Stanford Law professor Richard Thompson Ford joins us to talk about a long and fascinating list of rules about who could dress in which ways and why, and how they were often used as a cudgel to keep people from rising above their station.
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Unfriendly Skies: The Lives Of Flight Attendants
Journalist Darryl Campbell joins us to talk about the modern airline industry and how angry passengers and harsh working conditions are undermining efforts to protect the health and safety of both customers and staff.
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How The Medical Research System Gets Around Informed Consent
Harriet A. Washington, a lecturer in bioethics at Columbia University, joins us to talk about her research into a patient’s right to decline a procedure and the ethics of forcing experiments or new treatments in the name of research.
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The ABC’s Of STD’s
Dr. Ina Park is a medical consultant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of STD Prevention, and she joins us for an open conversation about how STDs are spread and how they affect the body.
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Ida B. Wells Is As Relevant As Ever
Michelle Duster is a great-granddaughter of Wells, and she joins us to talk about the Civil Rights icon’s strategies for giving a voice to the voiceless and how they might be used in present-day America.
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Artificial Solutions To Preserve The Natural World
New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert joins us to talk about how scientists are looking to address climate change by studying the ways plants and animals have already adapted to live alongside humans.
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Rethinking Russia’s Place On The International Stage
Kathryn E. Stoner is the deputy director of Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, and she joins us to explain how Vladimir Putin has used his iron grip on domestic power to rachet up his country’s influence on international affairs.
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How Public Education Props Up Our Democracy
University of South Carolina School of Law professor Derek W. Black joins us to talk about why a public education system built to serve all students is fundamental to creating an equitable society.
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Economic Growth Isn’t The Answer To Inequality
Stephen J. Macekura of Indiana University joins us to make the case that an ever-increasing GDP isn’t the answer to inequality and other social issues.
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How Ancient Cities Created The Modern World
Author Ben Wilson joins us to talk about the innovations of ancient cities, which connect the Sumerian city of Uruk to the world’s urban mega-centers of today.
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How Pocahontas Kept The Peace
Karen Ordahl Kupperman, Silver Professor of History Emerita at New York University, joins us to talk about how Pocahontas collaborated with a trio of English boys to keep communication flowing between the colonists and their Indian neighbors.
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How A Murderer Got Out To Kill Again
Robert Riggs joins us to talk about the flaws in the parole system that allowed a murderer to walk free several times over.
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