Conflicting Emotions: An opinion poem by Susanne Haga
 
Straight up – is this vaccine for real?
Can’t trust the government to tell the truth
Is it for ALL people – black, brown, and white
And every color in between?
I’m not an experiment, I’m not a guinea pig
Been down that road before
Don’t want to choose between the virus and vaccine
Life and death
I can live with a mask though would rather not
I can live with the constant worry though could do without
But can’t live without a job, a home, school for the kids, and food
They say if we all get vaccinated, things will return to the way they were
Not that that was the greatest, but better than where we are now
The virus has taken over our lives and instilled fear
It has increased disparities and renewed mistrust
Fool me once, shame on you
Fool me twice, shame on me
Tell the truth, lead by example.
 
Susanne Haga is an Associate Professor of Medicine, Biology and Public Policy.  She teaches a freshman class about bioethics and genetics research including history of research on vulnerable populations in the U.S.  This poem is an expression of the difficult choices faced by communities of color especially and the need for clear communication and transparency.

COVID Diaries: An Opinion Poem by Susanne Haga

Our piecemeal coastal policies are failing us, says Martin Smith. We're failing to consider a future of rising sea levels. Meanwhile, one beach town can make decisions that ripple down the coastline, affecting the shape of beaches miles away. "We're haphazardly geo-engineering a whole coast," Smith says. 

Smith is an economist at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is "Glad You Asked," where we consider the question, “What should we be talking about this election season?”

"I'm Martin Smith, I'm an economist in the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and I study the oceans. Setting aside the debates about how much climate change is attributable to human activities, we know that the climate is changing. We know that we have to deal with it. 

The places in this country that we are really needing to focus a lot of attention on right now are coastal communities. We have this growing population density in the coastal zone but we also have predictions from science that we're going to experience more major storm events, that we will have sea level rise or more sea level rise, more erosion of beaches.

There are places in the coastal environment now that are likely going to be underwater in 100 or 200 years. And so all of these things are sort of coming to a head. What do we do about all that?

But in the near term, we're behaving in a way that's myopic. The way we manage the coastal zone in the short run is sort of an 'every community for themselves' approach. When one community makes a decision about building a seawall or about nourishing its beach, they're not just affecting themselves. They're affecting towns that are 50 kilometers away. 

It may not be immediately apparent, but over time what we're actually doing is, we're haphazardly geoengineering a whole coast.

We tend to be focussing on how do we put band-aids on problems. So we have a major event and then it's all about disaster relief. What we're not really thinking about is, if in the distant future some of these places 
aren't going to work, how do we get from this short run to that distant future without something really catastrophic happening in between?

And the science is telling us that climate change will cause more major storm events. It's a reminder that we need to be thinking about this."

You’ve been listening to "Glad You Asked." For more commentary on the 2016 elections, visit DukeCampaignStop2016.org.



Reshaping the Coast {Glad You Asked, Episode 15}

New voter identification laws could sharply curb voter participation in N.C. and other states, says Gunther Peck. 

"These laws -- think of them as rotting the foundation of our democracy," Peck says. Peck is an associate professor of history and public policy at Duke University.

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is "Glad You Asked," where we consider the question "What should we be talking about this election season?"

"My name is Gunther Peck, I'm an associate professor of history in the Sanford School as well as in the department of history here at Duke University.

I think the most important issue for me are voting rights. Twenty states have passed laws that have tightened restrictions. North Carolina's is the most far-reaching and the most restrictive voting identification law in the country. 

"So the North Carolina law requires voters to have photo identification. It has eliminated same-day registration. It also has shortened early voting. 

"One of the least talked about but most consequential provisions of this law is that if you vote outside of your precinct -- let's say you've moved and you vote in your new precinct -- in the old law, you would cast a provisional ballot. As long as you were registered correctly, it would count.

"In the current law, if you vote out of your precinct, they'll give you a ballot, and you could even vote. But it would be disqualified as an 'out of precinct' provisional ballot. Those are now technically illegal.

"This is the first presidential election in which the real teeth of this law will be manifest, and so we don't yet know fully how many people will be discouraged from voting or outright disfranchised. But up until this election cycle North Carolina has been the closest state in the union, two election cycles in a row. 

"The estimates by our own board of elections is that nearly 500,000 North Carolina voters would not be able to meet the photo identification requirements of the new law. So half a million people potentially disfranchised. 

"So, these laws -- think of them as rotting the foundation of our democracy. We can debate all day long issues in civil or less than civil terms. But if people are compromised in their ability to vote, it skews the entire election. 

"So it's not about winning. It's about what these laws have done to the very essence of our democracy -- to what makes votes representative."

You've been listening to "Glad You Asked." For more commentary on the 2016 elections, visit DukeCampaignStop2016.org.







Voting Rights Under Fire {Glad You Asked, Episode 16}

Biological agents can make "fairly cheap weapons for those who want to do us harm," says Dr. Christopher Woods of the Duke Global Health Institute. But protecting ourselves against both manmade and natural biological threats will take more investment, Woods says. 


Transcript:

From Duke University, this is "Glad You Asked," where we consider the question "What should we be talking about this election season?"

"My name is Christopher Woods. I'm an infectious disease clinician and a member of the Duke Global Health Institute. 

"One topic that has been absent has been the idea of global biosecurity, both the potential for deliberate release of biothreat agents as well as their natural occurrence."

"We know that we have many enemies around the world. Bioterrorism has been a fairly cheap weapon for those who wish to do us harm. The pathogens that we're talking about are things like anthrax or plague. Each of those has been weaponized by either governmental or nongovernmental entities over the years.

"In the wake of the 2001 bombings and subsequent anthrax cases there was a lot of investment into preparedness. That investment has waned.

"The preparedness internationally is even more difficult. We've learned that nature has a way of filling the vacuum -- that is, there are always new pathogens that we will be threatened by. We need to be investing significantly in where those threats are occurring naturally.

"We can't focus entirely on our domestic situation, our domestic preparedness. The United States has a responsibility that is not just altruistic but is self-serving to invest in global health and shoring up healthcare systems in those parts of the world where the likelihood of outbreaks is greater."

You've been listening to "Glad You Asked." For more commentary on the 2016 elections, visit DukeCampaignStop2016.org.





Biosecurity At Risk {Glad You Asked, Episode 17}

Donald Trump is "saying things in public that often people say in private spaces," says Joseph Winters. Rather than writing him off, we'd be wise to pay attention to what Trump's candidacy says about America's unresolved conflicts. 

Winters is an assistant professor of religion and African and African American studies at Duke. 

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is Glad You Asked, where we consider the question “What should we be talking about this election season?”

“My name is Joseph Winters. I am a professor of religious studies. Also I have a secondary position in African and African American Studies. My sense is that we should be talking about Donald Trump. 

You’re probably going to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, everybody’s talking about him.’  What I mean is that to some extent, Donald Trump’s rhetoric speaks to and points to underlying racial tensions that haven’t been resolved. For some people, Donald Trump is a kind of a surprise -- his campaign, the fact that he’s actually a viable candidate. I want to actually suggest he’s articulating and making public certain kinds of sentiments around race, gender, nation, citizenship, certain fears and anxieties that I think are actually more common than sometimes we suggest.

When Donald Trump says, for instance, that ‘Mexico’s sending over their worst citizens,’ for some people who might have political commitments that are different than that, they might say 'This is a ridiculous statement; how can you say this?‘ If you look at, let’s say, certain blogs or certain websites and you look at the comments underneath, that kind of rhetoric is actually very common. 

There’s a way in which Donald Trump is kind of resisting what you might call a kind of political correctness in our culture. What he’s actually articulating is what I want to call, this is a term that Frederic Jameson kind of coined, a kind of political unconscious. Within our politically correct society, there are certain things people won’t say even if it’s on their mind. He’s saying things in public that many people say -- often men say, right? -- in private spaces.  
So I guess for me as somebody who was very dismissive at one point and has very different political commitments than he does, his rhetoric is resonating with a lot of people and I want to think about why that might be.  

One danger of not talking about that is that we see someone like Donald Trump as just an outlier. If we see him as an outlier then many people would assume ‘Yeah, we’re on this path of progress when it comes to equality, when it comes to understanding.'

We should be talking about how his rhetoric and his speech acts are indicative of more fundamental problems. We need to have more of those kinds of discussions it seems to me."

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” For more commentary on the 2016 elections, visit dukecampaignstop2016.org.


He's No Outlier {Glad You Asked, Episode 18}

Climate change, failing infrastructure and growing inequality add up to a perfect storm that is poised to hit the nation's poor, says Megan Mullin. Our weak infrastructure is ill-equipped for extreme weather events, which grow more likely  with climate change.  Meanwhile, storms and floods will hit poor communities especially hard, since those communities have even less to spend on repairing aging water pipes, roads and bridges.

Mullin is an associate professor of environmental politics at Duke University's  Nicholas School of the Environment. 

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked,” where we consider the question “What should we be talking about this election season?”

“I’m Megan Mullin, associate professor of environmental politics at the Nicholas School. 

“It’s surprisingly missing, but so far we really seem to be missing conversation about climate change and the impacts it is having right now in American communities. 

We’ve had decades of inadequate investment in infrastructure. We have drinking water pipes that are deteriorating, bridges and roads and transit systems that are in disrepair, flood control infrastructure that is failing. 

And all of these systems are very much at risk. They would be at risk without climate change, but they are even more at risk given the growing likelihood of extreme natural events.

“And we have sorted ourselves into communities mostly by income. And that means that American communities have very different capacities to protect themselves. 

“Across the board, we haven’t prepared ourselves adequately. But importantly, the inequality that we’ve seen growing over the last several decades not only is affecting people’s everyday lives, but is increasingly putting people at very different levels of risk from events that are unfolding and will continue to unfold because of climate change.”

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” For more commentary on the 2016 elections visit DukeCampaignStop2016.org.




A Perfect Storm (Glad You Asked, Episode 19}

National service programs such as the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps offer big rewards at a bargain price, says Eric Mlyn. Mlyn is assistant vice provost for civic engagement at Duke University and director of the DukeEngage program. 

Subscribe to the Glad You Asked podcast at: itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/glad…1049406866?mt=10.

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked,” where we consider the question “What should we be talking about this election season?”

“I’m Eric Mlyn and I’m the assistant vice provost for civic engagement at Duke and also the director of the DukeEngage program and teach in the Sanford School of Public Policy.

“So I think one of the issues that has gotten very little attention is the issue of national service. 

“In general the U.S. government has been at the forefront of creating service programs. 
The one most people know about is the Peace Corps, which has funded over 200,000 Americans to serve abroad in civic capacities. 

“These are relatively small programs if you look at the scheme of the federal budget, but they are deeply impactful both for the people who participate in them and for the communities that are served. 

“Estimates show that for every dollar the United States spends on national service, three dollars accrues to the economy. And the other thing is that we know from data that people who participate in national service are likely to feel more a part of their democracy, they’re more likely to have a conception of themselves as citizens. 

“It has traditionally been -- though not always -- an issue that has gathered bipartisan support. 
And given that we have so few issues today in this polarized political environment that garner bipartisan support, I think that national service not only can be valuable in and of itself but as a forum for Democrats and Republicans, independents to get together and talk about things that they generally agree upon. 

“National service is both something that is a bargain for the United States and something that has in the past and could in the future get a lot of bipartisan support and for that reason I would urge the candidates to talk about this more.”

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” For more commentary on the 2016 elections visit DukeCampaignStop2016.org.

 



The Case for National Service {Glad You Asked, Episode 20}

Police shootings around the country have helped put local politics in the spotlight, says Duke University's Mark Anthony Neal. Neal points to local prosecutors' critical role in deciding whether or not to pursue charges.

Neal is a professor of English and African and African American Studies at Duke University. 

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is "Glad You Asked," where we consider the question "What should we be talking about this election season?"

“I am Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African and African American Studies and professor of English at Duke University. 

You know for me the thing that we could be talking about more is this issue about the responsibilities of prosecutors in police shootings. Body cameras are attempting to change how we think about these interactions particularly for law enforcement and for urban and black communities. But for me, the body cameras only do part of the story. You know we actually will see what happens in the context of what gets captured with body cameras. Then it goes to a district attorney and we don’t see indictments.  

So I think those are cases where we should see special prosecutors appointed. It is a conflict of interest if you’re expecting a district attorney to hold law enforcement accountable and that same district attorney needs law enforcement to do their job effectively.

You know politics is always local. And I think we have now suddenly seen a kind of shift – we spent a lot of time particularly since 2008 focusing on national politics and that’s important. But very often I think we’ve paid so much attention on the national issues that we haven’t paid attention at what happens on a local level.  

What we’ve seen with these DA cases in Cleveland and Chicago is that folks are recognizing that some of the real power occurs on the local level.  We’ve seen the way that the legislature here in North Carolina was split for the first time in a century. What’s gone down in terms of voting rights in this state, the debates that we are having now about bathrooms. 

That’s all stuff that’s connected to local politics and I think because of these police shootings and the very national focus that we’ve seen on them around the role and power of district attorneys, suddenly that has allowed folks to think more sophisticatedly about politics on the local level.”

You've been listening to "Glad You Asked." For more commentary on the 2016 elections, visit DukeCampaignStop2016.org. 




The Power of Local Politics {Glad You Asked, Episode 21}

Supporters of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders share a key trait in common, says Charles Dunlap: they feel excluded from the political process. Such large numbers of disaffected voters are a bad sign not just for the major parties, but for the state of our democracy, Dunlap says. 

Dunlap is a retired U.S. Air Force Major General and a professor of the practice at Duke Law School. 

Transcript:

“I’m Charlie Dunlap. I’m a retired Air Force major general. I’m a professor of the practice of law at the law school, and I run the center for law, ethics, and national security.

 I think what’s interesting is the phenomena of the Bernie Sanders and the Donald Trumps. They seem to be tapping into a group of people who feels excluded from the political process in one way or another. And it’s easy to be dismissive of them because they’re at opposite ends of the spectrum. But in a lot of ways, they have some commonalities, and we need to understand that, and I think be concerned that we have millions of people who feel excluded from the political process. 

Military members are much more like the general public than some people like to think. And so I think that there very much is the same sort of concern about the political process in the ranks, just like there is in the general public. 

I think the message to the party leadership is they better start listening to these disaffected voters in both parties and what it is that they want to see in candidates. And I think that what they want to see is authenticity. Even when it’s telling them something they don’t want to hear or even find offensive, they still value that authenticity over whatever the message is. They don’t want people just repeating talking points or just looking at the polls and trying to shape their message accordingly.

It says to me that a lot of people are disaffected from the political process. And we need to be concerned about that because a democracy’s vibrancy and effectiveness depends upon everyone feeling like they have a part in it and a stake in it.“

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” To subscribe, visit bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. Again, that’s bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. 



Disaffected Voters at Both Ends of the Spectrum {Glad You Asked, Episode 22}

We could do a lot to improve public health and reduce runaway medical expenses if we focussed more on preventing disease and less on medical fixes, says Gary Bennett. 

Bennett is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. 

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked,” where we consider the question, “What should we be talking about this election season?”

"I’m Gary Bennett. I’m a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke. I think we should be talking about the idea that good policy is better than medicine. The problem that we have in the U.S. right now is that we have healthcare costs that are just spiraling completely out of control. And this is really unsustainable. 

And if you look at what we’re dying of, there are things like cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes. These are all mostly preventable conditions. And then the burden of those conditions falls disproportionately on the poor. And if you can’t get behind the moral imperative to fix that problem, then I think you have to get behind the economic one, which is, we just can’t afford it. 

The good news here is that if you look at these leading killers, you can seriously mitigate your risk by doing some extremely common sense, very simple things. Things like never smoking, losing weight, eating a healthy diet and being physically active. For those four conditions, we have good treatments. But they all require high levels of motivation. And we know that a lot of the American population just is not motivated to improve their obesity and their diet and their physical activity and their smoking rates. 

And that’s where good policy comes in. Because good policy can help to structure environments in a way that the default choice is always a healthy choice. So we really need to be thinking about the kinds of policies that can make our world a place where it’s easier to be healthier. In the area of physical activity, what would really help is for us to create neighborhoods that had greater street connectivity, to increase the number of sidewalks, to increase our bike lanes, to really make our physical environments conducive to physical activity. And that requires good public policy. It requires investments in our physical infrastructure.

In the area of obesity, we have good examples here in North Carolina of policies that are designed to make it easier for corner store operators to offer healthy fruits and vegetables. These are really important policies that can add meaningfully to the health of Americans."

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” To subscribe, visit bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. Again, that’s bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. 




Sidewalks Versus Surgery {Glad You Asked, Episode 23}

New, interactive project offers a look at a rare piece of African-diasporic sheet music.

The song “Angola” stages a lively conversation between the upper and lower registers in a call-and-response pattern. It is the only one of these tunes with lyrics that clearly align with the notes. The pattern recalls a drumming style, but may have been performed on a low pitched stringed instrument, or on a balafon, which is a type of xylophone that has wooden keys with gourd resonators. Balafons were common in parts of West Africa and in many sites within the African diaspora. 

Learn more: http://today.duke.edu/2016/06/musicalpassage

See the project: http://www.musicalpassage.org/

Angola (adapted For Chorus, Fretless Banjo And Percussion)

New, interactive project offers a look at a rare piece of African-diasporic sheet music.

"Papa” is just 4 bars long, but it begs to be repeated. When played this way, it has a more circular quality than the straight, square line you see on the page. Whereas notated Western art music generally has a distinctive beginning and end, in many vernacular traditions simple melodies are repeated and improvised ad infinitum in open-ended communal performances. This piece fits nicely on the banjo, but it also sounds lovely played on an mbira.

Learn more: http://today.duke.edu/2016/06/musicalpassage

See the project: http://www.musicalpassage.org/

Papa 1 (fretless Banjo)

Papa 2 (adapted For Mbira Dzavadzimu)

New, interactive project offers a look at a rare piece of African-diasporic sheet music.

Although “Koromanti” is printed as a single piece, there are actually three very distinctive sections within the longer work. For this reason, we have chosen to treat each of these sections as single pieces. Koromanti was a term commonly used to describe enslaved people from the Akan ethnic group from West Africa, one of the largest group among the enslaved in Jamaica at the time.

Learn more: http://today.duke.edu/2016/06/musicalpassage

See the project: http://www.musicalpassage.org/

Koromanti 1 (adapted For Fretless Banjo And Shakers)

New, interactive project offers a look at a rare piece of African-diasporic sheet music.

This piece is notable for its very rapid scales, which would require a virtuosic performer and a nimble instrument. It draws on a natural minor scale and is divided into two parts. There is an unusual shift in the way the rhythm is notated, possibly because the transcriber wanted to show how the groove shifted into a B section.

Learn more: http://today.duke.edu/2016/06/musicalpassage

See the project: http://www.musicalpassage.org/

Koromanti 2 (adapted For Fretless Banjo And Djembe)

New, interactive project offers a look at a rare piece of African-diasporic sheet music.

This is the longest of all the tunes, with fully 26 measures of music. It is a wandering and unpredictable piece, and the structure is hard to parse as well. Each bar has, in a sense, its own sound and unit. This song is ultimately the most open-ended of the group, inviting different interpretations and perhaps incorporation into new musical pieces yet to be born.

Learn more: http://today.duke.edu/2016/06/musicalpassage

See the project: http://www.musicalpassage.org/

Koromanti 3 (adapted For Fretless Banjo And Percussion)

As the National Park Service prepares to turn 100 in August, our national parks represent a terrifically valuable asset in need of attention, says Stuart Pimm. 

Pimm is a professor of conservation ecology at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. He helped establish the new Park Institute of America, an independent nonprofit located at Duke that is dedicated to protecting America's national parks. The new institute is a collaboration between Duke University and the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, a nonprofit comprised of former National Park Service employees. 

Transcript: 

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked,” where we consider the question, “What should we be talking about this election season?”

Stuart Pimm is professor of conservation ecology at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. 

“I think what our politicians should be talking about is science and technology and the environment. National parks are a very, very good example of how people don’t always grasp just how much the environment is worth to us. 

Many years ago, there was a government shutdown. And when that happened, the national parks were shut down, and people across our nation howled in pain. It wasn’t just the people who wanted to visit the parks. It was the fact that the national parks bring in an amazing amount of money into local economies. Approximately one American visits a national park a day, a year. But for every visit that somebody who is getting there, going there, eating near there, staying near there.

So even if you just thought of national parks in purely economic terms, you would conclude that they are a very, very good idea indeed. And of course, they are places that inspire us, places where we get refreshed by being in nature. 

Many parks need more resources. The infrastructure is getting to be old. People need better facilities. We don’t have as many national parks in the East as I think we should. The Southeast in the United States has a lot of important biodiversity. It has very few areas that are protected as national parks. 

I think we need to make a better case that our parks need more resources, more love, more attention. We need more of them. And I think this centenary year is a way of celebrating all the things national parks do for us.” 

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” To subscribe, visit bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. Again, that’s bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. 


The Many Benefits of Protecting Our National Parks {Glad You Asked, Episode 24}

Duke scholar Mark Chaves discusses whether the September 11 terror attacks led to a surge in religious participation in the United States.

Duke's Mark Chaves on 9/11 and church attendance

Our next president must make sure corporations play by the rules, without stifling innovation, says Aaron Chatterji. How will a new president walk that important tightrope, protecting the public from events such as the recent Volkswagen scandal, while encouraging business innovation and investment? That's a key question to pose to candidates, Chatterji says.

Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. 

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked,” where we consider the question, “What should we be talking about this election season?”

“My name is Aaron Chatterji. I’ve been at Duke since 2006 at the Fuqua School of Business. One of the things they should start talking about, I think, in the presidential campaign is the proper role of business in society and corporate responsibility. 

The next president is going to have make a lot of decisions on government regulations on business. Three recent examples are helping me think about this. One is Volkswagen and the emissions scandal. Here you seem to have a very clear case of a company that was a market leader cheating by adding software to reduce the amount of emissions during a test and not the actual emissions when the car was on the road. A lot of consumers have been hurt. Volkswagen and the entire automobile industry have been harmed. How do you prevent scandals like that? What would the next president do to make sure that corporations played by the rules? 

That’s a question I’d be asking, but there are other more nuanced issues about the role of business and government. Take the example of drug prices. Drug prices are rising fast this year. In some cases, new entrants are entering the market, buying up a drug that has been in a market that’s not very competitive and raising the prices dramatically. What’s fair in terms of drug prices? Is it as much as we can get, or is there some norm or value judgment associated with the right price for a prescription drug? These companies spend a lot of money developing drugs and often take years to get the return on investment they made on the original drug. And so the companies saying, ‘If we want to fund future innovation, if we want the life-saving medicines that we rely on, we’re going to need to be able to charge sufficient prices to recoup our investments.’ How will the next president deal with this issue, the balance between innovation and entrepreneurship on the one hand and patient safety and access to drugs on the other? 

There’s also going to be challenges coming from new areas. In so many areas in the economy, we’re seeing new business models. Take the online lending market. You have the opportunity to open up credit markets to people who never had that access before. And if you can give people credit, they can start a business or increase their savings. The issue though, is, how do we balance the need for entrepreneurship and innovation in these new areas with the possibility that some people might get the short end of the stick. The next president has to think about that when it comes to new models of innovation and entrepreneurship as well.” 

You’ve been listening to “Glad You Asked.” To subscribe, visit bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. Again, that’s bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. 




The Balancing Act of Holding Businesses Accountable {Glad You Asked, Episode 26}

As a nation, we spend millions on healthcare, especially at the end of life. What are we giving up in return? Dan Ariely, professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University, says it's time to face up to those choices. 

Ariely is also featured on this month's episode of "Ways & Means," describing how human behavior gets in the way of government innovation. Listen at: http://www.waysandmeansshow.org/.

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked,” where we consider the question, “What should we be talking about this election season?”

"My name is Dan Ariely, I’m the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. So this election season, we’re talking about lots of things. One of the things we’re not talking about is rationing healthcare. 

So a long time ago, when all we need to pay in healthcare was a doctor walking around with her bag, we could basically afford lots of healthcare. But as technology is moving into healthcare, things become expensive. When I was a kid, there was a six-million-dollar man, Steve Austin. I think, now, six million is cheap, right? We can spend much more on people just in the last year of life. 

We’re spending about 19 percent of GDP on health, and a lot of it is at the end of life. And what we’re not talking about is, if we prolong the lives of some people, where’s the money coming from, and what are we not able to do in society? 

If we invest in the last two years of life, we’re not investing a lot in the early years of life. If we’re investing a lot in health, we’re not investing in infrastructure. So if we could fund education, and we could fund health, and we could fund defense, no problem. It’s very clear that we can’t fund all of those things. 

What medicine is doing is making clear what very difficult tradeoffs we have. What are we going to invest in as a society and what are we not? What are we willing to give up? Everybody is saying what they want more of, we’re not talking about what we’re going to give up, and medicine is one of the areas that I think are the most ripe for this moral discussion."

You can hear more from Dan Ariely in the new episode of the podcast, Ways and Means. Find it at waysandmeansshow.org. That’s waysandmeansshow.org. 




Is High-Cost Healthcare Shutting Out Other Needs? {Glad You Asked, Episode 27}

Education is more than job training, says Priscilla Wald. It's essential to forming citizens of a democracy. And the humanities are a critical part of that training.

Wald is a professor of English at Duke University, where she directs the Program in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies.

Attacks on Education Hurt Democracy {Glad You Asked, Episode 28}

Women earn 17 percent less per week than men, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Liz Ananat and Karin Agness debate the pay gap between men and women -- what it means, where it's worst, and what's driving it -- on this episode of Zeroing In: The Numbers Behind the 2016 Election, moderated by Aaron Chatterji.

Zeroing In takes a look at key issues on the election agenda, one number at a time. Numbers matter, but in politics, they can be used to muddy the waters rather than enlighten. Each episode of Zeroing In starts with one key statistic tied to a critical issue in the 2016 election. Experts from different points on the political spectrum debate what that number means -- and what it doesn't mean -- with help from moderator Aaron Chatterji, an associate professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Sanford School of Public Policy. 

Ananat is an economist, an associate professor in Duke's Sanford School of Public Policy and a faculty fellow of Duke's Center for Child and Family Policy. Agness is founder and president of the Network of Enlightened Women, an organization for conservative university women, and a contributor to Forbes.


Music: "Tra-la-la" by Podington Bear (http://soundofpicture.com)

What's Driving the Gender Pay Gap? {Episode 1, Zeroing In}

The U.S. defense budget for 2015 was $597 billion, more than the next 14 nations combined. Is our country spending too much on defense or not? And are our dollars going to the right priorities? Peter Feaver and Lawrence Korb discuss those questions on this episode of Zeroing In, hosted by Aaron Chatterji. 

Feaver is a professor of political science and public policy at Duke University who served on the National Security Council Staff under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Korb is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who served as assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan. Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business and Sanford School of Public Policy.

Zeroing In receives engineering assistance from Johnny Vince Evans. 

Music: "Tra-la-la" by Podington Bear, www.soundofpicture.com.

The Price of Defense {Episode 2, Zeroing In}

BIGLY - excerpt

Health insurance premiums for individuals dropped by 10 percent during the first year of Obamacare. What does that number tell us about whether or not the Affordable Care Act is working? Don Taylor and Michael Cannon debate that question on this episode of Zeroing In, with host Aaron Chatterji.

Taylor is a professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy. Cannon is the director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. Aaron Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business and Sanford School of Public Policy.

Is Obamacare Working? {Episode 4, Zeroing In}

Our society gives the mentally ill short shrift, so much so that "we'll look back on it in 100 years' time as absolutely appalling," says Jane Costello. 

Severe mental illness burdens families, taxes the criminal justice and shortens lives. And we'll continue to pay those heavy prices until we take the issue seriously, Costello says. 

Costello is a professor in the psychiatry department at the Duke University School of Medicine and the Duke department of psychology and neuroscience an associate director of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy.

Turning Our Backs on Mental Illness {Glad You Asked, Episode 30}

About 63 percent of Americans are working or looking for work, but what about the rest? And what measures might help boost job prospects for out-of-work Americans?Jared Bernstein and Michael Strain discuss the nation's labor participation rate and what it tells us about the health of the U.S. economy, with moderator Aaron Chatterji.

Bernstein is a senior member of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and a former member of the Obama administration. Strain is the director of economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Chatterji is an associate professor at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Sanford School of Public Policy.

How Healthy is the Job Market? {Episode 6, Zeroing In}

Increased drilling for oil is meant to stimulate the economy. But what effect will greater use of oil and gas have on public health? David Boyd challenges our new president to consider this and other unintended consequences of public policy decisions in this episode of "Glad You Asked."

Boyd is an associate professor of the practice at the Duke Global Health Institute and is an expert in global health and cross-cultural medicine.

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked.” A new administration in the White House means new issues on the table, so we wondered, if you could ask our new President one question, what would it be?

Transcript:

“I’m David Boyd, and I’m a professor at the Duke Global Health Institute. My question would be about policy. Mr. Trump, are you willing to think through the unintended consequences of your policies? 

For example, fossil fuels. Now we’re talking about producing more and using fossil fuels more. Yes, perhaps that would have a short-term economic boost to certain sectors of the economy. But compare that to the health implications and the long-term costs. 

We know now that the particulate matter in fossil fuels actually pass through the lungs into the circulatory system and are implicated in heart disease and even dementia. There’s a difference in life expectancy of five years in northern and southern China, and it’s directly related to air pollution. What will this cost us in terms of health care, long-term, in this country? Is it really worth it?

Another example, the global gag rule, which has been reinstituted and which prohibits funding to NGOs that discuss, refer, or perform pregnancy terminations or abortions. Well, those organizations, for the most part, also provide a lot of primary healthcare to many people in under-resourced settings. 

And the sicker those populations are, the less their economy develops, which is going to have a direct impact on trade with the U.S. So you can’t really just think about America as being separate from the rest of the world. We live in an interdependent world, and what happens in the rest of that world has an impact on the United States.”

This is Glad You Asked. To subscribe, visit bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. That’s bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes.

The Heavy Toll of Unintended Consequences {Glad You Asked, Season 2, Episode 2}

CLIP 1 Serial

Clip Fraud 1

Wirzba Clip

The United States has long been a magnet for scientists from all over the world. With both science and immigration under attack, Raphael Valdivia wonders if that legacy is at risk. 

"Glad You Asked" is a series of short commentaries by Duke experts on issues that deserve public attention. In Season 2, Duke experts share a question they would like to pose to our nation's new president -- and describe why that question matters.   

Valdivia is a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology in the Duke University School of Medicine and vice dean for basic science at Duke University.

Photo of the Noor lab at Duke University by Duke Photograpy.

Transcript:

From Duke University, this is “Glad You Asked.” A new administration in the White House means new issues on the table. So we wondered, if you could ask our new President one question, what would it be?

“My name is Raphael Valdivia. I’m a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at the School of Medicine. I’m also the vice dean of basic sciences at Duke University. 

“President Trump, I am a scientist and an immigrant. And my question for you is, ‘Am I welcome here?’ 

“I was born and raised in Lima, Peru. I left there to attend college here. Once I got here, that’s when I discovered a passion for the sciences, for discovery, for knowledge. And it was very much a sense here in the United States that that was valued. To be curious, to be creative, to be an intellectual was never a dirty word. 

“And it is really in the last decade or so where that has become a problem. So the support for sciences, I’ve seen it erode at the beginning in the context of climate science. And certainly funding of the NIH, of NSF, of the EPA, of the USDA, of all these different government agencies
-- the erosion of that foundation just percolates to the entire system. 

“So there’s me as a scientist, but there’s also me as an immigrant. Many of the scientists in the United States actually were born abroad, and they came here really looking for opportunities and to tap onto this excitement about discovery and knowledge. The U.S. is the magnet, you know, we come here because we know the possibilities. We bought into the dream. 

“And I had never really felt until the last couple of years, especially after the election, that I would be judged by how I would look as opposed to what I can bring to the table. Now that I suddenly feel that I may not be welcome, for the first time in 30 years that I’ve been here, I have second guessed whether I made the right decision or not when I decided to come here to work, live and have a career in science.”

This is Glad You Asked. To subscribe, visit bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes. That’s bitly.com/gladyouaskeditunes.

Is America Still a Beacon for Immigrant Scientists? {Glad You Asked, Season 2, Episode 3}

Proposed changes to the Affordable Care Act would remove requirements to cover maternity care and contraception. Those changes would hurt women especially hard, says Dr. Megan Huchko. 

Huchko is an associate professor in the Duke University department of obstetrics and gynecology and the Duke Global Health Institute.

How Health Care Reform Could Hurt Women {Glad You Asked, Season 2, Episode 4}

On October 5, Duke University inaugurated its tenth president, Vincent E. Price. That gave Duke the opportunity to celebrate for a couple days in its own style. Duke Magazine produced this audio postcard in cooperation with the Duke Office of News and Communications.

The Price Inauguration, in Sound

The day after attending Martin Luther King, Jr.'s funeral, Samuel DuBois Cook addressed a gathering of Duke University students in front of Duke Chapel. The students camped out on the quad for days to lobby for better treatment for African-Americans in what became known as the Silent Vigil. 

Cook was Duke's first African-American professor. A recording and transcript of his full speech can be found in the Duke University Archives: https://repository.duke.edu/dc/silabt/silau001014

This excerpt is from the opening of Cook's speech:

"Just as it is hard to believe that Martin Luther King is dead, it is just as difficult to believe that a movement for social justice and equality, a movement to create the beloved community, is alive here at Duke. The light from your candle, I can assure you, is reducing the darkness in this world."

Samuel DuBois Cook Addresses Duke Students After Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death

Home of the Blue Devils, Duke University has about 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students and a world-class faculty helping to expand the frontiers of knowledge. The university has a strong commitment to applying knowledge in service to society, both near its North Carolina campus and around the world.


DukeUniversity

Popular tracks