Month: September 2017

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CrowdScience - How Could Humanity Become Extinct?

Nuclear weapons and mega asteroids: what would the aftermath look like? CrowdScience explores past extinction events and future dystopias.

In a past episode, CrowdScience headed to Denmark to find out whether humans could go the way of the dinosaurs – mass extinction triggered by a large asteroid impact 66 million years ago. Although no killer rocks are on route to Earth any time soon, we do not have to look far for other dystopias.

“Do we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world?”, listener Ronald from Uganda asks CrowdScience. It turns out there is a web app which can help answer this question. Together with its maker nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein, presenter Anand Jagatia tests hypothetical nuclear disaster scenarios and uncovers the nature of nuclear destruction in interviewees with climate scientist Alan Robock.

Do you have a question we can turn into a programme? Email us at crowdscience@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Louisa Field

(Image: Explosion of a nuclear bomb Credit: Getty Images)

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - Real-life Superpowers

Could any real human beings have genuine superpowers? Join the guys as they take a closer look at extraordinary beings across the planet -- and, most importantly, ask who may be attempting to manufacture and control these abilities.

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They don't want you to read our book.: https://static.macmillan.com/static/fib/stuff-you-should-read/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The NewsWorthy - Equifax Hack, Irma & Amazon HQ2 – Friday, September 8th, 2017

All the news you need to know for Friday, September 8th, 2017!

Today we're talking about Hurricane Irma heading to Florida, what to do after the Equifax hack, and the search for Amazon's second headquarters -  a.k.a HQ2 (it kind of feels like a reality competition show, doesn't it?). Plus much more, of course - all in less than 10 minutes.

Award-winning broadcast journalist and former TV news reporter Erica Mandy breaks it all down for you.

 Subscribe now to get new episodes each weekday! Visit https://www.theNewsWorthy.com for all the links referenced in each episode.

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Opening Arguments - OA102: The Utah Nurse, DACA, & Disaster Relief

This week's "breaking news" episode covers three of the biggest stories trending at the moment:  the Utah nurse who was arrested for standing up for her patient's rights; Trump's repeal of DACA; and churches suing for relief funds. In the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the guys encourage you to donate to either (or both) the Red Cross and/or Habitat for Humanity's hurricane relief efforts. We begin with the story behind the arrest of Alex Wubbels, the Utah nurse who refused to take and turn over her patient's blood to the police. In the main segment, Andrew walks us through President Trump's directive to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  Does Andrew actually agree with a legal opinion authored by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III??  Listen and find out! Next, Breakin' Down the Law continues with everything you wanted to know about churches suing for funds allocated to disaster relief and recovery.  Is the Friendly Atheist right when he says such a case is legally distinct from the precedent set by Trinity Lutheran v. Comer? Finally, we end with a fiendishly difficult and all-new Thomas Takes the Bar Exam Question #40 about jury instructions regarding the presumption of intent.  Remember that you can play along with #TTTBE by retweeting our episode Tweet along with your guess.  We'll release the answer on next Tuesday's episode along with our favorite entry! Recent Appearances None.  Have us on your show! Show Notes & Links
  1. This is a link to the Red Cross's page for donations for hurricane relief; and here is a link to Habitat for Humanity's hurricane relief efforts.
  2. Here is where you can find the recently-created Opening Arguments Facebook Community, which you should definitely join!
  3. You can read the relevant Supreme Court opinion, Birchfield v. North Dakota, 136 S.Ct. 2160 (2016), that Nurse Wubbels relied upon in refusing to take and turn over blood to the police.
  4. The guys first discussed illegal immigration on Episode 52 and then again in Episode 67.
  5. This is the original June 15, 2012 Napolitano DHS memo that became DACA.
  6. This the text of the recent memorandum by Attorney General Sessions rescinding DACA.
  7. The DAPA case relied upon by Sessions is Texas v. US, 86 F.Supp.3d 591 (S.D. Tex. 2015), aff'd, 809 F.3d 134 (5th Cir. 2015).
  8. We first analyzed the Trinity Lutheran v. Comer decision (along with Andrew Seidel) in Episode 82.
  9. Previously, we discussed Trinity Lutheran while the case was still pending during our three-part “You Be The Supreme Court” series:  Part 1 (Episode 14) is available here, Part 2 is available here, and Part 3 is available here.
  10. This is the Friendly Atheist article discussed during the "C" segment attempting to distinguish Trinity Lutheran v. Comer.
Support us on Patreon at:  patreon.com/law Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/ And email us at openarguments@gmail.com  
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The Gist - Three Cheers for Houston

Hurricane Harvey has caused a huge amount of property damage, but so far the death toll remains remarkably low. Why? Mike talks to John Mutter, a Columbia University professor who studies how natural disasters affect the poor. Mutter is the author of The Disaster Profiteers. In the Spiel, the deal-making wizardry of President Trump. 

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