The Current for July 8, 2021
Today on The Current:
Two scientists were fired from Canada's only Level 4 virology lab in January, leading to speculation about espionage and national security. Now, two of their former colleagues are speaking out. We talk to the CBC's national reporter, Karen Pauls, who has been investigating the story; and security expert Christian Leuprecht, a professor at the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.
Plus, with more Canadians becoming fully vaccinated every day, hugs are making a comeback. We hear from some people about what it was like to get up close and personal again; explore the benefits of an embrace with Suzanne Degges-White, chair and professor of counselling and counsellor education at Northern Illinois University; and hear about work to create a futuristic hugging robot with Alexis Block, a PhD student at the haptic intelligence department at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany.
Then, University of Miami Prof. Louis Herns Marcelin joins us to discuss the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, as well as the political instability that preceded the killing and what might happen next.
And Harry Hibbs was a legendary Newfoundland musician who helped bring the island's traditional music to the rest of Canada, selling millions of albums in the process. More than 30 years after his death, we hear about plans to bring his accordion home to Bell Island, N.L.