Word of Mouth

Alex Kudera published Fight for Your Long Day, in 2010, but it’s still gaining traction because of its unflinching look at the swelling academic underclass that is adjunct faculty, recently getting notice from the chronicle of higher education. We spoke with him about the book and the perception of adjuncts in higher education today.

The reality television industry could be in for a rude awakening – a lawsuit filed last year by David Hester could threaten to change the foundations of the immensely popular genre. Still functioning after its explosive success near the turn of the century, reality TV has begun to face declining ratings in many of its shows. Last December, Hester filed a lawsuit against A&E after producers of “Storage Wars” allegedly rigged the outcome of the show’s competitors – with damaging results. Eriq Gardner is senior editor for the Hollywood Reporter and joins us to discuss the suit.

According to a 2010 AARP survey, 85% of men and 61% of women over fifty said sex is important to their quality of life. This number, coupled with increasing rates of sexually transmitted diseases among adults over fifty, clashes with our societal taboo surrounding the elderly libido. Jessica Gentile wrote about that conflict, and the value of embracing sexuality at all ages for an Atlantic piece called “The 87 Year Old Virgin.”

As of last month, over forty-thousand patents on DNA molecules have been submitted by private research companies –essentially claiming the entire human genome sequence for profit. The Supreme Court will review the matter at hearing on April 15th, and the outcome could have a significant impact on personalized medicine and scientific research. Joining us is Doctor Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medical College’s department of Physiology and Biophysics. He’s co-author of a new study that got our attention, on the issue of genomic liberty.

Central Park was New York City’s place of refuge and openness until April 19, 1989 when a woman was brutally assaulted and left for dead. Author Sarah Burns turned her research about the event into a documentary film detailing the racially charged convictions of five black and Latino youth. They were exonerated over a decade later when another man confessed to committing the crime.

Thanks to thousands of sanitation officials working around the clock, millions of New York City residents walk the streets without being overwhelmed by the overpowering stench and volume of the tons of garbage produced by that city each day. Robin Nagle has been the anthropologist-in-residence at New York City’s Department of Transportation since 2006; combining traditional field work techniques with hand-on social science. She examines the often-ignored issues behind the city’s elaborate—and under appreciated—system of refuse collection. Robin's new book is called “Picking Up”.

A good potato is hard to find – at least for potato chip makers, who require the exactly the right balance of sugar, starch, and color to produce a perfect chip. In the late 1960’s, chip companies aimed to engineer these tricky variables to their liking using conventional plant cross-breeding. Researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture, Penn State University and the Wise potato chip company embarked upon a scientific quest to create the perfect potato for chips – and ended up with poisonous results. We spoke to Maggie Koerth-Baker, science editor at Boing-Boing and columnist for the New York Times magazine, about the failed quest.

Last year we spoke to Jenny Lawson about her memoir Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir. Since then the book has enjoyed time on the NY Times best seller list and even garnered the number one spot in the first week it was out. Now that it’s out in paperback --once again on the NY Times best seller list, in the number 7 slot--and Jenny is touring the country to promote it, we thought it would be a great time to revisit Virginia’s conversation with her from April of 2012.

Two weeks ago marked the second anniversary of the nuclear disaster and subsequent evacuation of Fukushima, Japan defying the government-mandated evacuation orders and living by himself inside “The Zone” is 53 year-old Naoto Matsumara, a fifth generation rice farmer who returned to Fukushima not long after the disaster first unfolded. Vice Japan’s Ivan Kovac is director and editor of “Alone in the Zone”, a documentary that follows Naoto on his mission to care for the pets and livestock abandoned after the 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear meltdown.

We have great news! Yesterday’s story about Zach Nugent leaving Word of Mouth to join Disney on Ice was a silly April Fools joke. Ok, maybe it wasn’t our best April Fool’s gag; Zach as a figure skater??? (Well, it’s not THAT far-fetched, Zach is a consummate athlete and we’re fairly certain, that with a little practice he would probably make a half-decent skating fish.)

There’s a long history of April Fool’s radio pranks and we wanted to look back on some of our favorites. In no particular order:

Word of Mouth's Internet Sherpa Brady Carlson joins us for a in-depth look into the internet and all its meme-y wondrousness.

You may have heard the news on the show today that our Arts & Culture Producer, Zach Nugent will be leaving our team to join the touring cast of Disney on Ice. We are so sad to be losing such a talented member of our team, but we fully support Zach and his quest to follow his dream.

Zach was scouted for the cast during a recent interview he did with a New Hampshire native, who is also a member of the cast. Unbeknownst to Zach, the producers were incredibly interested in his abilities and only agreed to the interview so they could witness his talent in person. Take a listen to a bit of audio Zach captured after Disney on Ice's Kaitlyn DeRoy saw one of his signature moves up close and personal.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Zach, we will miss you terribly and wish you the best of luck as you capture the dream.

Mr. Spock’s Vulcan ability to transfer his consciousness into another being was a technique he used on numerous occasions in the Star Trek franchise. His colleague Dr. McCoy was, on several occasions, an unwitting recipient of the 'green blooded, inhuman' Spock’s consciousness…impossible science fiction, right? Well, maybe not. Recently, we came across a story about scientists creating telepathic rats in a lab at Duke University. On the line to tell us more is Douglas Heaven, who wrote about the experiment for New Scientist Magazine.