4 Randy Schekman - This 2013 Nobel Laureate Says College Is Way Too Expensive

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2013

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week we talk to Randy Schekman, the University of California-Berkeley cell biologist who was just awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on how cells regulate the protein “traffic” that is at the core of their communication with other cells.In the interview with co-host Indre Viskontas, Schekman not only explains his scientific breakthroughs—he also tells us why he wants to take a stand about the steeply rising cost of public higher education, which is driving huge student debt loads and rendering college simply too expensive for some. Affordable higher education, says Schekman, is “really in peril all over the country."In addition to being a Nobel laureate, Schekman is also a winner of the coveted Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and the former editor-in-chief of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.This episode also features a (spoiler free) discussion of the science behind the hit sci-fi movie Gravity, and the controversy this year over the Nobel Prize in physics.Subscribe:itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-mindsSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Friday, October 11, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.
0:05.8	Each week we bring you a new in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.
0:12.0	We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.
0:17.1	And you can find us online at climatedust.org, and you can follow us on Twitter at Inquiring
0:22.8	show. And we're also on Facebook at slash Inquiring Minds podcast.
0:32.7	Today we have a really special guest, especially this week.
0:36.7	Randy Shackman has won the Nobel
0:38.5	Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on vesicular trafficking, so how cells get
0:45.1	proteins out of themselves. And he's done this research for many, many years. Almost his entire
0:52.3	career has been spent at public universities,
0:55.0	which will be relevant when we get to the interview. He's a really nice guy. It was a great
0:59.6	interview and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.
1:02.0	Awesome. Well, let's hear a little clip from that to get people interested, get people ready for it.
1:07.0	I came from a middle class family. There was no prospect.
1:14.3	Five kids, no prospect of any of us going to a private university.
1:18.1	It never occurred to me to think about a place like Stanford or Caltech.
1:19.2	But there was UCLA.
1:20.2	It was a great school.
1:33.5	It offered everything that I could possibly want at $40 in fees a term, $400 a term for room and board, and I could work a summer job and pay myself for the whole school year.
1:37.9	Indeed, my father never had to pay virtually anything to educate his kids.
1:41.6	And that simply isn't possible now, and it's just tragic.
2:00.6	So, Indre, listening to that clip, it really raises for me the question of whether a kid from a poor family today who had, let's say, super scientific talent on the level of Randy Shackman, could that kid get to the same place today?
	...

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