BRIDGES AND QUAKE SAFETY; WATER ON A SATURN MOON?; MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER; FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN BENEFITS MAY ERODE BY 3RD GRADE; UNLIKELY CONVERGENCES IN THE UNIVERSE
BRIDGES AND QUAKE SAFETY
Larry Mantle discusses the issue of badly needed retrofitting of local bridges in case of a major earthquake. Funding for these projects is a major issue, especially when money is needed for widening streets and fixing potholes. Some of these bridges include Hyperion bridge in SilverLake, the ArtDeco 6th Street bridge in downtown Los Angeles, among others in Orange and Riverside Counties. Larry talks with Pat DeChellis, Deputy Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, John Koo, bridge group manager for the Department of Engineering for the City of Los Angeles, Fred Turner, staff structural engineer for the California Seismic Safety Commission, and Lloyd Dalton, Design Engineer for the City of Newport Beach.
WATER ON A SATURN MOON?
Images snapped by the Cassini spacecraft show one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus (ehn-SEH'-lah-duhs), may have liquid water. Some researchers are now saying the moon should be on the short list of places in the solar system where non-earthly life could live. Larry Mantle talks with Candy Hansen, Cassini investigation scientist, about this significance of this discovery.
MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER
After a seven-month, 310 million mile journey, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was set to fire its engines Friday, abruptly slowing down in order to be captured into the Red Planet's orbit. The spacecraft is loaded with the most sophisticated science instruments ever flown to another planet. It will analyze the Martian surface in detail from low orbit, part of a quest to see whether water existed on Mars long enough to provide a habitat for life. Larry talks with Dr. Sue Smrekar, deputy project scientist for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Rob Lock, Mission planner for Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about the Orbiter’s journey that will return more data than all previous Mars missions combined.
FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN BENEFITS MAY ERODE BY 3RD GRADE
Full-day kindergarten in a growing trend in school districts throughout the United States, but according to a new study, the benefits for children may erode completely by third grade. Researchers at USC and American University have released a study showing that kids and their mothers do better by the end of a year of full-day kindergarten, but by third grade the others catch up. Larry Mantle talks with Gary Painter, Associate Professor in the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development, and co-author of the study “Is Full Better than Half? Examining the Effects of Full-Day Kindergarten Attendance,” W. “Steve” Barnett , Professor of Education Economics and Public Policy and Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, Mimi Howard, Early Learning Program Director at the Education Commission of the States, and David Tokofsky, L.A Unified School District board member, representing District 5.
UNLIKELY CONVERGENCES IN THE UNIVERSE
In his newest book Everything That Rises: A Book of Convergences, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lawrence Weschler takes us on an odyssey through a beguiling web of unexpected visual connections, and conceptual alignments that unify time and space in the world as we perceive it. Weshcler joins Larry to talk about his latest work, and these links, which lay hidden in plain view.