Tubman Currency, Women's Health, Autism and Job Interviews
US Currency Redesign Guest: Matthew Mason, PhD, BYU History Professor A sweeping redesign of America’s paper money is underway, with new images planned for the $5, $10 and $20 bill. Notably, a woman will grace the front of the $20 bill for the first time since Martha Washington was briefly on the $1 silver certificate more than 100 years ago. The woman who will give President Andrew Jackson the boot on the face of the $20 will also be the first African American on the face of US paper money. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave nicknamed “The Black Moses” for leading scores of slaves to freedom as a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. To have her take up residence next Washington on the $1 and Lincoln on the $5 and Hamilton on the $10 sends a pretty powerful message about what we value. Nature and Health Guest: Peter James, ScD, Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Taking a walk in the woods – or even just in a city park – is a great way to clear your head. That’s well-established. Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found that just living in a green area helps people live longer. The study looked at a hundred thousand women from across the country, but the researchers suggest the same findings would be true for men, too. Spanking Doesn't Work Guest: Elizabeth Gershoff, PhD, Developmental Psychologist from the University of Texas at Austin Spanking is both fairly common in the United States and generally accepted. Whether you spank or not, I imagine most parents have had a moment with a child where they’ve thought – if I could only give this kid a whack on the backside, he’d straighten out. We tend to think spanking may not be ideal, but it’s at least effective when all else fails. Virtual Job Interviews for Youth With Autism Guests: Robert Ahlness, Department Manager for the Dan Marino Foundation; Skip Rizzo, PhD, Psychologist at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies I don’t care how confident or qualified you are; job interviews are stressful. The hand shake, the eye contact, sounding self-assured but not self-absorbed. Now, imagine you’re on the autism spectrum and reading social cues is a mystery to you. That may explain why unemployment rates among young adults with autism are as high as 66 percent. Could they have better luck finding work if they had a way to practice the job interview? The Dan Marino Foundation and the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies are looking to find out. They’ve developed a virtual interview technology. Parent Previews on Captain America: Civil War Guest: Rod Gustafson, Film Critic at ParentPreviews.com Film Reviewer Rod Gustafson discusses the new film “Captain America: Civil War” with us. Tech Transfer: Monitoring Air Pollution Guest: Jason Hansen, PhD, BYU Chemistry Professor; Mike Alder, Director of the BYU Technology Transfer Office For more than 50 years, US laws have been in place to keep our air clean. Communities monitor air quality and warn residents when particulate levels get dangerous. Here in Utah, we routinely have “red air” days in the winter, when pollutants get trapped by the mountains and weather patterns, making it unsafe for people to exert themselves outside – especially the elderly and those with asthma. One of the challenges in air monitoring is determining where the pollutants are coming from. Is it the power plant in a community? The cars on the freeway? The oil and gas wells? Air pollutants don’t carry name tags. But the right device might be able to track them back to their origins.