Electoral College Meets To Cast Ballots For President, The Year In Science, NFL Wife Speaks Out On Brain Trauma

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Cyndy Feasel’s husband, who played nearly a decade in the NFL, turned into an abusive alcoholic whose drinking eventually led to his death. It was discovered that he had CTE, the degenerative brain disease found in people who have suffered repeated blows to the head. Feasel joins us to share her story and thoughts on the dangers of contact sports. We also recap the year in science, including a dangerous fault discovered below Bangladesh and the effect Brexit may have on scientists. Plus, we talk to WPR’s state capitol reporter about Monday’s meeting of Wisconsin’s Electoral College members to cast their votes for president.

Featured in this Show

  • Monday's Electoral College Meeting In Madison

    On Monday the Electoral College is meeting at state capitols across the country to cast their ballots for president. In this election cycle the Electoral College has faced criticism because even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Donald Trump got the electoral votes needed to become president. We talk to WPR’s state capitol reporter about the Electoral College meeting in Madison and the protests surrounding it.

  • This Year In Science: Megathrust Faults, New Species, Answer To Why Dogs Bite

    This year’s top science news proved to be a little bit of the good, the bad and the plain weird – from the preservation of marine habitats and the discovery of a new earthquake fault line capable of mass destruction, to a treatment for dog aggression that may just work for humans too.

    Discover Magazine recently listed its 100 top science stories of 2016 that explored land, sky and everything in between, and there’s reasons to cheer about and be alarmed by, said Gemma Tarlach, the magazine’s senior editor.

    A new kind of earthquake

    One of the top science stories of the year was new research showing a megathrust fault under Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar, two of the most densely populated regions on the planet.

    Megathrust faults produce the largest earthquakes, reaching and even exceeding 9.0 magnitude. Scientists have known about the fault line for years, but until recently, they thought it was the less violent variety known as a strike-slip fault. Megathrust faults were thought to have only existed under oceans, not land.

    “So they are now very concerned and pressure is building on this fault line, that when the pressure gets too much and an earthquake occurs, it’s going to be catastrophic,” Tarlach said.

    The silver lining here, said Tarlach, is the discovery allows the region to prepare by updating building codes and rehab aging infrastructure to protect lives and building in the future.

    New protected waters

    Between shrinking glaciers and rising temperatures, it’s not always easy finding positive news about the environment. But this year, there is reason to celebrate thanks to the creation of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area.

    “It is a very positive environmental story. It’s one of those where you can get the pom poms out and say, ‘Yay, humans!’” Tarlach said.

    The protected area in Antarctica is more than twice the size of Texas and took six years of work. Tarlach said it’s the first major reserve in nonterritorial waters outside the jurisdiction of any nation.

    The agreement prohibits fishing in more than 70 percent of the area. The remaining 30 percent allows fishing for only specific and narrowly defined scientific research.

    Tarlach said it’s considered one of the most pristine marine ecosystems left on the planet. The cold currents surrounding the continent are rich in nutrients and serve as an important circulatory system for bodies of water across the globe.

    “You can think of it as feeding the planet in some respects, or at least feeding other marine environments. So it’s really important to protect it because it really is the heart of marine ecosystems around the planet,” she said.

    Brexit’s impact on research

    Brexit wasn’t just a huge political story. The decision for Britain to leave the European Union could have an enormous impact on scientific collaborations and funding throughout the United Kingdom.

    While it remains unclear as politicians work the specifics in the divorce, Tarlach said researchers fear the worst.

    “If Britain closes the borders, if you want to think of it that way, they are really just dropping a divider down between scientists of continental Europe and the UK, which could be very unfortunate and have a lot of very terrible consequences. Not for only individual careers, but also for very large projects,” Tarlach said.

    Some of the large-scale projects now in jeopardy include the European Space Agency and the Large Hadron Collider.

    New species

    There were a series of new-found species in the past 12 months. They include a new ant species, Pheidole drogon, named after the “Game of Thrones” because the insect’s spiked back reminded scientists of the dragons in the popular TV show, and a giant rodent called Rattus detentus, which had been living on the Manus Island in the South Pacific for centuries.

    But Tarlach’s favorite new species in 2016 was the Chilabothrus argentum, a silvery snake of the boa constrictor family that was found on an island in the Caribbean. While it’s a gorgeous looking reptile, Tarlach said the reason she selected it as her favorite is because the story of its discovery. Scientists were camped out on the island trying to find the endangered snake but having little luck.

    “And one of the snakes crawled across the face of the researcher as he was sleeping. And that’s how it became a specimen, my friend,” she said.

    Why do dogs bite?

    No year should go by without some interesting discoveries about our best friends among the animal kingdom. This year, researchers discovered why dogs bite. Tarlach said scientists were able to pinpoint clusters of DNA that predispose canines towards different kinds of aggression.

    This is the first step towards understanding aggression in dogs on a genetic level and could create a pathway towards treating it.

    Here’s where it gets a bit weird: “And researchers are hoping, once they identify these specific genetic variations in dogs and develop treatments, those same treatments might work on humans who have a variety of issues that are expressed as aggression,” Tarlach said.

  • Year In Science: Bangladesh Quake Threat, Ross Sea Marine Protected Area, & More!

    One of the top science stories of 2016 was new research showing a megathrust fault under one of the most densely populated regions on the planet–in Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar. Megathrust faults produce the largest earthquakes, reaching and even exceeding 9.0 magnitude. Gemma Tarlach of Discover Magazine shares the details of this and other top stories from 2016, including the newly-created Ross Sea Marine Protected area, the meaning of Brexit for the world of science, and more.

  • Former NFL Wife Speaks Out About Brain Trauma And CTE

    Repeated hits to the head turned Cyndy Feasel’s loving husband, who played nearly a decade in the NFL, into a verbally abusive alcoholic, whose excessive drinking eventually lead to his death. Later, it was discovered that he had CTE – the degenerative brain disease found in people who have suffered a severe blow or repeated blows to the head, and a disease becoming more commonly associated with the game of football. She shares the story of what happened to her husband, a man who destroyed his brain playing a game enjoyed by millions of fans each week, and shares her thoughts on kids playing football and contact sports today.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Amanda Magnus Producer
  • Chris Malina Producer
  • Laurel White Guest
  • Gemma Tarlach Guest
  • Cyndy Feasel Guest

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