A new national poll appears to show Dr. Ben Carson edging ahead of Donald Trump; comparing energy to stamina in presidential candidates; Donald Trump's SNL hosting gig isn't sitting well with many viewers and critics; after a tragic death at a Las Vegas beauty salon, experts are questioning the safety of cryotherapy.
Carson and Trump in statistical dead heat in CBS/New York Times poll
A new national poll appears to show Dr. Ben Carson edging ahead of Donald Trump among Republican primary voters, but the lead is only four points, 26 percent to 22 percent, respectively (and the margin of sampling error is plus or minus six percentage points for each candidate).
Moreover, polling of Iowans in recent days gave the lead to retired neurosurgeon Carson, too.
How significant is it to see Trump possibly falling in the numbers? In light of Carson's resonance with Republican voters, what is important to dissect about his policy platform and his campaign? Is the rest of the Republican field happy to sit back this early in the campaign?
Guest:
Steve Shepard, chief polling analyst for Politico
Scoring presidential candidates' on energy, stamina - real and perceived
Over the weekend, the Democratic presidential hopefuls were in Iowa for the annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and met face-to-face with Iowans who got a feel for the vibe each candidate could bring to the Oval Office.
A supporter of Bernie Sanders told NPR the 74-year-old Senator once again "hit it out of the ballpark" with his trademark feel-the-bern energy. Another Iowa constituent, Bonnie Brown of West Des Moines, complimented Hillary Clinton for her performance during last week's Benghazi committee hearing saying, "Instead of the Republicans trying to tear her apart, [Clinton] instead made herself look more presidential and she still comes out with so much energy after that, so it's very impressive."
Some Iowa Republicans prefer the calm energy of GOP hopeful Dr. Ben Carson. Speaking to “The New York Times”, Jason Walke of Des Moines said, "I believe someone as mild-mannered and gentlemanly as Ben Carson is just about the only kind of person that could [have a chance of changing things in Washington.]"
The low-key Carson (who wasn't always so low-key) has been the butt of criticism by his opponent Donald Trump. Speaking in Miami over the weekend Trump weiled one of his favorite insults saying, "Ben Carson is super low energy, right? He's super low.... We need tremendous energy. We need tremendous energy." Trump has also characterized presidential hopeful Jeb Bush as "low energy" repeatedly.
How much does energy matter compared to stamina? Is Trump talking about charisma or work ethic? And how have past U.S. presidents scored on these traits?
Guest:
Barbara Perry Ph.D., Presidential Historian, University of Virginia.
Poll: Should SNL dump Trump?
NBC's has scheduled Republican candidate Donald Trump as the host for the Nov. 7th edition of Saturday Night Live, a decision that has not sat well with many viewers and critics.
Political pundits have said that the network bringing Trump onto the show sets a bad precedent, violating FCC regulations for equal time allotted to all presidential candidates.
Latino advocacy groups and media critics say that Trump's subversive statements about Hispanics should be enough for NBC to remove the candidate from the hosting schedule, no matter how much of a ratings boost that his presence is likely to generate.
Should NBC remove Donald Trump from guest-hosting SNL? Does asking Trump to host mean that the comedy show must extend an invitation to every presidential candidate? How should television shows consider the politics of those that they choose to associate with?Poll: Should SNL dump Trump?
When bacon and hot dogs attack -- Prop 65 warning labels imminent
Bacon has been the culinary gem of trendy food for the past several years but after yesterday’s WHO warnings about its carcinogenic traits, its popularity could take a nosedive.
It won’t be helped by a warning notification expected to arrive in a store near you. That’s thanks to Prop 65, passed by voters in 1986 to require California to compile a list of "chemicals known to increase cancer risk."
State health officials say they're not sure if they'll add processed meats -- it’s up to the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), but litigators on the issue say it’s probably a matter of time. The warning would alert shoppers that they are about to be exposed to a chemical or substance known to the state of California to cause cancer.
It’s unsettling to see at the grocery store, but will it give you pause before buying processed meats?
Guests:
Ben Bradford, State Government Reporter for Capital Public Radio
Bruce Nye, managing partner at the Adams|Nye|Becht law firm in San Francisco, where he’s defended companies in Prop 65 cases; he also publishes the blog CalBizLit about current civil litigation in California
New study questions whether CA desert really is the best site for solar farms
A new study from the Carnegie Institution for Science and Stanford University looks at solar farm projects across California.
The study finds that more often than not, they are being built on desert lands and pose certain ecology challenges to wildlife and habitats. But a potentially better site for these projects is slowly emerging, the authors of the study say, out of the state’s Central Valley.
Earlier this year, Southern California became home to the world’s largest solar power plant, with the opening of a 550-megawatt solar farm near Joshua Tree National Park. A cheap, easy way to harvest energy, these types of solar projects have nonetheless come under attack for destroying natural habitats for desert animals and for causing unintended wildlife death.
As the state looks for greener ways to power homes and businesses, the decision on where to install large-scale solar projects will carry outsized ecological consequences.
As California and the rest of the nation look for greener ways to power homes and businesses, the decision on where to install large-scale solar projects will carry outsized ecological consequences.
Solar Energy Development Impacts on Land Cover
Guests:
Rebecca R. Hernandez, author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley
Barry Sinervo, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Director of the Institute for the Study of the Ecological and Evolutionary Climate Impacts at UC Santa Cruz
Obama decree reignites questions over how much is too much testing in schools
President Obama met with a group of teachers and educators Monday, including outgoing Education Secretary Arne Duncan, at the Oval Office to address the issue of over-testing in schools.
The meeting came a day after President Obama released a Facebook video, calling for the Department of Education to drastically reduced the number of standardized tests students must take to 2 percent of classroom time.
If our kids had more free time at school, what would you want them to do with it?
If our kids had more free time at school, what would you want them to do with it? A) Learn to play a musical instrument?B) Study a new language?C) Learn how to code HTML?D) Take more standardized tests?Take the quiz, then watch President Obama's message about smarter ways to measure our kids’ progress in school.
Posted by The White House on Saturday, October 24, 2015
Guests:
Pedro Noguera, distinguished professor of education and director of the Center for the Study of School Transformation at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
Marcus Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His research focuses on education policy, including school choice, accountability, and teacher quality
After Nevada death, researcher explains controversial process of cryotherapy
Humans have been using cold therapy for years to help with things like muscle inflammation and soreness for years.
Whole-body cryotherapy is one of the newer and more advanced methods of cold therapy, and many popular athletes and even some Hollywood stars have started using it as a treatment. Many beauty salons offer cryotherapy treatment, claiming it can help speed recovery and reduce soreness.
Last week, news broke of a bizarre and tragic death at a Las Vegas beauty salon, where employees arriving on Tuesday morning discovered 24-year-old Chelsea Ake-Salvacion dead.
She had been using one of the salon’s cryotherapy chambers while closing up the shop alone, and family members say she “froze to death” after the chamber she was using didn’t turn off. An official cause of death hasn’t been released by the coroner’s office and while police don’t suspect foul play, her death remains under investigation.
So, what is whole-body cryotherapy and how does it work? We asked Joe Costello, a researcher who studies sport and exercise science at the University of Portsmouth in Southern England. He's been studying cryotherapy for nearly the last decade.
How long has cryotherapy been around and why is it so popular?
"Use of cold therapy has been reported as far back as ancient Greece. Recently, whole-body cryotherapy is increasingly being used in athletic recovery. I suppose the treatment was first introduced in the late 1970s and what you see is a spread of the treatment across Western Europe, and only in the last couple of years has it reached the U.S. and Australia, so it’s probably a lot more popular in Europe than it is in the States or Australia."
"Elite and professional athletes are using it as a method of recovery after intense exercise or competition. Right now in the U.K., we’ve got the Rugby World Cup underway, and several of the teams involved in that tournament have used the treatment. We’ve also seen reports of famous soccer players like Cristiano Ronaldo using the treatment, and also professional golfers….the list is really endless. What happens with this is that there’s a culture for recreational athletes to emulate their more professional or elite peers, and also use the treatment. The last couple years, we’ve seen enormous growth in the use of whole-body cryotherapy in sports medicine."
What kind of equipment is necessary for whole-body cryotherapy?
“There are two typical methods used: one using liquid nitrogen and one using refrigerated, cool air. Some of the simpler ones are just like a tank, and some are larger like the size of a regular sauna that you’d have in a gym or a beauty salon. The larger chambers can fit two to three people inside, and the entire body is exposed. What you see in typical salons is what we call partial-body cryotherapy, where the head, neck, and shoulders are not exposed."
How does whole-body cryotherapy work?
"What typically happens is that after exercise or competition, cryotherapy is advocated to be used within 24 hours of exercise. You typically go into these chambers dressed only in swimming gear, along with gloves, socks, and headbands to protect your ears. Individuals are exposed to temperatures of anywhere below -110 degrees Celsius, which is about -166 degrees Fahrenheit. To put this in perspective, the coldest temperature that’s ever been recorded on Earth in Antarctica was only -89.2 degrees Celsius. These temperatures are over 50 degrees Celsius and in some cases a lot colder than the coldest temperature experienced on Earth."
How does the process actually aid the body in recovery?
"This is the question. Currently, there’s very little sound evidence to support its use for athletic recovery. So one potential mechanism or way which we believe it could work is to do with reductions in muscle metabolism which are caused after the blood flow is reduced to the working muscles, and all of this is potentially going to reduce inflammation which causes that muscle soreness. Have you ever gone for a run after not doing anything for six weeks or so, and the next day or the day after and anywhere up to a weak later you have those sore muscles? That’s what we call DOMS – Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness – which is, in effect, related to the inflammation caused by the exercise."
How does whole-body cryotherapy compare to an ice bath?
"That was one of my very first questions when I undertook my doctoral degree. What we did was we immersed people in cold water and we compared the cooling capabilities, so the effects of cold water and whole-body cryotherapy on muscle, skin, and core temperature. What we actually found is that the reductions in temperature were very, very similar between the two treatments."
Couldn't positive effects from whole-body cryotherapy just be the placebo effect?
"I think one of the biggest factors in sports performance that’s often overlooked is the power of the placebo effect. There’s a multitude of evidence saying that the placebo effect, if you believe something is good for you, it actually is good for you. It actually changes your psychology, your physiology, and can actually improve performance."
Guest:
Joe Costello, Ph.D., senior research associate in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Portsmouth in England and co-author of the study “Whole-body cryotherapy: empirical evidence and theoretical perspectives” (National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2014)