IB Theory of Knowledge - an ongoing list of interesting finds

Source: New York Times Excerpt from  “A Family Consents to a Medical Gift, 62 Years Later.” New York Times. August 7, 2013. Henrietta Lacks was only 31 when she died of cervical cancer in 1951 in a Baltimore hospital. Not long before her death, doctors removed some of her tumor cells. They later discovered that the cells could thrive in a lab, a feat no human cells had achieved before. Soon the cells, called HeLa cells, were being shipped from Baltimore around the world. In the 62 years since, her cells have been the subject of more than 74,000 studies, many of which have yielded profound insights into cell biology, vaccines, in vitro fertilization and cancer. But Henrietta Lacks, who was poor, black and uneducated, never consented to her cells’ being studied. For 62 years, her family has been left out of the decision-making around [and financial benefits of] that research. Excerpt from "A New Chapter in the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." National Geograph...

A short audio clip that looks at the viability or reliability of forensic evidence in legal proceedings from a scientific perspective. Podcast

"When people are dying and you can only save some, how do you choose? Maybe you save the youngest. Or the sickest. Maybe you even just put all the names in a hat and pick at random. Would your answer change if a sick person was standing right in front of you? In this episode, we follow New York Times reporter Sheri Fink as she searches for the answer. In a warzone, a hurricane, a church basement, and an earthquake, the question remains the same. What happens, what should happen, when humans are forced to play god?" Note : not an easy podcast to listen to as it deals heavily with ethical decision making and reasoning in attempting to determine whose lives are "worth" saving. At times, the real-life elements are a bit haunting. Playing God

" The U.S. is a nation of immigrants. But historian Maria Cristina Garcia says many of us have lots of misconceptions about earlier waves of newcomers." A 22 minute podcast interview with Garcia illustrates the misconceptions associated with a historical  migratory  movement.  The Huddled Masses And The Myth Of America

National Public Radio (NPR) online has a section called "Hidden Brain - a conversation about life's unseen patterns." In this particular post, authors address the metaphor of the "broken window" and how it became one of the most influential theories on crime and policing in America - and also one of the most misunderstood and misused theories. It is accompanied by a podcast (30 mins) and the full transcript . "How A Theory Of Crime And Policing Was Born, And Went Terribly Wrong"

" In the hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a lawyer sat down in front of a computer and started writing a legal justification for taking action against those responsible. The language that he drafted and that President George W. Bush signed into law - called the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) -  has at its heart one single sentence, 60 words long. Over the last decade, those 60 words have become the legal foundation for the 'war on terror.'" 60 Words

" How close can words get you to the truth and feel and force of life? That's the question poking at our ribs this hour, as we wonder how it is that the right words can have the wrong meanings, and why sometimes the best translations lead us to an understanding that's way deeper than language. This episode, 8 stories that play out in the middle space between one reality and another — where poetry, insult comedy, 911 calls, and even our own bodies work to close the gap." Translation

How far should lawyers go to provide the best defense to the worst people? This podcast explores the murder trial of Robert Garrow and a significant moment in legal ethics as his attorneys refused to disclose the location of the bodies of two of Garrow's victims.  The Buried Bodies Case

The Guardian describes this podcast as follows: " comedian and etymology enthusiast Helen Zaltzman's... fortnightly series is all about words, from the 5,000-year history of the emoji to the smallest language in the world." The Allusionist

"In this short, writer Alex Bellos tells Robert how, from the very first time humans ever used numbers, we couldn’t help but give them human-like qualities. From favorite numbers to numbers that we’re suspicious of, from 501 jeans to Oxy 10, our feelings for these digits may all come down to some serious, subconscious inner-math….a deeply human arithmetic buried in our heart." (Radiolab) Radiolab - for the love of numbers