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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- June 1st, 2014

First, sanitation and antibiotics have saved the lives of many, but are they also the culprits behind some of our modern diseases? We might have gone overboard in killing our microbes. And that may be causing some of today’s epidemics. With Martin  Blaser.[ dur: 22 mins. ]

  • Martin J. Blaser is Professor of Translational Medicine and Director of Human Microbiome Program at New York University. He is the author of Missing Microbes : How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, in light of the shootings in Santa Barbara, we look at how the meaning of the second amendment has changed since its introduction and what it may mean for today’s debate about gun laws. Our guests have traced the historical meaning of the second amendment from the very first days when it was drafted and proposed. [ dur: 36 mins. ]

  • Michael Waldman is President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. His is the author of POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words That Defined the Clinton Presidency, A Return to Common Sense: Seven Bold Ways to Revitalize Democracy, and his latest, The Second Amendment: A Biography.
  • Adam Winkler is Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. He is the author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America and the co-editor of Encyclopedia of the American Constitution.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- May 25th, 2014

First, Thailand has experienced its second military coup in a decade. What does the military siege mean for the country and the region. [ dur: 17 mins. ]

  • Jack Fong, Professor of Sociology at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Author of Revolution as Development: The Karen Self-Determination Struggle Against Ethnocracy (1949 – 2004)

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, while advances in neuroscience are making great leaps in understanding humanity, scholars and doctors disagree on what neuroscience does and does not tell us about what it means to be human. Are we our brains? Do we have free will? How far can neuroscience take us? [ dur: 40 mins. ]

  • Dr. Sally Satel is lecturer at Yale University, a resident scholar at AEI and the staff psychiatrist at a methadone clinic. She is coauthor of One Nation under Therapy and Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience.
  • Patricia S. Churchland is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. In 1991, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. Her books include Brain-Wise: Studies in Neurophilosophy, Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality, and Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- May 18th, 2014

First, the scenarios we face with climate change and the options for humanity. Gwynne Dyer, author of Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats [ dur: 28 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • Gwynne Dyer, author, military historian, journalist;

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we look at Political Power. New global developments are changing the structures and holders of power. With new technology and greater interconnectedness, states are losing power and non-state actors are gaining power. But what exactly does it mean to have power? And where exactly does power come from? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Giulio M. Gallarotti, Professor of Government Studies, Wesleyan University; Author of The Power Curse: Influence and Illusion in World Politics
  • Joseph S. Nye Jr., Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Author of The Future of Power
  • Erica Chenoweth, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University. Co-author of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare)

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- May 11th, 2014

How water has shaped our past and how new water challenges are shaping the future. We talk with Charles Fishman. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Charles Fishman, journalist and author of The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, in the wake of President Obama’s new climate plan, three of the world’s top scientists assess how to heal this planet [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Mark Z. Jacobson is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford. He is the author of Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions and  Atmospheric Pollution: History, Science, and Regulation
  • Michael E. Mann is a Professor of Meteorology at Penn State University, and the Director of the Penn State Earth System Science Center. Dr. Mann is author of more than 150 peer-reviewed and edited publications, and two books including, Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming, and The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches from the Front Lines. He is also a lead author for the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on climate change for which he, his coauthors, and VP Al Gore won the Nobel prize.
  • Peter Ward is Professor of Biology at the University of Washington. He is the author of The Flooded Earth: Our Future In a World Without Ice Caps, Under a Green Sky: Global warming, the mass extinctions of the past and what they can tell us about our future mass extinctions, and  Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth’s Ancient Atmosphere.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- May 4th, 2014

First, we speak with Naomi Oreskes co-author of, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming. [ dur: 25 mins. ]

  • Naomi Oreskes is Professor of the History of Science Studies at University of California, San Diego.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, amid the turmoil in Syria, we analyze the psychology that drives human atrocities and the means of preventing them. [ dur: 32 mins. ]

  • Ervin Staub is Professor of Psychology at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the author of Overcoming Evil: Genocide, Violent Conflict, and Terrorism and The Psychology of Good and Evil: Why Children, Adults, and Groups Help and Harm Others.
  • David Livingstone Smith is Professor of Philosophy at the University of New England. He is the author of Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others.
  • John Kaag is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He is the author of Neoconservative Images of the United Nations: American Domestic Politics and International Cooperation.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- April 27th, 2014

First, droughts all over the world are driving the prices of food and costing jobs as farmers are forced to cut crops from water shortages.  [ dur: 16 mins. ]

  • Lynn Ingram, professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at University of California, Berkeley. She is the co-author of The West without Water: What Past Floods, Droughts, and Other Climatic Clues Tell Us about Tomorrow.

Then, a conversation between four Nobel Laureates about science and society, and the importance of public education. Hosted by UC Berkeley. [ dur: 44 mins. ]

  • Randy W. Schekman, professor of molecular and cell biology, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in revealing the machinery that regulates the transport and secretion of proteins in our cells.
  • Saul Perlmutter, professor of physics and a faculty senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), led one of two teams that simultaneously discovered the accelerating expansion of the universe and was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • George Smoot, professor of physics and an astrophysicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), led a team that obtained the first images of the infant universe ” findings that confirmed the predictions of the Big Bang theory ” and was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  • Daniel L. McFadden, professor of economics, was awarded the 2000 Nobel Prize in Economics for his development of statistical methods relating to the economic theory of “discrete choice,” tools that have been used to determine how people and organizations make choices from a distinct set of alternatives.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- April 20th, 2014

First, planet earth is facing a sixth extinction. Can humanity rescue the planet that it has imperiled? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Annalee Newitz is journalist and author of Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction. She is the founding editor of the science and science fiction website i09.com.
  • Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff member at The New Yorker. She is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change, and her latest book The Sixth Extinction.

Then, on the Scholar’s Circle panel, we look at genocides. What are the causes and how we can prevent it. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Ben Kiernan is Whitney Griswold Professor of History and Director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University. He is the author of, Blood and Soil: A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur, and The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79.
  • Alex Hinton is Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution, and Human Rights, and Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs at Rutgers University. He is the author of, Why Did They Kill?: Cambodia in the Shadow of Genocide, and is the editor of Genocide: Truth, Memory, and Representation (The Cultures and Practice of Violence), and Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide.
  • Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge and Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge. He is the author of, Zero Degrees of Empathy, and he is the editor of Understanding Other Minds: Perspectives from developmental social neuroscience, and The Maladapted Mind: Classic Readings in Evolutionary Psychopathology.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- April 13th, 2014

Scientists are saying the earth is changing more rapidly than we expected. Ecosystems are shifting and some species are dying out. What exactly is occurring and where are we headed? We speak with Larry Schweiger. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

  • Larry Schweiger is president and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation, America’s largest conservation organization. Author of Last Chance: Preserving Life on Earth

On the Scholars’ Circle panel, the global refugee crisis has reached epic proportions with tens of millions being forced from their homes. We’ll explore what can be done. [ dur: 31 mins. ]

  • Elizabeth Ferris is a senior fellow in Foreign Policy and co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement in Washington, D.C., where her work encompasses a wide range of issues related to internal displacement, humanitarian action, natural disasters and climate change. She is the author of, The Politics of Protection:The Limits of Humanitarian Action.
  • Karen Musalo is clinical professor of law at UC Hastings College of Law. and is founding Director of the Center of Gender and Refugee. She was the lead attorney of the landmark case, Matter of Kasinga. She is the co-author of Do They Hear When You Cry, and Refugee Law and Policy: A Comparative and International Approach
  • Dr. Gilbert M. Burnham is the co-director of the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response at Johns Hopkins. He has extensive experience in emergency preparedness and response. He has worked with numerous humanitarian and health development programs for multilateral and non-governmental organizations, regional health departments, ministries of health (national and district level), and communities in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe. A major current activity is the reconstruction of health services in Afghanistan.

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- April 6th, 2014

First, in remembrance of the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide (April 7), we revisit the tragedy with Senator Romeo Dallaire who witnessed the atrocities first-hand. [ dur: 25 mins. ]

  • Senator Romeo Dallaire is the author of, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda and They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers.

Finally, the Syrian conflict has now taken more than 150,000 lives and displaced more than 4 million people. We ll discuss the latest developments and possible solutions to the crisis. [ dur: 34 mins. ]

  • Fred Lawson is professor of Government , Mills College; He is the author of Global Security Watch – Syria and Why Syria Goes to War: Thirty Years of Confrontation (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)
  • Nader Hashemi is professor of Middle East and Islamic Politics, University of Denver; He is the editor of The Syria Dilemma (Boston Review Books) and author of Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies.
  • Dr. Marcie J. Patton is a Professor of Politics at Fairfield University. Her publications include, ”Turkey,” “AKP Reform Fatigue in Turkey: What’s happened to the EU process?” and “The Economic Policies of the AKP Government: Rabbits from a Hat?”

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The Scholars’ Circle Radio- March 30th, 2014

First we launch the first in our new monthly series with Scientific American, Scholars Circle Scientific (SCSC), with highlights in science. [ dur: 13 mins. ]

  • Fred Guterl, Executive Editor, Scientific American;

Then, in the wake of the three year anniversary of the Fukushima disaster we speak with Edwin Lyman. [ dur: 13 mins. ]

  • Edwin Lyman is Senior Scientist with the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He is the co-author of, Fukushima: The Story of a Nuclear Disaster.

Finally, the Crimea vote, was it self-determination or was it coercion? We explore autonomy, self-determination and ethnic conflict. [ dur: 32 mins. ]

  • Stefan Wolff is professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham, England, UK. He is the co-author of, Ethnic Conflict: Causes-Consequences-Responses, and the co-author of Autonomy, Self Governance and Conflict Resolution: Innovative approaches to Institutional Design in Divided Societies (Routledge Advances in International Relations and Global Pol) and Disputed Territories: The Transnational Dynamics of Ethnic Conflict Settlement (Studies in Ethnopolitics).
  • Hurst Hannum is professor of International Law at Tufts University. He is the author of, International Human Rights: Problems of Law, Policy, and Practice, and co-author of Negotiating Self-Determination and Autonomy, Sovereignty, and Self-Determination: The Accommodation of Conflicting Rights (Procedural Aspects of International Law).
  • Steven Fish is a professor of political science at UC Berkeley and author of award-winning books including Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics and Democracy from Scratch: Opposition and Regime in the New Russian Revolution (Princeton, 1995). He is coauthor of The Handbook of National Legislatures: A Global Survey (Cambridge, 2009) and Postcommunism and the Theory of Democracy (Princeton, 2001).

 

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