In January of 1742, while sailing around waters south of Florida in search of Spanish vessels to "sink, burn or destroy" the British Royal Navy’s HMS Tyger ran aground at Garden Key in what’s now Dry Tortugas National Park. What unfolded after the Tyger ran aground at Garden Key is a fascinating narrative that is compiled in a new paper published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology titled “Hunting HMS Tyger, 1742: Identifying a Ship-of-the-Line in Dry Tortugas National Park” co-authored by Andrew Van Slyke & Joshua Marano. To get a sense of the Tyger and its crew's story, and the archeological efforts that go into this kind of identification, we talk with the team lead for the HMS Tyger identification effort.

The Lastinger Center for Learning at University of Florida uses data-driven approaches to create programs and systems that can help teachers across Florida be more effective in their jobs. It’s basically an education innovation incubator whose work primarily focuses on impacting achievement across three educational milestones: kindergarten readiness, third grade reading, and algebra. We talk to its director, Dr. Phillip Poekert.

New legislation passed during the 2024 session modifies the rules by which the state commission, and local ethics boards, can operate. Critics say these changes will gut the effectiveness of the state commission and local boards. Supporters say the changes will prevent the state and local ethics boards from having to spend their time investigating politically motivated accusations. We dig into the details on Senate Bill 7014, which has yet to be signed by the governor, with two people who have spent their lives focusing on politics in Florida and its ethics system.

According to data released more than two years ago, the American Medical Association is warning that about 1 in 5 U.S. physicians are leaving, or scaling back patient care. Our guest is one of those 1 in 5 doctors the AMA warned would quit practicing. Dr. Maryann Wilbur is now a non-practicing surgeon. She’s a GYN Oncologist — that means she’s a surgeon who focuses on cancers of the female reproductive tract. She is now Director & CEO of a new startup called Health Equity Consulting; and co-author of a book called “The Doctor is No Longer In: Conversations with U.S. physicians” which will compile data collected from interviews with physicians who have recently left practice.

When we do something — when we think we’ve made a decision about how to act or behave — are we always consciously aware of why we made that particular decision? That is just one part of the field of research our guest today has spent the past three decades investigating. Dr. Sandra Schneider is a Professor in Cognition, Neuroscience, and Social Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. And she founded the USF Judgment and Decision Making Lab in the early 90s.

Florida lawmakers ended the 2024 state legislative session, March 8, with a $117.5 billion dollar budget. We explore what passed, what didn’t and what it all means for Florida going forward in a conversation with UCF Political Scientist Aubrey Jewett, Ph.D., and Sun Sentinel Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." The idea that individuals — or the press — have the right to express opinions and ideas without government censorship or interference, while not entirely unprecedented is far from the norm throughout human history. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution remains the gold standard globally when it comes to protecting speech. But, our guest says history shows that protecting freedom of expression cannot be guaranteed without strong support from those who it protects — and that includes strongly supporting the right to expression for those who we strongly disagree with.

The United States was founded with three branches of government which were designed to act as checks on each others’ authority, and the role of the head of the Executive Branch — the President — was intended to be that of a head of state who would be a unifying force that stayed above the partisan fray. But the role of the president has changed greatly since George Washington left office, and has evolved to become more of a party head who makes bold promises in order to gain and maintain support for their policy agenda. Our guest says this evolution has not strengthened the United States and in many ways has led to the deeply partisan divide we’re living through right now.

Model UNs are academically rigorous simulations that teach students diplomacy, international relations, and how the United Nations works. At Model UN conferences student delegates study a United Nations member country, research topics of global interest, and work to get resolutions passed on that country’s behalf. Our guest today is a past-participant who is now in her first year of medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Daniela Barata Herrera was born in Cuba, and lived in Chile as a young child before her family came to the United States. She first discovered Model UN at Cape Coral High School where she graduated in 2017. She’s in town to give the Keynote address at this year’s competition so we brought her into the studio to talk.

We get a peek into a local family-owned business that’s now in its third generation. Sunshine Ace Hardware was founded in Naples by Don Wynn in the late 1950s. His grandson, Michael Wynn has been the company's President since 2005. He's also co-founder of the Resnick-Wynn Family Business Conference, which takes place on Thursday, Feb. 29 at Florida Gulf Coast University from 9am to 2pm. It will focus on how family businesses can successfully navigate the challenges they face in our modern economy, and transition from generation to generation if that’s their goal.