3.12.15: Gross Solutions To Serious Problems, Investigating Office Fridge Theft, & Uncommon Core

Across the world more than 750 million people lack access to safe drinking water, and at least two billion don’t have proper sanitation. On today’s show, we’ll look at a project aiming to solve both problems by turning waste into drinkable water. And why disgust may prevent it from becoming a reality.

Then, we investigate a problem facing many American workers: food theft. We’ll find out why some people feel it’s ok to steal treats from the office fridge. 

Listen to the full show and click Read more for individual segments.

Serious Problems, Gross Solutions

• Maria Konnikova writes about psychology and science for The New Yorker and discusses how disgust plays a large role in shaping policy in her article “Problems Too Disgusting to Solve.”

Maggots are our Friends

• Here’s something that just about every American will agree is disgusting: the maggot.   And yet, no matter how repulsive, maggots play an important part in the ecosystem. Producer Paula Kahumbu explains why we should think of maggots as our friends. 
• You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.

Uncommon Core: Bruce Springsteen's Theologies

• Each Thursday, we bring you our series the Uncommon Core – an exploration of unusual courses being taught in colleges and universities around the country. Like many of the classes we’ve covered so far, this episode takes something that may be familiar, and asks students to look at it from a critical perspective.    
• See more on this segment at this link.

The Sporkful Investigates Office Food Theft

• Dan Pashman is the host of WNYC’s podcast The Sporkful, and he’s here to talk about the politics and morality of office food theft.
• Ryan North, the creator of Dinosaur Comics has created this handy note to pass out to your co-workers if you discover your food has been taken. Click here to print.

Credit Ryan North / Qwantz.com

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Qwantz.com

Cattle Rustling in God's Country

• When Jeff Emerson started buying cattle in the early 1990's he was paying as much as $5,000 dollars a head when other farmers were only spending a few hundred dollars. That's because Emerson was buying a rare breed of Italian cattle called Piedmontese because, according to Emerson, the meat tastes better. That extra expense has cost him in recent years when some of Emerson's neighbors allegedly rustled, or stole, $100,000 worth of cattle off his farm, hurting his meat business for years to come. This story was produced by This Land Press.
• You can listen to this story again at PRX.org.

Demystifying Icicles

• There’s a surprising amount that we don’t know about icicles - here to explain what we do know about them is NHPR’s Sam Evans-Brown.
• See photos from the icicle walk at this link.