Boston Public Radio

While mere mortals may spend the evening queuing around the block for tickets to see the new Star Wars film "The Force Awakens," WGBH's own Jared Bowen is…

After last winter, does the very thought of ice dams give you the chills? Richard Trethewey and Tom Silva of Ask This Old House are here to the rescue…

Mayor Marty Walsh supports the concept of a "just cause eviction" petition circulated by housing activists and is working with his staff on ways it could…

Late Saturday night, delegates from 195 countries around the world attending the COP21 conference agreed to a historic climate deal to reduce greenhouse…

Security on "soft" targets—a term used to describe targets with historically low security, like schools, office buildings, and other public spaces—has…

Nothing says "happy holidays" like a Friday News Quiz. To prove it, we brought two bona fide Santa Clauses—that's right, two!—to face off on this week's…

Today on Boston Public Radio: Charlie Chieppo and Jennifer Braceras joined us for a political round table. Chieppo is principal of Chieppo Strategies and senior fellow at both Governing and Pioneer Institute. Braceras is a political columnist, director of the Center for Law & Liberty at the Independent Women's Forum, and a former Commissioner of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. We spoke with WGBH News Analyst Charlie Sennott about the resignation of US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman, one of a string of resignations in President Donald Trump's cabinet. Pat and Tammy McLeod joined us to discuss their new book *Hit Hard: One Family's Journey of Letting Go of What Was -- And Learning to Live Well with What Is, *about their son's traumatic brain injury sustained while playing football. We opened the lines to take listener calls about the news that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein apparently committed suicide while in jail. Reverends Irene Monroe and Emmett G. Price III joined us for another edition of All Rev'd Up to discuss the legacy of late author Toni Morrison. Michael Maso, executive director of the Huntington Theater, discussed the theater's upcoming renovations. Media scholar Bob Thompson previewed this year's Emmy Awards in September. Thompson is founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Today on Boston Public Radio: SoulCycle leadership has been found to throw fundraisers for President Donald Trump. SoulCyclers who don't support Trump now feel conflicted about where their money is going. We opened the lines to ask our listeners if morality affects their consumer habits. Sabine van Rensburg and Brin Schoellkopf of The 7 Fingers circus discussed their U.S. premiere of PASSENGERS opening at ArtsEmerson this September. WGBH's Emily Rooney spoke about troubles with the RMV in Massachusetts as well as Tucker Carlson's denial of white supremacy. Tech writer Andy Ihnatko spoke about 8chan, the site which the El Paso shooter allegedly posted an anti-immigration manifesto before killing 22 people. Lindsay Mis, executive director of Massachusetts Design Art & Technology, talked about the new public art installation in New Bedford called "Silver Current." Boston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung discussed why Massachusetts traffic congestion is hitting its limit. Three players from the Boston Renegades - Allison Cahill, Stephanie Pascual and Emily Beinecke - joined us for our weekly news quiz. The Boston Renegades are a women's tackle football team.

Today on Boston Public Radio: NBC News' Chuck Todd gave updates on the latest in national politics. Author Rebecca Traister talked to us about 2020 presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's past as a professor. We opened the line to ask our listeners if they think Warren's career in the classroom helps on the campaign trail. Criminal justice analyst Andrea Cabral spoke about the Trump administration's stance on gun control. Mike Norton, behavioral economist at Harvard Business School, spoke about the healing power of humor in tragic situations. He also took calls from our listeners about how humor has helped them along the grieving process. WGBH science editor Heather Goldstone described the present day impacts of climate change. Medical ethicist Art Caplan explained why video games and mental illness are not to blame for mass shootings.

If you prefer your milk without the moo, a variety of plant-derived "milks" exist. Some people swap cows' milk for plant milk due to having dairy allergies. Others choose to consume plant milk for environmental or animal rights reasons, and these are just the type of people who might soon reach for a glass of lab-made milk instead. Food writer Corby Kummer joined Boston Public Radio on Wednesday to explain how lab-made dairy can produce milk with without the methane. "Protein alternatives made from plants are all the rage as we know Beyond Meat and Impossible burgers, but it's happening in fish, eggs and milk. This milk is not an alternative, it's got all the allergens of dairy products, but what it doesn't have is belching cows behind it," he said. As funny as it is to imagine cows belching, the methane released from these burps is no joking matter. Cow burps add up, accounting for 26 percent of all U.S. total methane emissions, according to National Geographic. Cow-free dairy could lower this number, said Kummer. "The main reason behind it and most of these alternatives is the environment. It's to save the methane emission from cows," he said. "It's to save all the animals from the huge concentrated animal feed lots and all these huge operations." Cow-free dairy swaps 1,000+ pound cows with much smaller organisms - microbes - to produce the dairy proteins instead. These proteins are what makes milk look and taste like milk, Kummer said. "Synthesized proteins mimic the two main proteins in milk, which help coagulate cheese and help give flavor to milk. They're already being synthesized, it's very successful and works fine. Where it doesn't work yet is on any kind of big scale, that's a ways off." Until researches figure out how to increase productivity for a larger scale, you won't be able to find this lab-milk in your dairy aisle quite so soon. In the meantime, you're more likely to find lab-made dairy in the form of cheese, according to Kummer. "It's going to be the base of cheese, whey protein, that lots of cheese makers make. What it does is have all the protein properties that's going to help in making cheese and probably be indistinguishable when they add the salt and the other flavoring that goes into cheese. So it's probably going to be very useful to the industry," he said. Kummer added that even though lab-made milk will take a longer time to reach the masses, demand for it is there. "The company that's farthest along with this, called Perfect Day, did a test market in July of limited edition batches of flavored milk and they sold out." Kummer is a *senior editor at The Atlantic*, an award-winning food writer, and a senior lecturer at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition and Policy. Written by Hannah Uebele

Today on Boston Public Radio: Economist Jonathan Gruber distinguished the 2020 Democratic candidates' healthcare plans from each other. He also took questions from our listeners about how different healthcare plans could affect them. Massachusetts Representative Stephen Lynch discussed gun reform legislation in the wake of the fatal shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. CNN analyst Juliette Kayyem explained why she believes white supremacism is the greatest terroristic threat to the United States of America. WGBH's executive arts editor Jared Bowen called in from New York City to describe his experience last night during the panic at Times Square. Hundreds of people ran for their lives after mistaking a motorcycle for gunshot. Venezuela and Uruguay have issued travel warning to the U.S. in response to the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. We opened the lines to ask our listeners about their safety concerns with traveling in the U.S. MA Representative William Straus and Senator Joseph Boncore discussed the problems within the RMV. Food writer Corby Kummer spoke about everything from faux-guacamole and "Impossible" milk to vegetarians who've become butchers in an attempt to change the meat industry.