Innovation Hub

First, whether it’s FDR reassuring the nation through radio or Trump talking about hamburgers on Twitter, new technologies have always impacted American politics. Historian Jill Lepore walks us through the interactions between the machine of government and the tech we think can make that machine run better. Hint: it rarely works out as we anticipate. Then, if you really, absolutely, can’t wait to know who’s going to end up on the Iron Throne… well, there’s a scientific reason you care so much about fictional characters. Scholar William Flesch explains what makes us so involved in shows like The Wire, All In The Family, and yes, Game of Thrones. And finally, we hear from you. We got a lot of responses to our recent segment about the surge in extracurricular math programs for K-12 students. And we’ll hear why math is too often a stumbling block for students hoping to get college degrees.

There has been a continuous problem, dating back to founding of the United States, according to Jill Lepore, a professor of American history at Harvard University. Lepore, the author of “These Truths: A History of the United States,” says Americans have had tremendous faith in the notion that technological innovations could heal our divisions and fix political problems. But that faith has frequently been misplaced or misguided. And ethical conversations around how to keep newspapers, radio, TV and other technologies in check, often come too late.

Finding out that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father probably didn’t have any practical implications for your life. It didn’t translate into a raise at work or help you lose 15 pounds. So why do we care so much about the fates of fictional characters? William Flesch is the author of the book “Comeuppance: Costly Signaling, Altruistic Punishment, and Other Biological Components of Fiction.” He argues that we root for good guys and gals because we love making bets on people. And, once we make those bets, it’s imperative that we are proven right.

First, it might be tough to keep up with your New Year’s resolutions - especially if they have to do with dieting. But here’s some good news: some fats may be a lot better for you than you think and calorie counting isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We take a look at the latest developments in nutrition science, and explain what it all means for your waistline. Then, we take a trip on the high seas and ask the question: How did America become such a dominant figure in global trade? As author Steven Ujifusa explains, you can thank some daring fortune hunters - and 19th-century clipper ships. Next, if you open up your closet, you might notice your clothes aren’t much different from what your grandparents wore. Shirts? Check. Dresses? Check. Pants? Double check. But what if someone combined technology and clothing, like jackets that adapt to your body temperature? We meet the hackers who are doing just that.

When it comes to losing weight or maintaining a healthy diet, many of us have chosen to go either low-calorie or low-fat. But recent research has started to upend nutrition science, reframing our notions of “healthy” eating, according to Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and Dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Mozaffarian explains why the science is changing, when a calorie isn’t just a calorie, how fat could be a lot better than we think, and why he believes that government should play a much bigger role in influencing our food choices.

Back in the mid-19th century, some American entrepreneurs sailed halfway around the world - to China - to make their fortunes. These merchants would later build dynasties back home by investing money in promising American industries, including railroads and coal, as well as new technologies, like the telegraph. It was the invention of the clipper ship that made it all possible. These were ships that were built for speed and profit, a profit that came not just by importing goods like tea to the U.S., but also by smuggling opium to China. We talk with Steven Ujifusa, a historian and author of “Barons of the Sea: And their Race to Build the World’s Fastest Clipper Ship,” about these vessels - which once raced across the ocean - and the owners who used them to reshape America.

Right now, there’s a wearable device for pretty much everything. Fitbits track your footsteps. Virtual reality headsets can transport you anywhere in the world. There’s even jewelry that lets others know when you’re in danger. But there isn’t much tech in the things we’re already wearing: clothes. We visit the Ministry of Supply, a company that’s trying to mix high-tech and apparel, and talk with the company’s founders, Gihan Amarasiriwardena and Aman Advani.

The New Year is often seen as a blank slate. It’s a way to start fresh and maybe accomplish those goals you’ve been putting off for the last 365 days. But how you learn is just as important as what you learn. Our show this week will get you ready to tackle whatever is on your agenda. First, if you truly want to learn better, put down the highlighter. Author Ulrich Boser says strategies such as memorization and underlining passages in a book are outdated methods of studying. He proposes a six-step method to learning new skills, so that they truly stick. Next, we take you back to 10th-grade Spanish class. Kind of. A new study pinpoints when language-learning skills start to decline - and what that means for aspiring hyperpolyglots. Then, if you considered math to be a four-letter word when you were a kid... you’re not alone. But there’s now a program that might be able to engage kids in a new way. Innovation Hub Senior Producer Elizabeth Ross reports on the Russian School of Mathematics, an fast-spreading extracurricular offering that’s helping some students master advanced math.

You’ve probably experienced this: it’s high school, the night before an exam, and you’ve got a 500-page textbook in your left hand and highlighters in your right hand. You have highlighted all the important information in the book, and there isn’t a whole lot of white space left. Unfortunately, you’re not sure that you’ve absorbed any of the material in a meaningful way. Turns out, there is little evidence that highlighting and underlining material in books is a good strategy for successful learning, according to Ulrich Boser, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, and the author of the book “Learn Better.” Boser talks to us about the science of learning, and how we can absorb information more effectively.

Learning a second language is tough. You have to consider grammar, pronunciation, and, sometimes, words that don’t even exist in your native language. And the conventional wisdom had been: if you want a child to learn a second language, start them as young as possible. But a new study has found that there’s a little more leeway than we originally thought. We talk with Boston College assistant psychology professor Joshua Hartshorne about his and his colleagues’ research and what it means for aspiring hyperpolyglots.

The U.S. does not fare well in math when compared with other industrialized nations, as demonstrated by international tests like the PISA. So, for parents who want to help their students get ahead in math and can afford it, after-school programs that focus deeply on the subject have become attractive. There are plenty of extracurricular math programs around, but one run by the Russian School of Mathematics (RSM) for students from kindergarten through 12th grade, is particularly popular, serving over 30,000 students around the country. (Innovation Hub senior producer, Elizabeth Ross, visited the program’s headquarters in Newton, Massachusetts and found a lot of enthusiastic students and parents, as you’ll hear in our report.) Masha Gershman, the director of outreach at the Russian School of Mathematics and the daughter of one of its co-founders, says that the former Soviet Union’s method of math instruction has a lot to teach American kids, particularly when it comes to higher-level and conceptual learning. But Jon Star, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, argues that many American parents - especially those in affluent suburbs where such extracurricular programs are popular - should ask themselves why they’re enrolling their kids in after-school math. It probably shouldn’t just be to get ahead in school - or to keep up with the neighbors. It should have to do with an intrinsic love of the subject.

Today, American voters are likely to describe issues about immigration as a major concern, and much of that concern began with a landmark commission a century ago. Author Katherine Benton-Cohen discusses how America transformed from a country with relaxed immigration policies to one with a massive, new immigration infrastructure. Beer, airlines, retail, and many other industries are increasingly controlled by a few big players. The Brookings Institution’s David Wessel explains how corporate consolidation happens. And why it can lead to less competition, higher prices, lower wages... and less creative thinking. When Amazon was looking for a home for its second headquarters, multiple cities and states offered billions of dollars in tax incentives to woo the company. But Nathan Jensen, a professor of government at the University of Texas, questions whether government incentives to attract big companies are worth it in the end.

First: Scurvy. Website design. Store promotions. Turns out, randomized trials affect many parts of our daily lives. Then: The Origin of Species… actually has a pretty interesting - and unexpected - origin. Finally: In news that shouldn’t shock anyone who has ever been to a meeting, they can make you less productive. But how about the toll they take even before they start?

Today, the Food Network is a touchstone of the entertainment industry. But it took a decade for the channel to make money. Chef Sara Moulton and author Allen Salkin tell us about the rise and influence of the cooking channel. Plus: If you use Uber Eats more than you use your stove, you're in good company — 90 percent of Americans either don't like to cook or are on the fence about it. With cooking becoming more hobby than necessity, we look at how the food industry is trying to keep up. Finally: 100 years ago, Schrafft's restaurants transformed dining out — by letting women eat with other women. Yale historian Paul Freedman talks with us about the restaurants that changed the way America eats.

First, a look at creative efforts to improve our health care system at the local level. Jon Gruber, an architect of the Affordable Care Act, and Sarah Kliff, a senior policy correspondent at Vox, discuss innovative steps that some states are taking to control health care costs and improve outcomes, including an effort to reduce the rate of premature birth. Hotels have shaped American life from the Civil War to the civil rights movement. A.K. Sandoval-Strausz, author of “Hotel: An American History,” explains why the U.S. invented the modern hotel - and how the industry has influenced our country.

A potent issue dominated the midterms this fall: health care. It was a top concern for voters, and it ultimately shaped the outcome of races across the country. Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at MIT and an architect of the Affordable Care Act, and Sarah Kliff, senior policy correspondent at Vox and host of the podcast The Impact, weigh in on the future of health care. With a divided Congress, Kliff and Gruber suggest that state governments and possibly the private sector will be the places to watch for reform in the short-term.

After he was elected, President George Washington traveled through our newly-formed country. And along the way, he stayed at a series of inns and taverns. How did they stack up? Well, let’s just say our first president wasn’t much kinder than a modern-day disgruntled Yelp reviewer about his experiences. Washington wrote in his diary that he found, “No rooms or beds which appeared tolerable.” While places to stay were rudimentary during Washington’s day, hotels eventually came to signify American progress. A.K. Sandoval-Strausz, an associate professor of history at Penn State and the author of “Hotel: An American History,” talks about how entrepreneurs in the early United States invented hotels, the hospitality industry, and how, in turn, hotels influenced American culture and commerce.

Whether you like it or not, our life is made of plastic. It’s a material we use for almost everything, from toothbrushes to spacecrafts. But its convenience and low costs might not outweigh the effects it has on our health and environment. Science journalist Susan Freinkel walks us through the history of how we fell in love with plastics and considers the risks they pose. In the past, you might have seen your grandfather sending checks to a big charity every year, but charitable priorities are changing. Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, explains how social, technological, and cultural changes have impacted who is giving and who is receiving... and just how much. You’ve probably seen a “Made in China” label on your T-shirt, your electronics, and in children’s toys. But did you know that when you get your medicine from a local drug store, it may well have traveled all the way from China? Rosemary Gibson, author of “China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine,” talks about how China became the world’s pharmacy, the risks posed by America losing control of its medicine supply, and the case for bringing some drug manufacturing back to the U.S.

Plastics are colorful, shiny, and flexible. They can also be sturdy, monochrome, and opaque. They come in different shapes and sizes, too. In fact, we’ve become so good at creating and molding plastics into whatever we want them to be that author Susan Freinkel says: it’s hard to imagine a world without them. In her book, Plastics: A Toxic Love Story, Freinkel chronicles the history of plastics and explores how, for better or worse, the material shapes our lives.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has long kept tabs on charitable giving, but recently the publication unveiled a new ranking, which reveals that how we give and who is giving has been radically upended in America. Stacy Palmer, the editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, discusses the current trends in giving and what they reveal about our country - including the growing economic divide in the wake of the Great Recession. And she offers some advice about how to choose causes that make a real difference.

In the ‘90s, most of the world’s medicines were manufactured in the United States, Europe and Japan. Today, almost 80% of them come from China. In her book, “China Rx: Exposing The Risks Of America’s Dependence On China For Medicine,” Rosemary Gibson says that China is becoming the world’s pharmacy, but that development, she argues, comes with many risks.

First: ‘Tis the season for giving and sharing… and holiday shopping. Whether it’s toys, clothes, books, or electronics, chances are that most of these items were manufactured in factories. Joshua Freeman walks us through the history of factories, and how they continue to shape our modern world. Next: Do you ever find yourself flipping through photo albums and feeling nostalgic for old times? Well, according to Krystine Batcho, longing for the past can shape how we think about the present. And in some case, it can be beneficial. Finally: In the era of fake news and sensationalist media, public trust in local and national news outlets is waning. But libraries are increasingly coming to the rescue and in the process are steadily reshaping the face of journalism.

First, in the late 1950s, Berry Gordy Jr. - who had worked for Ford Motor Company, been a boxer, and owned a record store - had a vision. He wanted to introduce the world to a new sound: the sound of Motown. And with every hit he produced, Gordy slowly but surely began to transform American culture. Then, we know that the heart is a symbol of love and emotion. But for doctors, of course, the heart is a sensitive and vital organ that affects the entire body. Cardiologist and author Sandeep Jauhar argues that the health of our hearts depends not just on things like cholesterol and blood pressure but also on psychosocial factors - including friendship, affection, and community.

Shortly after Michael Jackson died in 2009, Helen Brown, a music critic for the Daily Telegraph wrote that the Jackson 5’s 1969 single “I Want You Back,” is “certainly the fastest man-made route to pure joy.” And while Michael, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, and Jackie may have stolen the spotlight, the group - like so many others - emerged from a hit factory created by a man named Berry Gordy Jr. Gordy founded Motown after stints as a boxer and as a worker in a Lincoln-Mercury plant. And he quickly turned the label into a force to be reckoned with, drawing on a formula of quality control he had learned at the auto factory, taking raw talent like Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson, and refining them into international stars. As a result, Motown became one of the most successful black-owned music companies in American history. We talk to music journalist Adam White, author of “Motown: The Sound of Young America,” about Gordy’s meteoric rise and his lasting legacy.

The Grinch’s is two sizes too small. All Green wants to know how you can mend a broken one. You can destroy them, steal them, break them. They can pine or ache or wander. Suffice it to say, hearts are a big part of our culture. After all, though our kidneys are vital, there aren’t many pop songs about them. Still, as important as they are to our culture, our hearts are even more important to our health. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and chances are that you know someone who has been affected by heart issues. Dr. Sandeep Jauhar, the director of the Heart Failure Program at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and author of “Heart: A History,” takes a look at how we address heart health, and how we could do better.

First: in the early 1970s, the average age of first-time moms was 21. Now, the average is 26. We talk with economist Caitlin Knowles Myers and New York Times correspondent Claire Cain Miller about why so many couples are putting off having kids and we also consider how education, politics and geography intersect with that decision. Next, dear listeners, you had some thoughts about our show regarding the future of work. We’ve highlighted some of your workplace experiences with technology. Both the good and the bad.** ** Then: what if a personality test dictated the course of your career? For many, over the past several decades, the Myers-Briggs did just that. And it opened the door for personality testing in corporate America, the military, and even the church.

The American family is changing in many different ways. But one of the most important is that, on average, American women are giving birth later. And birth rates have hit a 30-year low. In the early 1970s, the average age of first-time moms was 21… it’s now 26. The same trend is impacting fathers - their age has gone from 27 to 31 over the same time period. But why did this change happen? And what does it mean for our society, our economy, and our families? To find out, we talked to Caitlin Knowles Myers, an economist at Middlebury College who’s studied female fertility, and Claire Cain Miller, a correspondent for The New York Times who’s written extensively about the topic. Then, dear listeners, you had some thoughts about our show regarding the future of work. We’ve highlighted some of your workplace experiences with technology. Both the good and the bad.

If you were asked to describe your personality, you might choose words such as “funny” and “outgoing,” or “shy” and “quiet.” But what if those were not quite the right words? The Myers-Briggs - which many of us have taken - promises to assess your personality, and assign you a specific “type.” In her book, “The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the birth of Personality Testing” Merve Emre examines the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (which is its full name), and how it has transformed the way we think about ourselves and those around us.

First, small businesses are the backbone of America. Or are they? Economist Robert Atkinson wants you to hold your horses and think again. He says we often favor small businesses and villainize large corporations, despite the fact that being big may enable companies to potentially contribute more to diversity, fair wages, and more generous employee benefits. Next, many of us may have a bit of a precision fetish, according to author Simon Winchester. Consider car commercials or watches that tout precision engineering. But how did we get to a place where precision has become so important? Winchester notes that it goes all the way back to the 18th century. And without precision engineering - without replaceable batteries and reliable mass production - our lives would be very, very different. Then, you and your best friends have more in common than you probably think. In fact, it’s likely your brain and your friend’s brain react in really similar ways to certain prompts. UCLA’s Carolyn Parkinson compared brain activity among friends and acquaintances and found that buddies are bound by more than social surroundings. And heads up, our genes determine our friendships, too.

First, swing states have a ton of power in determining control of Congress and many of the people living in those states have experienced the effects of automation in the workplace. Author Brian Alexander explains how technological progress has created fear, uncertainty, and shattered communities in swing states including Ohio. But it isn’t entirely fair to blame technology for *all *of our problems, including the challenges created by the gig economy. Historian Louis Hyman says temp work in America existed long before Uber and TaskRabbit. What do the people making robots or dreaming up new tech policy think of Americans’ conflicted feelings about what technological advances have meant for our economy? It’s complicated, but they say including more workers in conversations about new tech is crucial.

With the midterms looming, both Democrats and Republicans are sweating out the home stretch in Congressional races across the country. And as in any election, there’s a lot of focus on swing states such as Ohio. In his 2017 book “Glass House: The 1% Economy and the Shattering of the of the All-American Town,” Brian Alexander returned home to Lancaster, Ohio to write about how the region has changed both politically and economically over the past few decades. He saw many in the industrial Midwest embrace Donald Trump as a candidate during the 2016 election. Recently, Alexander returned to Ohio to look at how politics, jobs and technology are shaping the Midwest on the eve of the 2018 midterms.

When you hear the term “gig economy,” you probably think of Uber or Lyft or Postmates - companies that have used apps to disrupt industries and create an army of 1099 workers. But according to Louis Hyman, a Cornell University historian and author of “Temp: How American Work, American Business, and the American Dream Became Temporary,” the gig economy is a lot bigger than Silicon Valley. And it has a much longer history than you might think.

We constantly hear that technology is killing opportunities in the workplace. But reports by the World Economic Forum and Deloitte have shown that automation is creating — and will continue to create — millions of jobs in fields like sales, IT services, and big data. But to really know how tech is affecting our lives, experts like Daniel Theobald and Melissa Flagg say we need to focus less on the 30,000-foot view of the industry and more on what is going on at the ground level. We talk to Theobald, Vecna Robotics’ co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer as well as Flagg, the Northeast regional lead at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, about how we should be taking a ground-up approach to America’s technological development.

The story of privacy in America is long and fascinating. But suffice it to say, there was an uproar over postcards. Yes, postcards. What separates a successful movement, like the campaign for same-sex marriage, from a struggling movement, like the push for gun control? Too little water in some places. Too much in others. What Texas tells us about the future of water in America.

Every day, it seems like there’s a new story about privacy: A Facebook hack that puts the private data of millions at risk. A years-long surveillance program of personal communications by the government. Endless concerns about how much of our lives we share on social media. With all this in the air, it can certainly feel like we have a lot less privacy nowadays. But is that really the case? Well, according to Vanderbilt professor Sarah Igo, author of “The Known Citizen: A History of Privacy in Modern America,” the answer is actually pretty complicated.

After Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012, activists may have thought that gun control at the federal level was a sure bet. But as the old saying goes, “there’s strength in numbers,” and the size of National Rifle Association’s membership has long outnumbered that of America’s gun reform groups. Leslie Crutchfield, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Global Social Enterprise Initiative, says high membership numbers is a matter of strategy. It doesn’t matter if the message is pro-Second Amendment, pro-gay marriage or anti-smoking. Those who know how to play the game get results. We talk to Crutchfield, who outlines social movement strategy in her new book, “How Change Happens: Why Some Social Movements Succeed While Others Don’t.”

If you try to imagine what a dystopian future would look like, you might conjure up aliens invading Earth, or robots overpowering humans. But according to author Seamus McGraw, the problems of the future are more down-to-earth than some may imagine. In his book, “A Thirsty Land: The Making Of An American Water Crisis,” McGraw writes about how water scarcity in Texas could turn into a crisis that affects all Americans. And it could happen sooner rather than later.

Take credit for that killer PowerPoint presentation, or for running a 4-minute mile if you want. But at the end of the day, Robert Sapolsky says we don’t have a shred of free will. Next, corporations have fought tooth-and-nail to gain their civil rights and having the United States Supreme Court as an ally hasn’t hurt. Then, the Spanish flu of 1918 killed between 50 and 100 million people and, in the process, reshaped the world. Author Laura Spinney says it’s inevitable that we’ll see another epidemic.

Humanity is simultaneously incredibly kind and incredibly violent. We commit indescribable atrocities, but also acts of incomprehensible compassion. There is both horror and beauty in our history. Which leads to the question… how do we reconcile this inherent contradiction? It all goes back to our biology, according to Robert Sapolsky, a neurobiologist at Stanford and author of the book “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst.” In fact, all questions about human behavior are, at their core, about biology.

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney famously declared that “corporations are people” while on the campaign trail in 2011. The Iowa State Fair crowd jeered him and Romney launched into a stammering defense. But, if you look at Supreme Court cases from the past 200 years, Romney’s assessment wasn’t too far off. Corporations may not be people, but they enjoy many of the same basic rights we do. We talk with UCLA law professor Adam Winkler about his book, “We The Corporations: How American Businesses Won their Civil Rights.”

The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed between 50 and 100 million people. It infected a third of the world’s population. But it’s likely that, if you’re thinking of the most important events of the 20th century, the Spanish Flu probably doesn’t immediately spring to mind. Why is that? To find out, and to explore exactly how it reshaped society, we talked with Laura Spinney, author of the book “Pale Rader: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World.”

There actually IS a solution to traffic. UCLA’s Michael Manville tells us what it is. Blue collar workers are getting the short of the stick. Here’s how we can change that. Turns out, there’s some science behind sin.

Traffic is awful. It causes pollution, it makes people stressed, it costs cities and drivers billions of dollars… and if you’ve ever sat in a car, inching along a packed highway, you understand the toll it takes. So, how do we fix it? According to UCLA’s Michael Manville, there are a lot of proposed solutions, but only one - yes, one - really works.

Blue-collar jobs are changing. In the mid 20th century, many of these jobs were protected by unions and offered financial security. Today, both companies and employees are struggling to adjust to a turbulent economy; wages for lots of workers have barely kept pace with inflation. Economist Dennis Campbell thinks he’s found a solution. We talk to Campbell about a new economic model that could benefit everyone - and that focuses on sharing.

Religions have been studying human behavior for thousands of years - long before science got into the game. And for Christians, the seven deadly sins have offered a moral and social framework to get folks on the straight and narrow. Neuroscientist Jack Lewis says: we can use that framework to inform our future decisions. We talk to Lewis, author of the new book “The Science of Sin: Why We Do The Things We Know We Shouldn’t” about the biological side of this religious list.

There are a lot of chasms in the world, dividing lines between one thing and another. This week on Innovation Hub, we’ll take a look at those chasms, whether they’re in our digital life, our understanding of our own health, or in the complex systems that govern the world. First up, the gap between failure and success can be razor-thin. And the tiniest issues can snowball into huge catastrophes. It happened in the nuclear plant Three Mile Island, with the 2008 financial crisis… even with the 2017 Oscars. Chris Clearfield walks us through the origins of these disasters, and explains why a high level of complexity makes a system vulnerable to meltdown. Then, scarfing down that chocolate bar might give you some momentary pleasure, but it doesn’t make you happy. Yes, there’s a difference. And according to physician Robert Lustig, corporations are more than happy to exploit our confusion about that difference. He says that the chasm between pleasure and happiness is extremely important, and is responsible for many health-related crises in American society. And finally, if you’re reading this, you probably have access to the internet. Which is great, because that means you can do your banking, read the news, and apply for jobs. But across the country, about one in five people don’t have access to those tools. Which means that they’re missing out on a lot of opportunities. Angela Siefer, the executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, talks about efforts to bridge this gap, and get everyone in the U.S. connected.

The Three Mile Island disaster forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate their homes. It absolutely dominated the news cycle. It led to a complete rethinking of nuclear energy. And it all stemmed from a plumbing problem, a valve that didn’t shut. But the Three Mile Island accident isn’t the only meltdown caused by a seemingly small issue that snowballed into a gigantic disaster. To find out exactly how this happens, we talked with Chris Clearfield, co-author of “Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail and What We Can Do About It.”

In the last few decades, Americans have become fat, sick, stupid, broke, depressed, addicted, and most decidedly unhappy. At least, that’s according to physician Robert Lustig, author of the book, “The Hacking of the American Mind. The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains. He says that we’re facing four big crises in our country: a health care crisis, a social security crisis, an opioid crisis, and a depression crisis. And he argues that while these crises might seem different, they’re really all about the confusion of pleasure with happiness.

If you’re reading this, you almost certainly have access to the internet, which means you can check email anytime, do online banking, or investigate whether your kid’s rash is worthy of a trip to the doctor. But, across the country, about one in five people don’t have access to those tools. According to Angela Siefer, the executive director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, there are three main reasons why people don’t have internet connections: it’s unaffordable, it’s physically unavailable, or the household lacks digital literacy. Siefer talks about efforts to bridge this gap, and get everyone across the country connected.

Violent crime rates in cities have declined significantly since the mid-1990s. We examine the reasons behind this drop, and the influence it has had on city life. Then, concrete buildings are the foundation of the modern world. But they eat up a resource that’s becoming increasingly difficult to come by: sand. Finally, for centuries, species have mutated to adapt to urban habitats. We investigate the wily ways that they continue to evolve in cities.