Trust In Science And Making Square Dancing More Inclusive On This West Virginia Morning

On this West Virginia Morning, calling a square dance is a skill that’s been handed down for generations, but some of the language used can be a little old-fashioned. A growing number of callers are updating that language to be more inclusive. Folkways Reporter Lydia Warren has the story.

Also, in this show, in a new episode of Us & Them, host Trey Kay looks at our erosion in trust in science. There was a time when scientific advances were heralded – they saved lives, they told us more about our world. The Pew Research Center shows that Americans’ trust in scientists declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, some say scientists are not always worthy of our trust.

At a recent event at Marshall University, Kay’s guests talked about our plethora of information and its impact on our level of trust. In this excerpt, we hear in this order, from Dr. Adam Franks and Prof. Habiba Chirchir from Marshall, and Prof. Jonathon Zimmerman from the University of Pennsylvania.

To hear the rest of the episode, tune in on Thanksgiving at 8 p.m. on West Virginia Public Broadcasting. There will be an encore broadcast on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 3 p.m.

Us & Them is supported by the West Virginia Humanities Council, the CRC Foundation and the Daywood Foundation.

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from Shepherd University.

Liz McCormick produced this episode.

Listen to West Virginia Morning weekdays at 7:43 a.m. on WVPB Radio or subscribe to the podcast and never miss an episode. #WVMorning