Access Utah

Kip Stephen Thorne (born June 1, 1940) is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate, known for his contributions in gravitational physics and astrophysics. A longtime friend and colleague of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, he was the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) until 2009 and is one of the world's leading experts on the astrophysical implications of Einstein's general theory of relativity. He continues to do scientific research and scientific consulting, most notably for the Christopher Nolan film Interstellar.

Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. We’ve lost 50% of the world’s coral in the last 30 years. Scientists say that climate change is now their greatest threat and it is estimated that only 10% can survive past 2050. In a new documentary film, “Chasing Coral,” a team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why coral are vanishing and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.

Gregory Pardlo's father was a brilliant and charismatic man--a leading labor organizer who presided over a happy suburban family of four. But when he loses his job following the famous air traffic controllers' strike of 1981, he succumbs to addiction and exhausts the family's money on more and more ostentatious whims. In the face of this troubling model and disillusioned presence in the household, young Gregory rebels. Struggling to distinguish himself on his own terms, he hustles off to Marine Corps boot camp. He moves across the world, returning to the United States only to take a job as a manager-cum-barfly at his family's jazz club.

President Donald Trump has nominated appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court. William Cummings, writing in USA Today sums up the coming nomination fight: “Conservatives argued that Democrats were prepared to oppose anyone Trump nominated but that Kavanaugh is such a strong nominee that their efforts to block him are certain to fail. Liberals said Kavanaugh would shift the court sharply to the right and that he would ensure a vote in Trump's favor if issues tied to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation ever came before the Supreme Court.”

How did we get here?

Moving through the settings of her life—red rock canyons, aspen forests, mountains, and cities—Jana Richman probes the depths of her internal landscape and asks how we can find stillness in our noisy world. In essays both personal and universal, Richman eschews quick and easy answers for quiet reflections on these questions: In a culture demanding that every voice be heard, how do we make sense of the resulting roar? Where do we seek solace when the last quiet places are sacrificed to human hubris? How do we shed the angst thrust upon us to create lives of peace?

Hospital intensive care units have changed when and how we die--and not always for the better. So says medical researcher and ICU physician Samuel Brown. In his new book “Through the Valley of Shadows: Living Wills, Intensive Care, and Making Medicine Human” (Oxford University Press) Dr. Brown uses stories from his clinical practice to outline a new way of thinking about life-threatening illness.

Volcanoes have been much in the news of late, with eruptions in Hawaii, Guatemala, and most recently, in Bali. You may know that Yellowstone National Park sits on a “supervolcano,” 44 miles wide. An eruption of this caldera volcano, as scientists call it, is very unlikely, but potentially catastrophic. We’ll talk about volcanoes in general and the Yellowstone supervolcano specifically today. Our discussion will include the different types of volcanic eruptions and different kinds of dangers; predicting volcanic eruptions and earthquakes; and the latest science of volcanoes and earthquakes. We’ll also talk about Yellowstone geysers and hot springs. Our guests include Michael Poland, Scientist-in Charge at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and a Geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey; and Jamie Farrell, Assistant Research Professor in the University of Utah Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Chief Seismologist with the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory.

Travel writer Porter Fox’s latest adventure is a quest to rediscover America’s other border—the fascinating but little-known northern one, a journey he recounts in his new book “Northland.”

No Man’s Land is dedicated to the author’s grandfather. Not unusual in itself, but Simon Tolkien has a somewhat unusual grandfather, JRR Tolkien, whose experiences in the Somme inspired his grandson’s fifth novel, published to mark Friday’s centenary of the battle.

About 123 people die of suicide every day in the U.S. It’s the 10th-leading cause of death for Americans and the No. 2 killer of teens. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016 and the vast majority of states saw increases in the rates of suicide between 1999 and 2016. Suicide is the leading cause of death in Utah for youths ages 10 to 17. The state’s suicide rate for all ages is more than 60 percent above the national average. Recent celebrity deaths have also shone a spotlight on the problem. We’ll talk about it with Jane Pearson, a suicide research expert at the National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland; and Craig Bryan, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology and Executive Director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

The editors of The Atlantic write: “The election of Donald Trump … [has] driven many Americans to rummage through history in search of context and understanding. Trump himself has been compared to historical figures ranging from Ronald Reagan to Henry Ford, and from Andrew Jackson to Benito Mussolini. His steps have been condemned as unprecedented by his critics, and praised as historic by his supporters.”

After oil was discovered beneath their land in the 1920's, the richest people per capita were members of the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma. They rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions and sent their children to study in Europe.

James A. McLaughlin grew up in rural Virginia and lives in the Wasatch Range east of Salt Lake City. His debut novel “Bearskin” is getting rave reviews. He joins us for the hour next time on Access Utah.

President Trump has signed an executive order allowing families to be detained together under his “zero tolerance” immigration policy. This comes amid a furor over the separation of children from their parents at the border. In the meantime, Congress continues to search for a fix to the immigration system. We’ll talk about the crisis at the border today on Access Utah. Our guests will include Pastor Steve Klemz of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Salt Lake City; Erika George, Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law in the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah; and Sonia Nazario, Pulitzer-Prize-winning author of Enrique’s Journey.

From USU's College of Humanities and Social Sciences:

Both George Orwell and Winston Churchill came close to death in the mid-1930's—Orwell shot in the neck in a trench line in the Spanish Civil War, and Churchill struck by a car in New York City. If they'd died then, history would scarcely remember them. At the time, Churchill was a politician on the outs, his loyalty to his class and party suspect. Orwell was a mildly successful novelist, to put it generously. No one would have predicted that by the end of the 20th century they would be considered two of the most important people in British history for having the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly, in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both the left and the right. Thomas Ricks writes in his new book “Churchill & Orwell: The Fight for Freedom” that In a crucial moment, they responded first by seeking the facts of the matter, seeing through the lies and obfuscations, and then they acted on their beliefs. Together, to an extent not sufficiently appreciated, they kept the West's co

The King’s English Bookshop (TKE) has published a collection of Ann Cannon’s Salt Lake Tribune columns. It’s titled “I’ll Tell You What.” Ann Cannon joins us for the hour on Monday’s Access Utah.

In his new book “Back Cast: Fly Fishing and Other Such Matters” Jeff Metcalf writes: “These waters have been my home, and I fish them more than most. In truth, they have saved my life on more than a few occasions. I seek refuge in the quiet solitude of rivers, and in dark hours of my life—including this particular year—I need desperately to be fly-fishing." Metcalf’s play “A Slight Discomfort,” is a humorous take on his battle with prostate cancer. And a previous award-winning collection of essays, “Requiem for the Living,” resulted from a challenge Metcalf gave himself when presented with a dire prognosis with his cancer: writing one essay each week for a year. Metcalf volunteers with Reel Recovery, an organization that conducts retreats for men living with cancer. He says that it’s important for men to learn to talk about their cancers and their lives.

Luma Mufleh was raised in a wealthy family in Jordan, but left that life behind to come to school in America. After graduating from Smith College, she moved to Georgia to begin a life for herself. She did not have family support and was struggling on her own. One day she made a wrong turn and came across a group of refugee boys playing soccer. She says they were barefoot, playing with an old ball, and having the time of their lives. Mufleh continued to watch the boys play, and on her third visit, joined them. That was the beginning of her Fugees organization, which grew from a focus on soccer to include education and more. Luma Mufleh continues to help hundreds of refugee boys and girls through Fugees Family. www.fugeesfamily.org