Category Archives: Scholars’ Circle Interviews

Information and recordings from Schloars’ Circle radio show is posted here.

The Scholars’ Circle Radio- March 9th, 2014

First, great steps in science are unraveling the mysteries of the mind and finding, what we thought was only science fiction, is reality. [ dur: 26 mins. ]

  • Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist , currently Henry Semat Professor of Theoretical Physics at the City College of New York and co-founder of String Field Theory. He is the author of numerous books including, Physics of the Impossible, Physics of the Future and his newest book The Future of the Mind.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, wildlife trafficking is putting some species to the brink of extinction. Can a recent international agreement stop this multibillion dollar industry? [ dur: 32 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

  • David S. Wilkie PhD is a wildlife ecologist specializing in human behavioral ecology and anthropology. He is the Director of Conservation Support at the Wildlife Conservation Society and Adjunct Associate Professor at Boston College, and formerly co-chair of the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force. He has numerous scholarly publications and is a contributor to Huffington Post and LiveScience.
  • Tanya Wyatt PhD is lecturer of wildlife criminology at the University of Northumbria in the UK. She is the author of Green criminology & wildlife trafficking: the illegal fur and falcon trades in Russia Far East, and the book Wildlife Trafficking: A Deconstruction of the Crime, the Victims, and the Offenders (Critical Criminological Perspectives).
  • Marc Bekoff [ his blog ], is professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. His books include The Emotional Lives of Animals, Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation, and has co-authored, Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals.

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- March 2nd, 2014

Power is shifting and changing hands more rapidly than ever. What does it mean for global politics, religion, and economies? [ dur: 24 mins. ]

  • Moises Naim, Carnegie Endowment for Int’l Peace, author of The End of Power: From Boardrooms to Battlefields and Churches to States, Why Being In Charge Isn’t What It Used to Be.

On the Scholars’ Circle, what are the politics that are preventing the closure of Guantanamo Bay? What are the legal and diplomatic ramifications? [ dur: 34 mins. ]

  • David Glazier, professor of Law and fellow at Loyola Law School. Author of article: Playing by the rules: combating al Qaeda within the law of war.: An article from: William and Mary Law Review;
  • Jonathan Hafetz, professor of Law at Seton Hall University. Author of Habeas Corpus after 9/11: Confronting America’s New Global Detention System and co-author of The Guantánamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law
  • Peter Jan Honisberg, professor of Law at University of San Francisco School of Law, Witness to Guantanamo. Co-author of Our Nation Unhinged: The Human Consequences of the War on Terror and author of Crossing Border Street: A Civil Rights Memoir

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Feb. 23rd, 2014

First, we look at a little known international bank that influences the world’s economy with Adam LeBor [ dur: 29 mins. ]

  • Adam LeBor is author and journalist. His is the author of, The Tower of Basil: The Shadowy History of the Secret Bank that Runs the World and The Believers: How America Fell for Bernie Madoff ‘s 65 Billion Investment Scam.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we look at the fast changing world of journalism and media, and what it means for governance and democracy. [ dur: 29 mins. ]

  • Victor Pickard is an Assistant Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the co-editor of, Will the Last Reporter Please Turn out the Lights: The Collapse of Journalism and What Can Be Done To Fix It, and was the lead author of the first comprehensive report on the American journalism crisis, Saving the News: Toward a National Journalism Strategy.
  • Benjamin Compaine is Director, Fellows Program at the Columbia University Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) and Lecturer, D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University. He is the author of, The Digital Divide: Facing a Crisis or Creating a Myth?, Who Owns the Media?: Competition and Concentration in the Mass Media industry and editor of The Internet Upheaval: Raising Questions, Seeking Answers in Communications Policy.
  • James T. Hamilton is Hearst Professor of Communication and the Director of the Journalism Program at Stanford University. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, Hamilton taught at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where he directed the De Witt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. He is the author of, All the News That’s Fit to Sell: How the Market Transforms Information into News, and Channeling Violence: The Economic Market for Violent Television Programming.

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Feb. 16th, 2014

First, we’ll revisit the 1926 founding of Black History Month. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

  • VP Franklin, Distinguished Prof. History at UC Riverside; Author of Living Our Stories, Telling Our Truths: Autobiography and the Making of the African-American Intellectual Tradition editor of Journal of African American History.

Then, they may have been some of the world’s greatest thinkers but they were also great failures at love. [ dur: 15 mins. ]

  • Andrew Shaffer is the author of, Great Philosophers Who Failed at Love, and Literary Rogues: A Scandalous History of Wayward Authors.

Finally, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, what is love? Is it emotional? Biological? Can it be summarized by rational decision? How does it play out in society? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Simon May is a Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Kings College, London. His books include, Love: A History and Nietzsche’s Ethics and his War on “Morality”
  • Bennett W. Helm is a Professor of Philosophy at Franklin & Marshall College. His books include, Love, Friendship, and the Self: Intimacy, Identification, and the Social Nature of Persons and Emotional Reason: Deliberation, Motivation, and the Nature of Value.
  • Dr. Robert Epstein is Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology. He is currently working on a book called Making Love: How People Learn To Love, and How You Can Too, which is based on his research on how love emerges over time in arranged marriages. He is also the author of, Cognition, Creativity, and Behavior: Selected Essays.

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Feb. 9th, 2014

First, we speak with Kishore Mahbubani. He is professor in the Practice of Public Policy and Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

  • Kishore Mahbubani has authored many books including, The Great Convergence: Asia, the West, and the Logic of One World.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, how do our experiences, our traumas, diets and lifestyles get coded in our genetic systems and passed on to our offspring and their offspring? How do they affect our health and our politics? The explore the science of epigenetics.

  • Eva Jablonka, Tel Aviv University; Author of Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life
  • Randy Jirtle, Duke Univ. & Univ. of WI; Author of Environmental Epigenomics in Health and Disease
  • Patrick McCowan, Univ. of Toronto

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Feb. 2nd, 2014

First, in light of veteran US Congressman Henry Waxman announcing his retirement, we revisit his analysis about how the Congress really works. [ dur: 25 mins. ]

  • Representative Henry Waxman represents California’s 33rd Congressional District.  He is the author of The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works

Then, Ukrainian demonstrations are escalating into what some fear could be a civil war. How did we get here and where might it be headed? [ dur: 33 mins. ]

  • Robert English is Director of the School of International Relations and professor of International Relations at University of Southern California. He is the author of Russia and the Idea of the West, and editor of My Six Years with Gorbachev.
  • Alexander Motyl is professor of political science at Rutgers University, Newark. He is the author of  Imperial Ends: The Decay, Collapse, and Revival of Empires; Dilemmas of Independence: Ukraine after Totalitarianism ; and The Turn to the Right: The Ideological Origins and Development of Ukrainian Nationalism, 1919–1929. He has a weekly blog, “Ukraine’s Orange Blues.”
  • Kathryn Stoner-Weiss is Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. She is the author of Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia, co-author of Transitions to Democracy: A Comparative Perspective, and Democracy and Authoritarianism in the Postcommunist World.

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Jan. 26th, 2014

First, last week marked the fourth anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision Citizens United versus the Federal Election commission. We’ll revisit what it means to American democracy today. [ dur: 26 mins. ]

  • Henry Brady, is professor of Political Science and Dean of Goldman School of Public Policy at University of California, Berkley. Co-author of Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics
  • Scott Bowman is Chair of Political Science Department at California State University, Los Angeles. Author of The Modern Corporation and American Political Thought: Law, Power, and Ideology
  • Daniel Greenwood is professor of Law at Hofstra School of Law.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, scientists are finding remarkable similarities between humans and other animals. What might these similarities teach us about the human condition and our relationship to other species? [dur: 32 mins. ]

  • Marc Bekoff ( blog ), is professor emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and co-founder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. His books include The Emotional Lives of Animals, Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation, and has co-authored, Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals,
  • Barbara Natterson-Horowitz is a cardiologist, the Director of Imaging at the UCLA Cardiac Arrhythmia Center and a cardiac consultant for the Los Angeles Zoo. She is the co-author of Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health.
  • Stan Kuczaj is director of The Marine Mammal Behavior and Cognition Laboratory at University of Southern Mississippi . He is coauthor/editor of Emotions of Animals and Humans: Comparative Perspectives (The Science of the Mind)

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Jan. 19th, 2014

In this hour, is humanity outgrowing planet?

  • Paul R. Ehrlich is president of the Center for Conservation Biology and Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University, author of the Population Bomb, Human Natures: Genes, Culture, and the Human Prospect and A World of Wounds: Ecologists and the Human Dilemma.

Then, while much of the country remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. as primarily a leader of civil rights and desegregation and a great orator, our next guests say he stood for so much more. Many aspects of his life, legacy & philosophy remain either unknown or conveniently forgotten

  • David Garrow, Professor of History and Law at University of Pittsburgh, author of FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr: From “Solo” to Memphis
  • Joshua Inwood is Professor of Geography and Africana Studies in Geography Department, University of Tennessee. His publications include, Nonkilling Geography, Searching for the Promised Land: Examining Dr. Martin Luther King’s Concept of the Beloved Community,and Street naming and the politics of belonging: spatial injustices in the toponymic commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Thomas Jackson, Professor of History at University of North Carolina, Greensboro. He is the author of, From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Jan. 12th, 2014

First, most important stories of science in 2013,

  • Philip Yam is the managing editor, online, for Scientific American, responsible for the overall digital content on the Website and mobile devices.  He is the author of The Pathological Protein: Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting,and Other Deadly Prion Diseases.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, we look at the physiology, sociology and politics of compassion.

  • Iain Wilkinson is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research. He is the author of Suffering: A Sociological Introduction and Anxiety in a Risk Society.
  • Dr. Paul Gilbert is the head of the Mental Health Research Unit as well as Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Derby. He is the author of several books including Compassion Focused Therapy: Distinctive Features and The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life’s Challenges.
  • Dr James R.  Doty is a Clinical Professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University and founder and Director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. He is the co-author of Surgical Disorders of the Sacrum.

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The Scholars’ Circle & Insighters Radio- Jan. 5th, 2014

Can the Lord of the Rings trilogy act as a means to understand complex politics and international relations? Our guest says, indeed, it can. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

  • Patrick James, Professor of International Relations, USC. Author of, The International Relations of Middle-earth: Learning from The Lord of the Rings.

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, with dozens of species going extinct every day, we look at the science and ethical issues of de-extinction – cloning using DNA of extinct species – and conservation. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

  • Dr. Michael Archer is professor of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales. He has published over 300 scientific journal articles and books focused on the ecology and evolution of past and present. He has been working to bring back some extinct animals. His latest work includes contributions to two encyclopedias: Fossil mammals of Australia and New Guinea and Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. He has authored books including Australia’s Lost World: Prehistoric Animals of Riversleigh
  • Dr. John Wiens is professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. He is also a former curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and has served as editor of a number of scientific journals. He is the author of many books including, The Ecology of Birds Communities.
  • Carl Zimmer is an award winning lecturer at Yale University and author of thirteen books including, Evolution: Making Sense of Life and More Brain Cuttings: Further Explorations of the Mind. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine, National Geographic, and Scientific American. Here is a list of other books by Carl Zimmer

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