Is immigration reform bill headed for a slow death in the House?; Gay rights group plans state-by-state same-sex marriage fight; CrowdShake: Using smartphones to predict quakes and save lives; Nebraska researchers developing faster test for concussions, plus much more.
Is immigration reform bill headed for a slow death in the House?
At this point, we're pretty used to hearing lots of sound and fury from Congress on the immigration debate, but it's starting to sound more and more like a death rattle.
At least according to the latest reporting from Politico. They predict that immigration reform is heading for a slow death.
Rachel Smolkin, deputy managing editor for Politico joins the show with more.
Gay rights group plans state-by-state same-sex marriage fight
Supporters of same-sex marriage are still celebrating their victories in the Supreme Court two weeks ago, but many agree the fight is far from over. This week, the group Freedom to Marry announced an ambitious new plan to further the fight for gay marriage.
The Atlantic's Molly Ball has been writing about this new effort. She joins the show with more.
CrowdShake: Using smartphones to predict quakes and save lives
You can prepare yourself for a disaster, but what if your phone could help predict the next big one?
Instead of relying only on expensive earthquake sensors, researchers at CalTech have developed an app that can track vibrations in your phone. That info is sent to an early warning system, which could give whole cities the alert to take cover.
To explain more is Matthew Faulkner, a developer of the app CrowdShake. He's also a computer science grad student at Cal Tech.
CrowdShake from Daniel Mahoney on Vimeo.
Scatter Adapt and Remember: How Humans will survive a mass extinction
One of these days a massive 8.0 earthquake could happen in California. If so, it's likely to devastate the state. Add to that the other natural threats that we live with; wildfires, mudslides, tsunamis, and its no wonder why some live in fear. But how the planet and mankind has managed to survive is the subject of a new book, "Scatter Adapt and Remember: How Humans will survive a mass extinction." We’ll talk to the author, Annalee Newitz.
Rare black jellyfish spotted at California beaches
Rare and beautiful jellyfish have been spotted recently at California beaches. They are believed to be Black Jellyfish, a type which hasn't been seen near the state for several years.
Fore more on this we're joined by Nigela Hillgarth of the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla.
Nebraska researchers developing faster test for concussions
Head injuries in football are increasingly common. The nature of the game lends itself toward them, even with rules that prohibit helmet to helmet hits.
Plus, it's tough to determine whether a player has a concussion in the middle of game, especially when all that player wants to do is keep playing.
But if Dennis Molfese's idea goes according to plan, testing for concussions could become a lot faster and a lot easier. Molfese is the director of the University of Nebraska's Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior also known as CB3.
Sports Roundup: Lakers lose Howard, NFL Combine and more
It's time to romp through the world of sports with Andy and Brian Kamenetzky, brothers who've covered sports for the L.A. Times and ESPN.
It's free agent signing day in the NBA. The day when rich basketball players put pen to paper and get even richer. Last Friday, Dwight Howard made his decision to turn his back on the Lakers as he has picked the Houston Rockets. Now, with a few days to settle down we're finding out his reasons for leaving.
It is rare that the Lakers ever get kicked to the curb. What does this mean for their brand and second for the team this upcoming season and the future?
On the other hand, the Lakers' Staples Center co-tenant the Clippers couldn't be flying higher if they tried.
Every year in Indianapolis, the NFL holds the Combine where they gather college football players to measure, weigh and physically and psychologically test them. Essentially a giant football job fair, but could the league be looking to thinking about changing who they invite to this thing?
Is the NFL looking to revamp their whole screening process after seeing what's going on with former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez being charged with murder?
Now to a lighter bit of football news, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick led his team to the Super Bowl this past season so it sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders, but there might be problem with what he puts on top of it.
Finally, our weekly Yasiel Puig update.
Study: Baldwin Park significantly reduces childhood obesity rate
Nearly one-third of American children and teens are overweight or obese, but new research shows that that figure might be starting to drop.
The state of California as a whole saw a modest decline in childhood obesity rates of about 1 percent, and one city in L.A. is making a lot more progress. Rosa Soto is the Southern California Director for the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which did the research for the study.
California considers new school science standards
Science has become more like science fiction in the past decade, with amazing innovations from stem cell research to driverless cars. Now science instruction in California could experience a transformation as well. The California Report's Ana Tintocalis has more.
CA prison inmates continue hunger strike over solitary confinement
A hunger strike by California prison inmates is now in its third day. Prison officials say as many as 30,000 inmates are refusing meals.
It's the latest protest over conditions in the system's so-called Special Housing Units, where inmates suspected of gang affiliation are held in solitary confinement, sometimes for years and even decades.
Shane Bauer is an investigative reporter who has done a lot of reporting on California prison's isolation units, and he knows something about solitary confinement. He was held in an Iranian jail, charged with spying, for over two years, some of that in solitary.
'The Bridge' brings murder mystery to the US-Mexico border
The new FX show, “The Bridge,” is the latest offering that originated to audiences outside the U.S., but is being re-worked to have an American spin. The setting is based at the US-Mexico border where gruesomely mutilated bodies are being found.
We get a review from Huffington Post television critic Mo Ryan.
Is Next-Generation Sequencing the future of IVF?
A few weeks ago, a baby boy named Connor was born in Philadelphia using a new type of embryo screening technique called Next-Generation Sequencing. The technique was developed at Oxford University and helps weed out chromosomal abnormalities and disease from embryos before they're implanted in the womb.
Connor's case gives huge hope to parents trying to have a healthy child through in vitro fertilization, but it also raises questions about the ethics of embryonic screening.
Here to guide us through them is Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University.
New research aims to lower cost of IVF for developing countries
Typical IVF procedures are costly, as much as $10,000 or more for a single cycle of in vitro fertilization. That makes it hard for many people to even consider it as an option. In the near future those costs could come way down, because researchers in the U.S. and Europe have recently developed a new low-cost method of IVF .
Professor Jonathan Van Blerkom is with the University of Colorado, Boulder, and he's credited with developing this new simplified system.
Will higher altitudes for choppers in Torrance lower noise complaints?
Helicopter routes in and out of Torrance airport are up for some changes. The Federal Aviation Administration wants L.A. County to figure out how to solve complaints of noisy, low-flying helicopters.
KPCC's Erika Aguilar reports on a test that could become a model for quieting the rotors that bother so many people.