The scoop on fake Internet diplomas, Mexico's farm workers reach a tentative deal on wages and working conditions, a water expert watches 'Mad Max.'
Pakistani company at the center of massive fake diploma ring
A recent New York Times report found that a secretive software company in Pakistan has been scamming people into paying for fake academic degrees from online schools. The schools, which appear real, only exist in stock photos on computer servers.
The company, Axact, has been making several million dollars each month from this. Declan Walsh wrote about this in New York Times. He's the Pakistan bureau chief and he joined the show for more.
Adult stem cell clinics go largely unregulated, AP finds
There’s been a lot of debate in recent years over the use of embryonic stem cells, but stem cells can be retrieved from adults, too. For decades, these cells have been used in the successful treatment of leukemia and other blood cancers.
In recent years, though, some physicians have been touting them as a cure for all sorts of other ailments. A new report out Monday from the Associated Press finds stem cell therapy is a booming business, but is one that's hardly regulated.
AP health reporter Matthew Perrone wrote the report, and he joins the show with more.
Details of the tentative Mexico farm workers' deal
Farm workers in Mexico have reached a tentative deal to boost wages and improve working conditions.
Eric Nicholson, vice president of the United Farmworkers of America, has an update.
NASA's water expert: 'Mad Max' is a glimpse of our drought future
"Mad Max: Fury Road" might star Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, but it also showcases a landscape scarred by war, where deserts and dust storms erode at civilization.
Water – or more accurately, the lack of it – plays a key role in the story, too.
NASA's chief water expert Jay Famigletti went on a movie date with A Martinez, and said that there's so much "Mad Max" gets right about what California's future could look like if the drought worsens.
[Spoilers ahead]
"They hit you over the head with the water theme starting with the first quote, 'Don't get addicted to water because if you do, then you'll just resent its absence,'" Famigletti said.
There is such little water in the film that every glimpse of it, from puddles in a deadly marsh or it spewing from a hose, immediately draws your attention.
But most of the movie is set against a landscape completely devoid of water.
"There were a lot of locations that remind me of Death Valley," said Famigletti. "It was absolutely beautiful, but a lot of it was so real."
Climate models, he says, suggest that the deserts in the Southwest could expand as dry conditions persist.
The epic dust storms seen in the film may be an exaggeration, but he says dust storms in general could become commonplace. "It's scary," Famigletti said.
In the movie, water is controlled by the warlord Immortan Joe who demonstrates his command over the people by unleashing a waterfall on the crowds below for mere seconds, leaving them scrabbling over the few drops they're able to capture.
"It was kind of a crazy scene!" Famigletti said. "Those that have the money to pump up the water from deep below the earth, those are the people who have the power."
But he says that we're seeing a little of that play out today. For example, a water bottling plant has the resources and money to siphon a well dry, leaving a nearby farmer who relies on that same water to struggle.
That inequity may not so extreme that it creates warlords in California, but it will cause divisions and scheming.
"Maybe it's a bit more subtle, maybe it's more political, but the drought's creating the classes of the haves and have-nots."
Policing in the 21st century
Today President Obama announced the creation of a new task force that would address ways to improve relations between the police and the communities that they serve.
George Mason University professor Laurie Robinson has been appointed co-chair of President Obama’s Task Force on 21stCentury Policing, and we talked to her about it.
Vox's Todd VanDerWerff on the Mad Men finale and the show's legacy
Did you see the new Mad Men last night?
No? Well, not to worry, there is still time. But today's the last day we'll be able to ask that question.
The seventh and final season of the AMC drama wrapped up last night with the highly anticipated series finale. Thankfully it will live on forever in our hearts and, you know, on Netflix.
Todd VanDerWerff, culture editor at Vox, joins Take Two to discuss the finale and the show's legacy.
Meet Colonel Griffith J. Griffith, the man behind the park
Last week we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the Griffith Observatory. In that chat we talked about Griffith J. Griffith, the man who donated the whole park to the city of LA.
But one listener thought we should have given a fuller picture of the man. Mike Eberts, professor at Glendale Community College and author of "Griffith Park: A Centennial History."