Virginia Prescott

Journalist for the Atlantic Robin Romm chronicles a sperm donor's discovery that his "contribution" is the subject of an online blog. 

LINKS

Romm's article All His Children

More evidence that some people are losing faith in American exceptionalism: Chinatowns everywhere are vacating as residents head back home in search of the "Chinese Dream".  Journalist Bonnie Tsui explains the circumstances surrounded the growth and decline of American Chinatowns.

LINKS

Bonnie's article "The End of Chinatown"

Here on Word of Mouth, we love brain science.  Brain-science in the courtroom.  Brain-science and aesthetics. Brain-science and poverty.  Image a brain and we'll hear your pitch with open ears.

Our 11 for '11 series continues with Raymond Tallis, author of Aping Mankind, on why our focus on brain-science may be overrated.  PLUS, the next segment of the WBEZ series "Out of the Shadows", and why American Chinatowns are becoming American ghost-towns.  And a brief look at the science of polling.

Where are all these fracking earthquakes coming from? The correlation between natural gas and shifting plates.  Also, Agent Twitter and Double-O-Social Media: predicting riots, epidemics and other social phenomena through aggregate online data. Plus, World of Adcraft: the growing gimmicks of big-budget video game advertisements.  And an interview with Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club and Choke.  His latest novel is Damned.

You've seen bumper stickers: shop local, eat local... now, a grassroots call to invest local.  And like any good movement, it utilizes a catchy word-combo. Joining us to talk about it is Amy Cortese, author of Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit it.

LINKS Amy's Blog about Locavesting NH Community Loan Fund site  

The latest attempt to predict the future: scientists use digital data from Twitter, traffic webcams, and bazillion other places to create a model that can foresee epidemics, social upheaval, and more. That' the theory anyway.  Much like the weather, you can't always count on the forecast.  Sharon Weinberger writes for Nature. She tell us more about the project.

LINKS

U.S. spy agencies use twitter and other online data as a digital fortune cookie. The first part in a WBEZ series on mental illness in youth.  Video games advertising gets gimmicked out. And investing locally: how to make a buck and help your neighbors, too.

The magnitude 5.8 earthquake that rattled the east coast back in August triggered speculation about whether the controversial gas drilling technique called fracking may have been responsible. Fracking involves drilling thousands of feet into the shale deep below the earth’s surface, then fracturing the earth by pumping millions of gallons of sand, water, and chemicals into the shale to release natural gas. So far, contamination of groundwater supplies has been the focus of those opposing big energy’s push to expand fracking.

Late last month, students at Wolcott High School in Connecticut were on lockdown. An announcement on the intercom warned of a threatening intruder. Doors were locked and police swooped in with dogs…drug-sniffing dogs as it turned out. But there was no gun-toting maniac roaming the halls. It was a “lockdown intervention drill”… a ruse to clear the halls for a school-wide drug search.

Novelist Chuck Palahniuk of Fight Club fame reads his short story Romance before speaking with WoM host Virginia Prescott about 12 step programs, Occupy Wall Street, and his latest novel Damned. BE WARNED - this is the unedited reading and interview - it includes explicit, uncensored, and potentially offensive adult material that may not be suitable for all listeners. But still, very enjoyable.   

The growing evidence for a connection between the controversial drilling technique called"fracking" and earthquakes. A shocking tactic used by a Connecticut high school to clear the hallways for a drug search. And a new documentary follows a group of friends on their journey from impulsive teenagers to soldiers in Afghanistan, and then back again.