Patt Morrison schedule for Wednesday, July 18, 2012

1:06 – 1:39  – OPEN

 

 

 

1:41:30 – 1:58:30

The mystery and mythology of picking names for new pharmaceuticals
Viagra, Rogaine, Cialis and Propecia are some of the marquee brand names for big pharma’s never ending array of drugs, but the list goes on and on. There is Evista, Essure, Velcade, Alora, Levitra, Zubrin, Meridia, Xigris, Strattera and Humira. And let’s not forget RePro, Velcade, Humalog, Vree, ZipWik and GemZar. It’s a dizzying cavalcade of blandly inoffensive names for drugs that may or may not mean anything, yet sound subtly suggestive of what they might actually do. Picking a name for a new drug is a complicated proposition, and pharmaceutical companies spend around $3 million to come up with a name like Viagra and get it approved. Given that regulators reject as many as 50 percent of the names that are proposed - and it isn’t uncommon for a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to back up a new product - a lot of time and research goes into conjuring up these monikers. How much does a name for a drug matter? What makes naming pharmaceutical products different from naming other goods and services?

Guests:

UNCONFIRMED

David Placek, founder and C.E.O. of Lexicon Branding, the firm responsible for naming the Pentium processor and Apple’s Powerbook.

 

 

2:06 – 2:19 – OPEN

 

 

 

2:21:30 – 2:39

How does the gender disparity among Wikipedia editors influence what you read?

What’s more culturally important, Kate Middleton’s wedding gown or the most obscure of Linux distributions? For Wikipedia editors, Linux distribution wins hands down, with over 100 articles. As for the wedding dress, someone flagged it for deletion—on the day of the royal wedding itself. The entry was ultimately saved by a group of editors worried about the Wiki-community’s persistent gender gap, including Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. While plenty of female editors also scoffed at the entry, and representatives of both genders rolled their eyes over the notion that an entry on a dress could correct Wikipedia’s hormonal imbalance (only 9% of the site’s editors are female), the incident raised questions about how much influence Wikipedia’s gender gap actually has on its content. Are Wiki-editors with itchy keyboard fingers getting rid of pertinent content that someone of a different chromosome set would find more relevant than (for the sake of argument) Linux distributions?

 

 

 

2:41:30 – 2:58:30

Why do we love to swim?

Did you know swimming is the third most popular sport in the U.S.? Or did you every stop to think about how it’s the only sport humans play in a different element?  Join Patt as she talks with author Lynn Sherr about the history of swimming, from Julius Caesar to Michael Phelps; the science of spandex and the evolution of swim suits. Find out how the fluid activity uses every large muscle group and helps build lean muscle mass. And why, because skin is our largest organ, swimming is arguably the most sensuous sport. What do you love about swimming? Call in and share.

 

Guests:

Lynn Sherr, former ABC correspondent and author of “SWIM: Why We Love the Water”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Producer - Patt Morrison
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