Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Tracking Taxes, Mormons Go Digi, and Newspaper vs Newpaper
Where do our tax dollars end up? Can competition hurt the quality of journalism in a market? Are we over the hill by our mid-twenties?
By Madeleine Brand • • 51m ListenAs procrastinators hustle to make the midnight deadline for filing their taxes, we take a look at where our tax dollars actually end up. And can competition actually hurt the quality of journalism in a market? We’ll take a look at the launch of the Los Angeles Register. Plus, the Mormon Church is using the internet and social media to revamp their outreach efforts. Then, Lesli Jamison’s new book The Empathy Exams delves into our capacity as humans to feel for one another, and why that empathy may do more good for us than others. Finally, new research shows that our motor skills start to deteriorate at the ripe old age of 24. Are we over the hill by our mid-twenties?
Banner Image Credit: Mike Chaput
In this episode
5 storiesTax Day Fact Checking
As Americans scramble to fill-out their tax forms before midnight tonight, there’s a lot of mumbling and grumbling about where our tax dollars actually go. We break down the numbers and compare our tax system to that of other countries.
Read the story8 minCan Competition Hurt Journalism?
A new newspaper is coming to LA. Will a competitive marketplace help make journalism here stronger? Some research shows that competition can actually hurt journalism in a city.
Read the story8 minMormons Knocking on Digital Doors
Less than a year ago, the LDS Church had very strict rules prohibiting its missionaries from spending much time online. Mormon leaders believed that the temptations of the internet would distract the young men and women from God’s work. These days, things couldn’t be more different.
Read the story9 minLeslie Jamison's Empathy Exams
Where does empathy come from? What does it mean to try to fully understand another person’s pain? These and many more questions are posed in Leslie Jamison's new collection of essays. We talk to her about her new book, The Empathy Exams : Essays.
Read the story14 minOver The Hill at 24
Forget middle-age. New research shows that humans’ cognitive abilities start to slow down as early as age 24. Using a video game, researchers showed that memory, speed and other cognitive tasks start to decline long before we’re ready to admit it.
Read the story7 min
