President Trump, The Origins of Life, Tragedy in Syria

Coming up on today’s show:

• On Wednesday, Donald Trump laid out a plan for economic and national security. What do members of the U.S. military think of Trump’s plan? Mike Breen, CEO of Truman National Security Project and a former Army officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, answers.

• The Cleveland Police Department has long had an issue with use of force. Is it ready to welcome thousands for the GOP convention this summer? Simone Weichselbaum, a staff writer at The Marshall Project, weighs in.

• The main facility for pediatric care in Aleppo was bombed on Thursday. Dozens of people were killed, including at least two doctors. Elise Baker, coordinator of the Syria Mapping project at Physicians for Human Rights, says this is at least the 360th attack on a medical facility they have documented since 2011. 

• In order to save energy, the Venezuelan government has imposed a two-day work week for public sector employees. The new policy is a consequence of an energy crisis caused by an extreme drought. Hannah Dreier, Venezuela correspondent for The Associated Press, has the details.

• There are thousands of dams across the world, and new ones are being built everyday. But with warming temperatures and climate change, are these expensive and prestigious projects still viable? John Matthews, secretariat coordinator for the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, answers.

• It’s estimated that the human genome has at least 20,000 to 25,000 genes, but where does a living organism actually begin? Dr. J. Craig Venter and his scientific team have spent years trying to answer that question. The results of their new study aims to shed new light on the basic biology of life.