Texas City Explosion & Climate Change: Thursday’s Show (April 2, 2015)

March 23 marked the 10-year anniversary of the fatal Texas City explosion. Fifteen workers died and about 180 others were injured amid a series of explosions at the BP oil refinery in Texas City. As described in coverage from the Texas Tribune and Houston Chronicle, warnings from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board about underlying and "significant cultural, human factors, and organizational causes" of that disaster have not entirely been internalized by the industry.

On this edition of Houston Matters, we discuss the investigative report, the lessons learned from the fatal explosion, and what procedures, if any, have changed since the incident ten years ago.

Then: two military experts recently went before a Texas House committee to convince lawmakers that climate change is not only real, but also that it's a threat to U.S. security. The hearing is one of a few discussions surrounding climate change and climate change legislation. We discuss ways in which climate change affects Texas, including its impact on the oil and gas industry, and whether attitudes about the phenomenon have changed.

Also: we've come a long way from that 1987 "This is your brain on drugs" PSA. How harmful drugs are and what they really do to us is becoming more widely known as the research around this topic increases. It's something that is up for discussion at this year's Brain Awareness Week at UTHealth.

And we hear from author Kazuo Ishiguro, author of bestsellers such as The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go. His new book, The Buried Giant, goes in a whole new director: medieval fantasy.