SUMMARY: The best seven months of Tracy Grant’s life were the months she spent caring for her husband with terminal cancer. Suddenly, she says, there were no “bad days.” Petty work mishaps didn’t seem nearly as bad when all she could do was look forward to the little things, like spontaneous laughter or the night sky. Those final months made up the best gift he gave her, Grant says.
SUMMARY: In her new book “Girls & Sex,” Peggy Orenstein suggests that we re-think sexual intimacy, in both education and our everyday lives. While she acknowledges the importance of the national debate on campus sexual assault, Orenstein also urges us to broaden our definition of "sex" and talk candidly about what happens after consent -- arguing that if we don't guide our teenagers, pop culture will.
SUMMARY: With horror stories of extremist violence dominating headlines around the globe, it’s easy to get worked up over the threat, however improbable, of domestic terrorism. National security analyst and mom Juliette Kayyem says there’s no such thing as perfect safety, but there are steps you can take to ensure your family makes it through times of crisis -- and it starts with being prepared.
SUMMARY: Duke University biologist Sheila Patek has faced criticism from lawmakers over her research into mantis shrimp and trap-jaw ants, with some calling her government-funded studies a waste of taxpayer money. But according to Patek, not only do her findings have important practical applications, but scientific inquiry is most fruitful when knowledge is sought for its own sake, not to justify budgets.
SHEILA PATEK, Biologist, Duke University: I expressed the wonder of these discoveries, as well as their fundamental significance to physics, evolution, and the limits of current engineering capabilities.
A prominent lawyer from Nigeria who was in the audience that day approached me a few days later. Her first words to me were, “Your research disgusted me with such waste, studying trivial and useless problems.”
In that moment, she had voiced my most vulnerable thoughts: That the science to which I would dedicated much of my life was actually pointless.
But she added, “I realized something important, that science is about discovery, not just about solving human problems.”
She then spoke a phrase that has stuck with me over the years. She said, “I want what you have for my country.”
In her country, Nigeria, there was simply no infrastructure for this type of discovery-based research. In fact, many solutions to humans’ problems began in a scientist’s laboratory. Did you know that some of the most significant medical breakthroughs for the human brain began with research on sea slugs?
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However, engineering-related applications are not the primary reason we do this research.
The nature of discovery is that it is impossible to anticipate what you will find. That is discovery. Discovery-based research is most fruitful when new knowledge is sought for its own sake.
SUMMARY: Have you ever had a dish turn out wrong no matter how closely you stick to the recipe? According to legendary chef Jacques Pépin, recipes describe a process that can never be duplicated exactly; what you need to understand is the “idea” behind the recipe, and use it as a point of departure.
SUMMARY: After his last deployment to Afghanistan, decorated Marine veteran and writer Elliot Ackerman went to report on the civil war in Syria. What he found was friendship and a shared disillusion over the hopes of revolution. In this essay, Ackerman explores the deep wounds and strong bonds forged by war.
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): Now to a NewsHour essay.
Earlier in the week, we heard what it was like to live through the wave of terrorism in Turkey from Elliot Ackerman, a decorated Marine veteran in Iraq and Afghanistan, and author of the new novel “Green on Blue.”
Tonight, Ackerman examines the legacy of a revolution and the deep wounds, but often strong bonds forged by war.
SUMMARY: This month, many prospective college students are anticipating an admissions decision from their dream school. Keith Frome, author of “How’s My Kid Doing?” has worked with high school students across the country and believes he has found the key to encouraging them to consider college, peer pressure. Frome offers his unique take on the college application process.
JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour): Now a “NewsHour” Essay.
This month, many high school seniors have either just learned, or are anxiously waiting to hear, what colleges they might have gotten into.
Education advocate Keith Frome has worked with students across the country, and believes the key to getting more kids to apply to college is peer pressure.
KEITH FROME, Author, “How’s My Kid Doing?”: One summer weekend, I taught a small group of students from a low-income community how to write their personal statements for their college applications.
Each student would be the first in their family to apply to college, and their ability to tell their stories was going to be critical to their success.
During the three-day retreat, we used a variety of writing techniques to produce memorable, compelling and utterly authentic essays that I knew would stick in the minds of college admission officers.
Returning home, I felt quite satisfied, perhaps a little smugly so, with a job well done, and I proudly shared the compositions with my friends and family.
SUMMARY: Only 19 percent of American trust the government to do the right thing most of the time, according to a recent Pew Research poll, down from 77 percent in 1964. This lack of trust isn’t limited to the government -- Americans today distrust everything from churches to public schools. Journalist Jeff Greenfield offers an essay on how we became a nation of doubters.
SUMMARY: How can we relieve anti-Muslim discrimination? Haroon Moghul says that adding a Muslim character to a certain science fiction franchise (Star Wars) might go a long way in changing perceptions (Islamophobia) and offering a vision of a more united future.
