Boston Public Radio

The “Meet the Press” moderator criticized the lack of testing being done in the U.S.

When news broke that a novel coronavirus which was first discovered in China was spreading it was reminiscent of the plots of some novels Dr. Robin Cook has written.

Economist Jonathan Gruber criticized President Trump's push for a payroll tax cut, and also called for the government to stimulate the production of a vaccine.

Theaters and museums have to find the balance between public safety and the success of their organizations.

"We're using ideological filtering, not science filtering," said medical ethicist Arthur Caplan.

Kayyem praised Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker for declaring a state of emergency due to coronavirus.

"Dope Labs" is a podcast that mixes “hardcore science with pop culture and a healthy dose of friendship." For hosts (and friends) Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley, the goal is to make science appealing, and visible, to everyone. “One of the things that’s really important for Zakiya and I, is bringing science to the people,” said Shodiya on Boston Public Radio on Monday. That idea is the driving force behind a feature length planetarium film in development by "Dope Labs" and Boston’s Museum of Science. The film will feature stories and scientific contributions of BIPOC scientists who audiences may not have heard about before. Funding for the film will come from NASA and the Simons Foundation. Shodiya, a materials scientist and engineer, and Whatley, a molecular biologist, created "Dope Labs" in 2019. The two met in graduate school while getting their respective Ph.D.s at Duke University. In a nod to their academic background, seasons of the podcast are called “semesters,” episodes are called “labs” and each show begins with a “recitation.” Module But topics are far from technical and dry. "Dope Labs" digs into a range of topics from the material and social science of shapewear, to a two-part episode on maternal health. “Let us find what you’re already interested in and tell you about the history of this … We’re just showing people that we’re engaging with science everyday, all the time. And it’s in places that you might not think about,” said Whatley. Whatley and Shodiya are not discouraged by the political polarization of science. They’ve done episodes on COVID-19 vaccines, birth control and even science denial. Some people’s minds may never be changed about a science topic, said Shodiya. But for those people who want to learn more about what is true, "Dope Labs" is there. “The work that we do on 'Dope Labs' is to give them a resource with friendly voices that are going to talk to them and meet them right where they are,” she said. Part of meeting people where they’re at includes showing audiences there are “many ways to be involved in STEM that don’t require you to get a Ph.D.,” said Whatley. “And that’s what we hope to shed light on with this film.” "Dope Labs" wrapped its fourth season in October 2022. The fifth “semester” is currently in pre-production with a launch date to be announced. People can listen to past episodes on all podcast platforms.

Today on Boston Public Radio: It’s clear our government is becoming increasingly anti-majoritarian and we opened the lines for listeners to react. Betty Francisco, chief executive of the Boston Impact Initiative, a nonprofit fund manager, joined to discuss equity in capital investments/entrepreneurship. Scientists Titi Shodaya and Zakiya Whatley are co-hosts of the “Dope Labs” podcast, aimed to bring science to everybody. They joined the show to discuss what they do, their partnership with the Museum of Science and announced that season 5 is in the works. Poet Richard Blanco examined the “Ars Poetica” – art of poetry, through ars poetica poems, examining the role of poets themselves and the act of writing. The Revs discussed a push for the Catholic church to respond to the mental health crisis in teens; Muslim students at a college in NY calling for adequate prayer space; and a Texas bill that would require the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms. We re-aired a conversation with singer and song-writer Arlo Guthrie. He was promoting an event at the Boch Schubert Center but you can still get tickets to the exhibit on his life and career at the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame. Our show wrapped up by asking listeners how far is too far when it comes to commuting. Some can handle two hours, some can’t handle forty minutes. So what did our listeners have to say?

Today on Boston Public Radio: Various headlines are circulating on the issue of affordable housing in Boston. From rent control to building housing on top of libraries, we asked listeners to share their thoughts. John Valverde is the CEO of YouthBuild USA, a nonprofit offering counseling and job training for young adults. He discussed the organization and how they’re addressing, among other thing, youth violence in schools. Segun Oduolowu hosts the Boston Globe Today on NESN, which debuted this week. He reflected on his first week and the importance of being the face of the show. Sue O’Connell talked about the racist policing incident that occurred on Marathon Monday in Newton, the mysterious disappearance of Twitter blue-checks, the expansion of don’t-say-gay in Florida, that exploding SpaceX rocket, and MTG getting silenced at a GOP-led committee hearing. Bonnie Heiple is commissioner of the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection, she talked about what she does and how it’s going ahead of Earth Day tomorrow. Live Music Friday this week is Jazz Boston president Ken Field, guitarist John Stein and GBH General Manager Anthony Rudel. They’ve got a concert on the Sunday after next honoring the life and legacy of Eric Jackson, they played some music in his honor. We ended the show with the comforting topics of rats. We asked listeners to text and call us to share experiences they’ve had with rats.

Five years ago, a Harvard doctoral student named Andres Ardisson Korat conducted a study that came to an unexpected conclusion. He found that eating half a cup of ice cream a day was associated with a lower risk of heart problems among diabetics. In other words — it showed eating ice cream as good for you. “If you have ice cream, you are at less risk of developing diabetes and researchers could not explain it away,” said food writer Corby Kummer on Boston Public Radio. Many researchers couldn’t give a rebuttal to the old wives’ tale on ice cream being healthy, even after throughly analyzing studies from over 20 years ago. The Atlantic story takes on the beloved treat of ice cream and while it is not typically considered a "healthy" food, it is evident that ice cream in moderation and as part of a balanced diet is unlikely to have a significant negative impact on a person’s health. Whether it actively increases the health of a person is a debate. “The story in our beloved Atlantic was really good and provocative. It was [examining] what researchers do when they see an obviously robust result they can’t filter out. They can’t change the controls to make it [the results] go away. And in this case, it was that eating ice cream, I think it was three times a week ... you’re welcome to do it,” Kummer said. Kummer himself could not give a direct answer on whether or not ice cream is healthy and quoted Dariush Mozaffarian, the dean of policy at Tufts' nutrition school, where he said that if ice cream had been a patented drug, “you can bet that the company would have done a $30 million randomized control trial to see if ice cream prevents diabetes.” He gives praise to the Atlantic story and said it’s a great example of “what it is like to try to produce meaningful nutritional research results when there are so few randomized controlled trials, and there’s so little money to do it.” At the moment, there isn’t a concrete answer. But regardless, Kummer plans to go to Toscanini’s in Cambridge and said you should too. “That’s the place to have it 3 times a week.” Corby Kummer is executive director of the Food and Society policy program at the Aspen Institute, a senior editor at The Atlantic and senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. He's a regular guest on Boston Public Radio.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC’s Chuck Todd on the latest political headlines. There have been a string of tragic shootings that happened recently and we opened the lines for listeners to share their thoughts on cases like Ralph Yarl’s and Kaylin Gillis'. Medical ethicist Art Caplan discusses additional COVID boosters approved by the FDA; Black pregnant women being tested more frequently for drug use; and retaining access to abortion pills by off-label prescribing. Jared Bowen discusses comedian Alex Edelman’s stand-up special ‘Just For Us’; Wild Life film about Patagonia’s founders; and My Fair Lady at Broadway in Boston. Food policy analyst Corby Kummer discusses New Yorkers converting their food waste into home energy through curbside composting; and studies showing a mysterious health benefit to ice cream. Brian McCreath, Brian O’Donovan, and James Bennett II join for a local music events panel. Our show wrapped up by taking calls and texts on 4/20. We wanted to know how people’s relationship with marijuana has changed in the years since its legalization in Massachusetts.