SoCal Gas officials have pinpointed the location of the underground well in Porter Ranch from which gas is leaking; Mei Fong, a Wall Street Journal reporter, discusses her book on China's one-child policy, which ends on January 1, 2016; A new study from USC and Northeastern University weighs the outcome of grit vs. apathy.
SoCal Gas pinpoints location of leaky Porter Ranch gas well as residents continue to leave town
At this point, you’ve probably heard about how residents of the Porter Ranch community just north of Northridge have been dealing with the pungent stench of natural gas leaking from a Southern California Gas Company well.
SoCal Gas says it’s working on fixing the leak, but that won’t happen for several months.
In the meantime, many residents are packing up their things and getting out of dodge to avoid the smell. Locals have been complaining of constant headaches and occasional nosebleeds caused by odorizing agents that are put into the gas so that it can be smelled in the event of a lead.
SoCal Gas is helping those who want to relocate do so.
On a more positive note, it appears that SoCal Gas officials have pinpointed the location of the underground well from which the gas is leaking, which is the first step to plugging it.
Read more from KPCC’s Sharon McNary here.
Guests:
Sharon McNary, KPCC reporter covering infrastructure. She tweets from
Brian Watt, KPCC reporter covering working and entrepreneurship. He tweets from
China expert and author dissects history, outcomes of one-child policy
On January 1, 2016, China will officially end its famed one-child policy and couples will be allow to have two children.
In the new book, “One Child,” former the Wall Street Journals reporter Mei Fong dives into the history and numerous consequences of the Middle Kingdom’s controversial population-control experiment that started in 1980.
Guest:
Mei Fong, author of the new book, “One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016)
When are you really dead? New study finds hospital policies still differ when determining brain death
An alarming new study finds that policies for determining brain death vary widely from hospital to hospital.
In 2010 the American Academy of Neurology issued new guidelines on the determination of brain death. The report released this week found that there are significant differences in how hospitals follow the guidelines when declaring patients brain dead.
Twenty percent of the more than 500 hospitals surveyed nationwide do not require doctors to check the patients' temperatures to determine whether they are high enough to make the assessment.
Nearly half of the hospital policies do not require doctors to ensure that the patient’s blood pressure is adequate for assessment of brain function. And most of the policies don't require the doctor to make the final call.
Determining Brain Death in Adults
Guest:
David Greer, Neurologist at the Yale University School of Medicine who led the study
Fred Rincon, Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurological Surgery Neurointensivist, Division of Neurotrauma and Critical Care, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia
Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn: How knowing when to be lazy could pay off
From the time we’re children, most of us are told to work hard and never give up, even in the face of imminent failure.
Perseverance, it would seem, is much sought-after characteristic in a friend, employee, or potential mate. But new data suggests that unrelenting grit and determination might not always work to your advantage.
Researchers at the University of Southern California and Northeastern University in Boston have released a new study that weighs the outcome of grit vs. apathy.
Participants were put through a series of exercises that allowed researchers to measure the level of determination (or lack thereof) with which the participants approached a task. For example, one test was a computer game that had been rigged so that some participants would feel like they were always losing.
Participants with more grit worked harder than their lazier counterparts when winning, but not as hard when they were losing. Another exercise gave participants word scrambles, a few of which were near impossible or impossible to solve. Those who scored higher on the gritty side tried fewer of the anagrams overall, which suggests they didn’t skip over the more difficult ones.
All of this, the researchers say, seems to allude to the idea that grit is good, but it has a downside. Grittier folks will stick with something regardless of what it could cost them in terms of time, money, or overall performance. They say the study isn’t to suggest that we shouldn’t try as hard to solve problems or achieve our goals, but rather that it pays to know when to doggedly pursue something and when to let it go. In other words, pick your battles.
What do you think about the study’s findings? Do you feel like you have a good grasp of when to persevere and when to step back?
Guest:
Gale Lucas, senior research associate at the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California and lead author of the study “When the going gets tough: Grit predicts costly perseverance” (Science Direct, 2015)
Exploring Los Angeles by foot
For many Angelenos, walking is almost a foreign concept; why walk when you can drive?
Sure, driving is the most convenient mode of transportation –especially when traveling long distances, but when was the last time you took the time to walk through the city streets?
David L. Ulin, former Los Angeles Times book critic, guides readers through the busy, and not-so-busy, streets in his book, “Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles.” Ulin also shares several personal conversations exchanged with friends and city officials, and offers his thoughts about popular architectural landmarks such as Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.
Click here to read Ulin's complementary essay, "Writing the City."
Guest:
David L. Ulin, author of “Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles” (University of California Press, 2015) and former book critic, Los Angeles Times. He tweets at