How Corn Prices Are Affecting Farmers, Perseid Meteor Showers, Presidential Failures

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There was a time when the American public implicitly trusted the nation’s president. We talk with a Washington observer who says that recent presidents and current candidates are favoring communication over implementation, and it’s not working. We find out how to best enjoy this year’s Perseid meteor shower, which is likely to be one of the best in recent memory. Plus, we talk to an agriculture analyst about how this year’s crop and low corn prices are affecting farmers.

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  • Why This Year’s Perseid Meteor Shower Should Be Spectacular

    Stargazers are gearing up for a better-than-usual light show from the Perseid meteor shower happening between Tuesday and Saturday.

    The annual meteor shower has an average of 60 to 100 meteors falling per hour and is expected to peak Thursday evening and Friday morning.

    “There will be a pretty big moon in the sky early in the evening, but it will set a little after midnight and once it’s gone, you’ll be able to see the dimmer meteors much, much better,” said Paul Kinzer, author of “Stargazing Basics: Getting Started in Recreational Astronomy.”

    The Perseid meteor shower is named after the constellation Perseus — where the meteors come from — and is the most popular, brightest shower, Kinzer said.

    “Some predictions say it will be very active, with up to 200 meteors visible per hour—that’s a few per minute,” he said.

    Meteor showers are caused by the trail of debris left by comets.

    “These comets leave a bunch of debris, other comets, and then we simply orbit through this debris field, and it’s these little dust grains from the comet falling through our atmosphere—very fast, mind you—that creates the shooting star,” said Bob Bonadurer, Daniel M. Soref Planetarium director at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

    This year, Jupiter is affecting the debris and making the Perseid shower more spectacular than years prior. The gas giant’s mass will help create more shooting stars.

    “It’s big gravity is pulling these dust grains from the comet more into our orbital path, the Earth’s path, so Jupiter is affecting this debris and that’s going to make a better meteor shower, hopefully,” Bonadurer said.

    The Perseid meteor shower happens annually between July 17 and August 24.

    The best time to view most meteor showers, including the Perseid, is when the sky is darkest, so after midnight but before dawn, Bonadurer said. The morning sky is better because Earth is facing the way it’s orbiting the sun, he added.

    “Even the bright ones you see are just a small pebble hitting our atmosphere at a couple hundred thousand miles per hour,” Kinzer said.

  • How The Expected Bumper Corn Crop Affects Farmers

    Steady rainfall and warm-but-not-extreme temperatures are helping the corn crop develop. With similar conditions predicted over the next couple weeks, experts say this year’s corn crop could be a big one. While it’s still too early to predict what the harvest might look like in the fall, these weather conditions could mean the country will have an overabundance of corn later this year. The combination of a bumper crop and low prices means potential financial losses for farmers–for a second year in a row. We talk to an expert about how this crop could affect farmers for this season and for next year.

  • Perseid Meteor Shower Could Be A Doozy This Year, Here's How To See It

    The annual Perseid meteor shower is officially underway…and during its peak, experts say this year’s show could be even more spectacular than usual. An expert from the Milwaukee Public Museum planetarium talks about how best to see the shower in the coming days.

  • What Presidents Need To Do To Earn Trust

    The days when US presidents were trusted implicitly are long gone. An observer of campaigns and presidencies looks at what the ultimate winner this year will need to do to gain the trust of the nation.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Host
  • Larry Meiller Host
  • Chris Malina Producer
  • L. Malik Anderson Producer
  • Amanda Magnus Producer
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Bob Bonadurer Guest
  • Paul Kinzer Guest
  • Mark Gold Guest
  • Elaine Kamarck Guest

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