The Current for July 20, 2020
Today on The Current:
Three missions to Mars are launching this month, including the United Arab Emirates' first voyage. We discuss the mission with Sarah al-Amiri, UAE's Minister of State for Advanced Technology, and talk to author and scientist Sarah Stewart Johnson about what draws us to the Red Planet.
Plus, it may not sound so healthy, but researchers say a cousin of the tobacco plant is showing promise in the hunt for a COVID-19 cure, as well as other diseases. We talk to Bruce Clark — CEO of Medicago, a Quebec company developing a vaccine — and Julian Ma, director of the Institute for Infection and Immunity at St George's University of London.
Then, Professor Carol Anderson remembers the life and legacy of U.S. congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis, who died Friday aged 80. And we listen back to a 2017 interview with Lewis and our former host Anna Maria Tremonti, about the civil rights movement and his activism.