Friday, December 04, 2015

The Michelangelo Signorile Show on SiriusXM PROGRESS ch.127

In the aftermath of domestic radical Christian terrorist attack on the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, it was revealed that one of the three people who lost their lives that day was police officer Garrett Swasey who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the terrorist a man named Robert Lewis Dear.  Officer Swasey's death was tragic and senseless, and his act of heroism, trying to protect the lives of those in the clinic should be commended by everyone, and one would expect this to be particularly true of the supporters of the law enforcement community who have rallied around the slogan “Blue Lives Matter.”  However, oddly enough, the movement, which claims to reflect the sacrifices police officers make on a daily basis has had very little to say in the wake of Officer Swasey's death.  Joining me today to talk all about the “Blue Lives Matter” movement and why they have remained largely silent on this particular police killing is Julia Craven, a staff reporter for The Huffington Post.  You can also follow Julia on twitter.

Following the success of the hit TV show Orange is the New Black which prominently features a transgender character and actress Laverne Cox as well as the news of Caitlyn Jenner’s transition, the discussion of gender and gender identity has come into the mainstream.  While many people opposed to the visibility of transgender people in society have focused on the physical differences in genitalia, many scientist and experts have suggested that gender and gender identity is not as simple as a matter of outward physical appearance.  Now a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team of scientist led by psychobiologist Daphna Joel of Tel Aviv University in Israel, which examined detailed brain scans of more than 1,400 men and women found that although there are sex/gender differences in physical brain structure, brains do not fall into two classes, one typical of males and the other typical of female, but rather each brain is a unique mosaic of features.  Professor Joel who is the head of the Psychobiology graduate program and the Chair of the PhD Committee at the School of Psychological Sciences and a member of the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel-Aviv University joins me today from Israel to talk all about the study and its findings.  You can also follow Daphna on twitter.


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