduce pollutant emissions to reach health-based ambient air quality goals. The South Coast Air Quality Management District and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District are currently in extreme non-attainment of the eight-hour federal ozone standard, and in non-attainment for the 24-hour PM2.5 standard. A recent study found that converting medium and heavy duty transportation vehicles to electricity would not only dramatically reduce air pollution, but would also create more jobs than vehicles that run on other fuels. Tune in as we discuss the study with Eileen Tutt, Executive Director of the California Electric Transportation Coalition and Simon Mui, Senior Scientist, Climate & Clean Energy Program, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).” At the link right-click “Download MP3” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
SARS Victim 19 mins – “In 2003, nurse Susan Sorrenti contracted SARS while working at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital. As a similar virus prompts health warnings in China and around the world, Sorrenti recalls her gruelling experience and reflects on the lessons we can learn as we grapple with this new illness. Plus, an update on the emerging story from infectious disease reporter Helen Branswell of Stat News.” At the link you can listen, but not download; however, a copy is included in this blog archive.
School Nutrition 34 mins – “Feeding America is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization—a powerful and efficient network of 200 food banks across the country. As food insecurity rates hold steady at the highest levels ever, the Feeding America network of food banks has risen to meet the need. They feed 40 million people at risk of hunger, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors. But Feeding America also works to alleviate hunger with a focus on sustainability and environmental justice. Today we will discuss their work in America’s Food Deserts, as well as their work to keep edible food from going to waste.” At the link right-click “Download MP3” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Shared Immunity 26 mins – “More than a million people have caught Covid-19, and tens of thousands have died. But thousands more have survived an”Dd recovered. A week or so ago (aka, what feels like ten years in corona time) producer Molly Webster learned that many of those survivors possess a kind of superpower: antibodies trained to fight the virus. Not only that, they might be able to pass this power on to the people who are sick with corona, and still in the fight. Today we have the story of an experimental treatment that’s popping up all over the country: convalescent plasma transfusion, a century-old procedure that some say may become one of our best weapons against this devastating, new disease.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Social Isolation 33 mins – “Not in recent memory has the question “How are you feeling” been asked by so many with such sincerity. The COVID-19 shutdown, the uncertainty of how long all of this will last and what the impact will be – not to mention the extra stress induced by an earthquake and aftershocks – has Utahns and beyond feeling fragile. We take our 11 a.m. hour on Friday to look closely at what isolation means to our mental health, social creatures that we are, and what relief we can find in this difficult time.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Space Discussion 39 mins – “One of the most consistent questions we get at the show is from parents who want to know which episodes are kid-friendly and which aren’t. So today, we’re releasing a separate feed, Radiolab for Kids. To kick it off, we’re rerunning an all-time favorite episode: Space. In the 60’s, space exploration was an American obsession. This hour, we chart the path from romance to increasing cynicism. We begin with Ann Druyan, widow of Carl Sagan, with a story about the Voyager expedition, true love, and a golden record that travels through space. And astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson explains the Coepernican Principle, and just how insignificant we are.” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Third Existential Crisis 34 mins – “As an essayist and novelist, writer Ben Fountain was an unlikely choice to pen a monthly column about the 2016 presidential election for the British newspaper, The Guardian. He’d never worked as a journalist, and although he’s passionate about U.S. politics, he had never written about a presidential election. But following Donald Trump, both on the campaign trail and in his Guardian column, allowed Fountain to dig deep into that particular moment of our society, leading him to declare that we have entered what he calls the country’s “third existential crisis,“ after the struggle over slavery and the Great Depression. Fountain joined us in February for the David P. Gardner Lecture, thanks to an invitation from the Tanner Humanities Center.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Thyroid Cancer 18 mins – “Producer Lise Hosein tells her story as a patient diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer.Until recently, treatment meant getting surgery to remove the thyroid glands. Now doctors are discovering that surgery can in many cases be safely avoided. Patients can safely choose to live with their cancer. For Lise, that seismic shift in treatment comes too late. This episode is produced with the support of The Doc Project mentorship program.” At the link you can listen, but not download; however, a copy is included in this blog archive.
Toilet Paper Buying 32 mins – “History is full of moments when humans as a group react to difficult events. Now that we are a month into the coronavirus quarantine, we’re taking stock of our own reactions to this time. We’ve been hearing stories from around the country about panic buying — especially people hoarding toilet paper — and when we looked at the numbers, Utah is at the top of current grocery store spending. We’ll talk about the psychology of pandemics, as well as the history and culture of Utah’s own impulse to, well, buy a lot.” At the link right-click “Listen” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Women in Software and Cybersecurity 11 mins – “Roberta “Bobbie” Stempfley discusses her career and journey to becoming the director of the SEI’s CERT Division. “There are a million unfillable jobs in cybersecurity. That means there just are not enough people. We have to grow the number of people who understand how to resolve cybersecurity-related issues, who are focused on it. We need to automate things, so we needmore software folks who are smart in order to do that. We can bring women in, but the other interesting statistic is that more than half of them leave mid-career. So it’s not just how do we bring them in, it is how do we keep them in that space?” At the link right-click “Download” and select “Save Link As” from the pop-up menu.
Media Mining Digest 