NASCAR drivers can reach speeds of 200 plus miles per hour. Remarkably, when wrecks occur, drivers overwhelmingly survive the accidents, but they don’t always walk away unscathed. On today’s show: concussions in NASCAR, and the challenges drivers face after the smoke clears. We'll also talk to a futurist about ectogenesis, or artificial wombs. Often referenced in science fiction, the idea of children being grown outside of a mother's body is inching closer to reality. Plus, earlier this year, the New York Daily News reported that the U.S. is in grave danger of a clown shortage. We head to a clown convention to find out why membership is down, but why clowns are unlikely to completely disappear.
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NASCAR Concussions
- Viv Bernstein ?is a freelance journalist and contributor to The New York Times where she covers sports and NASCAR in particular. She talked about her recent article, "Crashing Without a Cushion: NASCAR Drivers Have Little Help With Concussions."
A Historic Look At Somnambulism or Sleepwalking
- Producer Eric Mennell brings us the story of a 19th Century sleepwalker whose case inspired early psychiatrists to search for a cure.
- From: Backstory With the American History Guys
The Artificial Womb
- Science fiction has long imagined babies gestating – from conception to delivery – in a lab, and artificial wombs may soon become a reality. Zoltan Istvan is a futurist, philosopher, journalist and author. He wrote about the science and the ethics of artificial wombs – or ectogenesis, as the technology is formally called - for Motherboard.
- His most recent book is "The Transhumanist Wager."
The Future of Clowns
- Is there any truth to the impending clown shortage? Leigh Cowart traveled to a clown convention to find out for herself. Her article “Don’t Be Afraid Of The Clowns” appeared in Buzzfeed.
- Leigh also spoke with us about the passing of Robin Williams.
The Day The Clowns Cried
- Maureen Krekian shares a heartbreaking story via StoryCorps about the day she survived a tragic fire under the big top in Hartford, Connecticut.