When Experts Attack!

John Symons, professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas, explores social, technological and existential concerns relating to artificial intelligence. A native of Cork, Ireland, Symons is an expert in Large Language Models, which he argues should be seen less as an existential threat and more as something to be excited about.

Anthropologist John Hoopes has made it his personal and professional mission to ferret out pseudo-science in the field of archaeology. Specializing in the Mayan culture spanning the conjunction of North, Central and South America, Hoopes distinguishes between actual archaeology and "the stuff that you find in the grocery checkout counter or the airport book rack."

Moviemakers have pigeonholed Black male teachers into stereotypical tropes for years. Education scholar Daniel Thomas III has researched popular films featuring Black male teachers and found many can boil down to a few main clichés, some of which date back centuries.

Politicians don't say "I'm sorry" for anything anymore. We explore why with Brett Bricker, a national-champion debater and debate coach who researches argumentation and political rhetoric.

Seen by some today as a bastion of women's rights, Kansas once locked up more than 5,000 women for contracting venereal disease, thanks to a law that seems to have been applied only to women. Guest Nikki Perry, author of "Policing Sex in the Sunflower State," explains how this happened.

Basketball coaches have a million tips on how to be a better shooter. Guest Dimitrije Cabarkapa says scientific evidence shows which are best. Keeping your elbow tucked in, bending your knees — data show these "coaching cues" are better than others.

There's been a drop in how much time people around the world spend in face-to-face interaction, but guest Jeffrey Hall says don't blame social media. It might be our jobs and commutes taking time from in-person get-togethers.

According to Valery Dzutsati, visiting assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas, the attempted conquest of Ukraine has exposed Vladimir Putin. But he says the Ukraine invasion may have been inevitable, even if Putin weren't in charge. Dzutsati is a native of European Russia and an expert in politics and conflict in Eurasia and Eastern Europe. He's also likely on Putin's...

It's been called The Great Resignation or, more poetically, The Big Quit. Since July 2021, more than 20 million Americans have left their jobs voluntarily. Researcher Clint Chadwick discusses the Great Resignation and whether the job market will be forever changed by this extraordinary event.

Do we act out of a sense of what's moral or do we act out of self-interest? Dale Dorsey, professor of philosophy at the University of Kansas, argues that prudence — essentially our own self-interest — is an important aspect of decision-making, one that needs to be taken more seriously.

Media tend to cover meditation and mindfulness as potential panaceas that can be good for everyone. But assuming mediation and mindfulness will help everyone's mental health is like supposing anyone can run a marathon with no training. The practices can have many benefits, but also side-effects for some.

Guest Alexander Platt says that in some cases transparency regarding who invests in which companies can stifle economic competition, help defeat corporate reform and ultimately hurt the consumer.

Rafael Acosta Morales, author and University of Kansas associate professor of Spanish language and literature, argues traditional American media stereotypes of cowboys, desperadoes and drug lords don't jibe with actual perceptions of people living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Increasingly, people are learning about historical events via video games. Guest Andrew Denning looks at just what versions of history are depicted in video games and considers how historians should react.

People might think it's inappropriate to discuss recent anti-Asian and anti-Asian American discrimination and violence in the classroom. In this episode, researcher Hyesun Cho explains why school is one of the best places to talk about the topic.

The next time you go for a job interview, you might want to ditch the Che Guevara shirt or the MAGA hat — because what you reveal about your political leanings could determine if you land the gig.

Teri Finneman, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas, recounts the problematic history of media covering women in U.S. politics, from Victoria Woodhull, a.k.a "Mrs. Satan," in 1872 to recent coverage of Kamala Harris' shoes.

Molecular biologist and coronavirus researcher Anthony Fehr discuss the rollout of the new vaccines and what's understood about COVID transmission at this point. He also says the coronavirus variant that's prevalent in the U.S. might be more easily spread, accounting for at least some of our higher rates of infection and death than has been seen in other countries.

We might think of it today as a wasteland of ice and penguins, but Antarctica once was covered in greenery. Paleobotanist Brian Atkinson explains how to look for ancient plant fossils in Antarctica — and how those fossils could forecast the fate of plants on our rapidly warming planet.

Could the social and economic pressures faced by essential workers during the current pandemic be similar to those faced by women in the porn industry? Akiko Takeyama, author and associate professor of women, gender and sexuality studies, says in both the pandemic and porn, economic and structural issues make it hard for workers to say no.

The pandemic has changed how we use libraries. So has the internet. So what? Libraries have been evolving for 4,000 years in how they store and create knowledge. And libraries aren't just the place where you find information — they lead the drive for creating and sharing knowledge with people all over the world.

Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas" and more recently "The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism," explains that populism — a term invented in Kansas — has been commandeered by political opportunists in the U.S. and Europe.

For Jane Barnette, Halloween is a thrilling time of year. In this episode, the associate professor of theatre talks about her research into the portrayal of witches on stage and screen, and she challenges widespread notions that gave rise to fictional witches such as the Wicked Witch of the West. In part, Barnette's perspective is based on her own practice of witchcraft.

It's not just the fear of violence or a belief in constitutional rights that provides Americans with reasons to own guns. Concerns about Armageddon and "supernatural evil" also enter into people's decision-making. Margaret Kelley's research is part of a larger book project about "normal people using normal guns," specifically focusing on the average woman gun owner in Middle America. 

When you're racing to a hospital emergency room, you're not thinking about all of the steps it took to make that ER available in a moment of need. But for the past two decades, Frank Zilm has been doing just that. He chats with "When Experts Attack!" correspondent Rick Hellman and dispels the notion that our health systems are prepared for surge events like the current pandemic. To the contrary, Z...