News

An estimated 700,000 adults in the U.S. have received a controversial treatment known as reparative, or conversion therapy, under the belief that homosexuality is caused by nurture, not nature, and can be "cured." Erin Moriarty talks with young men and women who had undergone the treatment (voluntarily or at the behest of their families) in order to adhere to their church's teachings; with Alan Chambers, who was the charismatic director of Exodus International, which promised to convert those with "same-sex attraction"; Nashville pastor Stan Mitchell, who has rejected conversion therapy; and Jeff Johnston of Focus on the Family, which continues to promote the practice for parishioners who do not want to be gay.

Since civics was dropped from school curriculums, awareness of our constitutional government (and our participation in it) has gone downhill. (Only about 25% of Americans can name the three branches of government, and 10% think that Judge Judy is on the Supreme Court,) Mo Rocca talks with Supreme Court Associate Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch about promoting civics education. Rocca also talks with Eric Liu, who created Citizen University to help cultivate the values of good citizenship; and with Chicago social studies teacher Mary Ellen Daneels, who uses what passes for politics these days as object lessons in how NOT to be a good citizen.

The latest iteration of the horror film "Halloween," a sequel to the 1978 John Carpenter classic, scared up a staggering $77.5 million when it opened last week. Lee Cowan talks with actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who returned to once again face off against the masked Michael Myers, and who admits she doesn't like scary movies! He also talks with Vulture film critic Jordan Crucchiola about the popularity of horror films; sociologist Margee Kerr, who studies what happens to our brains when we experience fear in the theatre; and with Jason Blum, whose Blumhouse Productions was behind such horror hits last year's Oscar-winning "Get Out."

Henry Worsley's lifetime fascination with Antarctic explorers such as Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott led him to retrace their expeditions in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. In 2015 Worsley set off yet again to emulate his hero, Shackleton, by embarking on the first solo crossing of the continent. Anthony Mason talks with David Gran, author of the new book "The White Darkness," and with Worsley's wife, Joanna, about her husband's fateful trip.