First, a look inside the arms trade and its effects on politics and society.[ dur: 33mins. ]

• Suzette Grillot is a Professor of International Studies at University of Oklahoma. She is the co-author of the book The International Arms Trade.

Then, we speak with Erwin Staub about his latest book, The ​R​oots of ​G​ood​nes​s​ and ​R​e​s​ist​ance to ​Evil: Inclusive ​C​aring, ​M​oral ​C​ou​r​age, ​Altruism ​B​o​r​n of ​S​uffering, ​A​c​t​ive ​B​ystandership and ​H​e​r​oism. [ dur: 25 mins. ]

• Ervin Staub is a Professor of Psychology Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Founding Director of its ​Ph.D. concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Contributing host Doug Becker spends the hour exploring the politics of memory and alterations of history. How is memory shaped to influence the politics of war and post-war, in the post-war of former Yugoslavia. What can we learn about how our memories of the past are manipulated to change current and future politics? What can we learn from “memory entrepreneurs” in the former Yugoslavia? How did they try to change understandings about the past to influence the future? [ dur: 53mins. ]

• Jelena Subotic is Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University. She is the author of Hijacked Justice: Dealing with the Past in the Balkans and the forthcoming Yellow Star, Red Star: Holocaust Remembrance after Communism.
• Brent Steele is Francis D. Wormuth Presidential Chair of Political Science and Professor of Political Science at University of Utah. He is the author of
  Ontological Security in International Relations and the research paper Maintaining (US) collective memory: from Hiroshima to a critical study of security history.
• Brent Sasley is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas, Arlington. He is the author of the book Politics in Israel: Governing a Complex Society and the journal article Theorizing States’ Emotions.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We spend the hour examining the future of US foreign policy after the firing of John Bolton as National Security Advisor, the marginalization of the National Security Council and the possibility of a nuclear arms deal with North Korea. Is the president free-styling his policy? and how much is he consistent with his previous policies? [ dur: 58mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ.

• Jeffrey Fields is Associate Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the University of Southern California. He is the author of State Behavior and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime and Engaging Adversaries: Myths and Realities in American Foreign Policy.
• Robert Williams is Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Social Science Division at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He is the co-author of Seeking Security in an Insecure World.
• Peter F. Trumbore is Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Oakland University. He is co-author of the publications Rogue States and Territorial Disputes and Running on Foreign Policy? Examining the Role of Foreign Policy Issues in the 2000, 2002, and 2004 Congressional Campaigns.
• Nicholas Rostow is a Senior Research Scholar in Law at Yale Law School with specialization in national security law. He has extensive experience in policy making including as legal advisor to the National Security Council under Colin Powell. He is co-author of the book chapter 9/11 and After: Legal Issues, Lessons, and Irregular Conflict

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, scientific discoveries about x and y chromosomes are challenging what we know about what makes us male or female. [ dur: 16 mins. ]

• Jeremy Nathans is Professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience and ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His discoveries have changed our understanding of how humans see the world. link to Professor Jeremy Nathan’s lab
• Melissa Wilson Sayres is Professor in the School of Life Sciences and The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Her research interests are in sex chromosome evolution, sex-biased processes, population genetics, and comparative genomics. Melissa Wilson Sayres research papers

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, what is the celebrity industrial complex? How does it impact our democracies, our culture and society? [ dur: 43 mins. ]

• Joshua Gamson​ ​is a Professor of ​ ​Sociology​ ​at​ the​ University​ of​ San Francisco. He is the author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, The Music, The Seventies in San Francisco​,​ Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity​ ​and Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America.​
• David Gilles is a Professor in Media Psychology at the University of Winchester. He is the author of Psychology of the media​, Media psychology​ and Illusions of immortality: A psychology of fame and celebrity​​​​.​
• P. David Marshall is a Professor and Chair in New Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at Deakin University, Australia. He is the au​th​​or of Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture, New Media Cultures and ​T​he Celebrity Culture Reader​.​

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Survey of ocean condition. [ dur: 58mins ]

Karina Nielsen is Professor of Biology and Executive Director of Estuary and Ocean Science Center at San Francisco State University. She is the co-author of California’s 4th Climate Assessment: Coast and Ocean Summary Report and Emerging understanding of seagrass and kelp as an ocean acidification management tool in California, and Are meta-ecosystems organized hierarchically? A model and test in rocky inter-tidal habitats.

Stephen R. Palumbi is Jane and Marshall Steel Jr. Professor in Marine Sciences at Stanford University and the Harold A. Miller Director of the Hopkins Marine Station. He is the co-author of numerous publications including Using naturally occurring climate resilient corals to construct bleaching-resistant nurseries, Cobble community DNA as a tool to monitor patterns of biodiversity within kelp forest ecosystems, and Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services.

Scott Doney is Joe D. and Helen J. Kington Professor in Environmental Change in the Department of Environmental Sciences at University of Virginia. He is the co-author of numerous publications including A comprehensive global oceanic dataset of helium isotope and tritium measurements , Strengthened scientific support for the Endangerment Finding for atmospheric greenhouse gases , and Anthropogenic ocean acidification over the twenty-first century and its impact on calcifying organisms.

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

How culture shapes our understanding and treatment of mental health. We speak with three experts. [ dur: 58 mins. ]

• Roberto Lewis-Fernandez is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University. He is also Director of NYS Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and Hispanic Treatment Program and Co-Director of Anxiety Disorders Clinic at New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is the author and co-editor of the book DSM-5(R) Handbook of the Cultural Formulation Interview. He is also the co-author of the research publications Impact of motivational pharmacotherapy on treatment retention among depressed Latinos, and Conditional risk for PTSD among Latinos: A systematic review of racial/ethnic differences and sociocultural explanations.
• Tanya Marie Luhrmann is the Watkins University Professor in the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. She is the author of When God Talks Back: Understanding the American Evangelical Relationship with God, Of Two Minds: An Anthropologist Looks at American Psychiatry and Our Most Troubling Madness: Schizophrenia and Culture.
• Andrew G. Ryder is Associate Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Centre for Clinical Research in Health at Concordia University. He is the co-author of the research publications Culture and psychopathology, Revisioning psychiatry: Cultural phenomenology, critical neuroscience, global mental health, Depression in cultural context: Chinese somatization and Towards a cultural-clinical psychology.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

First, Bird Colony collapse and crop failures.

• Josh Tewksbury is Research Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Director of the Colorado Global Hub, Future Earth. He is also Executive Editor of Anthropocene magazine. He is the co-author of the studies Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate and De-faunation leads to interaction deficits, not interaction compensation, in an island seed dispersal network.
• Curtis Deutsch is Associate Professor of Chemical Oceanography in the School of Oceanography at Washington University. He is the co-author of the studies Acceleration of oxygen decline in the tropical Pacific over the past decades by aerosol pollutants, Microbial functional diversity alters the structure and sensitivity of oxygen deficient zones, and Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate.
• Steven R. Beissinger is Professor of Conservation Biology in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the co-author of the studies Mojave Desert Bird Populations Plummet as Region Warms and Dries and The push and pull of climate change causes heterogeneous shifts in avian elevation-al ranges.

Then, birds, bees, whales and turtles all use the earth s magnetic field to guide their behavior. Now scientists have learned much more about how. Joining us is Andres Vidal Gadea. He s a professor of Molecular Neuroethology at Illinois State University who has made the fascinating discoveries. [ dur: 15mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ.

• Andrew Vidal Gadea, Professor of Molecular Neuroethology, Illinois State University . His research website at Illinois State University.

This program is produced with contributions from the following volunteers: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Why are there protests in Hong Kong and what are the stakes for China and the world? Today we examine the ongoing political crisis between Hong Kong and China, the likely international responses to China’s policies and explore likely scenarios for resolution. Doug Becker hosts.[ dur: 58 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ.

• Dr Pradeep Taneja is professor of Chinese politics, political economy and international relations at the University of Melbourne. He is the co-author of China Since 1978 and co-editor of The European Union and China: Interests and Dilemmas.
• Katherine Chu is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Asian Pacific Studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills. She is the author of So You Think You Know Chinese Film: Beyond Jackie Chan and Crouching Tiger.
• Daniel C. Lynch is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at City University of Hong Kong. He is the author of China’s Futures: PRC Elites Debate Economics, Politics, and Foreign Policy. and Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to “Global Culture” in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Can international finance systems be harnessed to protect human rights? While historically financiers have funded some of the worse of human rights abuses, finances also enabled great human leaps. Our guest argues that it is time to alter the financial system for the good of humanity. [ dur: 29 mins. ]

• David Kinley is Professor and Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney Law School. He is the author of Necessary Evil: How to Fix Finance by Saving Human Rights, and Civilising Globalisation: Human Rights and the Global Economy. He is also the co-editor of Human Rights: Old Problems, New Possibilities.

Then, our guest studies factors that shape our lives and ways of being in life, like ideas and events. What does it really mean to be responsible? It might depend on where you live. [ dur: 29 mins. ]

• Susanna Trnka is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Auckland. She is the co-editor of Competing Responsibilities: The Politics and Social Ethics of Responsibility in Contemporary Life and State of Suffering: Political Violence and Community Survival in Fiji.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Anaïs Amin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

We spend the hour examining Brexit, what the election of Boris Johnson means for Brexit and a bitterly polarized British public and politics. What is the future of British economy? What the UK will likely look like in 2024? Doug Becker hosts.[ dur: 58mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

• Russell Foster is Lecturer in Britain and European Integration at King’s College London. His publications include Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George. Europe and the Limits of Integrating Identity, The Limits of Europe, and These Are Those That Faustus Most Desires: Identity, Iconography and Europe.
• Paul P. Craig is currently Professor of English Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St John’s College. His many publications include Brexit and the UK Constitution, The EU, Democracy and Institutional Structure: Past, Present and Future, and Brexit and Relations between the UK and the EU.
• Simon Radford is an independent scholar based in the UK. He is the author of Can donations buy you a British peerage: a study in the link between party, political funding and peerage nominations, 2005 – 2014.

Produced by the Scholars’ Circle team: Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download