Think from KERA

Some cities across the U.S. enacted harm-reduction, drug-friendly policies to stop overdose deaths – but that approach hasn’t always benefitted the general population. Michael Powell, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Burlington, Vt., Seattle and other places where needle exchanges have made public spaces unwelcoming, what happens when leaders stand behind unpopular law...

To understand why people go “no contact” with their families, it helps to define what a modern family is. Rin Reczek is professor of sociology and co-director of the Center for Aging Families at The Ohio State University. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss two distinct family units she calls “compulsory kinship” and “democratized kinship,” how they have changed over the years, and what people can...

From A.I. to E.V.s to pharmaceuticals and energy, China is outpacing the U.S. for global dominance. New Yorker staff writer Evan Osnos joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why, when America has pulled research funding, China is funneling billions of dollars to remake its economy, why scientists are flocking to Chinese labs, and why this should serve as a warning to isolationist government policies. His...

Across the country, millions of children take on the job of primary caregiver to ailing family members. Dr. Helen Ouyang is a physician and associate professor at Columbia University and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the teens who take on changing bandages and managing medications for family members, the lack of support for this overlook...

We’ve all heard of “imposter syndrome” and something similar is going on in your brain in regard to your intelligence. Dr. Josh Turknett, M.D. is a board-certified neurologist and the founder of the Institute for Performance Neurology, where he works at the intersection of neuroscience, learning and human potential. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why we all have the ability to unlock abilities...

For every exonerated individual in the criminal justice system, there is another forgotten victim: the original victim’s family who now has no closure. Barbara Bradley Hagerty, contributing writer to The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss a case involving a man, Ben Spencer, who was wrongfully convicted of a crime and the family member of the murder victim, Jay Young, who now faces a future...

If you need to call the IRS to answer a tax question, you could wait hours on the line thanks to funding cuts. Stephanie Mencimer, staff reporter in Mother Jones’ Washington bureau, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why 7 million people are waiting to hear back from the IRS about correspondence and amended returns up from 3.8 million last year how deep cuts to the budget mean taxpayers are losing ou...

President Trump’s frequent tariff announcements have put global trade in a new, precarious position. Chad P. Bown is Reginald Jones Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and host of the Trade Talks podcast. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how tariffs push up prices, what lessons from history can teach us about this moment, and how countries should adapt to this rap...

We’ve all heard the advice to “do what we love” for our careers, but burnout and low wages make that advice seem like a cruel joke. Journalist Emi Nietfeld joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her disillusionment with her “millennial values” where hard work and dreaming big would pay off in the corporate world why Gen Z doesn’t have a sense of optimism for their futures, and what ambition looks like no...

President Trump thought defeating Iran would be a clean and easy operation. He now finds himself in a quagmire. David E. Sanger, White House and National Security Correspondent for The New York Times, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Trump’s options for ending the war, which include military escalation, economic crackdown or simply declaring victory and walking away. His article is “ Trump Seems Tr...

A language that was spoken thousands of years ago eventually morphed into nearly all of the languages spoken today in the West. Science writer Laura Spinney joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the proto-Indo-European language, how it connects languages as varied as English and Russian, and how researchers study ancient language with no written texts to guide them. Her book is “Proto: How One Ancient L...

For millions of Americans, health care benefits come from their jobs and now small businesses are finding they can no longer afford to offer them. Bob Herman, STAT’s business of health care reporter, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the end of subsidies to the Affordable Care Act means small businesses and those self-employed can no longer find an insurance option that fits their budget and how...

The San Andreas fault in California should produce a sizeable earthquake about every 150 years and it’s starting to worry some that it hasn’t. Rong-Gong Lin II joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what has scientists on edge about a massive fault line that hasn’t had an earthquake in more than a century. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A.I. and drones are changing warfare are the U.S. and its allies ready to meet the challenge? Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign-Affairs Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why billions invested in new tanks, planes and warships might be better spent on cheap drones, how autonomous weapons are changing battle strategies, and why military leaders need to learn t...

Colombia is known for its illicit drug trade and now cartels there are counterfeiting U.S. dollars. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who reports on transnational crime, national security and science. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how Colombian authorities are trying to track down criminal enterprises counterfeiting dollar bills, how this could ha...

Long before A.I., people have worried about technology taking away the ability to work with our hands. Joshua Habgood-Coote is a lecturer in the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science at the University of Leeds. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the centuries-old longing to get back to the “good old days” of craftsmanship, what this nostalgia means for our modern times, and why ma...

Wildfires are more dangerous than they’ve ever been — take if from a former firefighter. Jordan Thomas is a former Los Padres hotshot wildland firefighter and currently an anthropologist and chancellor’s fellow at the University of California. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why climate change doesn’t tell the whole story of why today’s fires rage out of control, our complicated relationship to...

Open caskets used to be fairly standard, but we’re losing the artists who make that possible. John Semley joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history, culture and economics of morticians, why their particular trade is quickly going out of fashion, and how losing this restorative mortuary science is changing the way we grieve. His article “ A Dying Art: The last of the morticians ” was published in...

There is a word that no woman wants to be called: ugly. Stephanie Fairyington is a journalist who writes on gender, sexuality, family and parenting. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her perception that she didn’t live up to modern standards of pretty – whether because of her looks or her queerness – the stigma the word “ugly” holds for women, and how she’s teaching her daughter to fight against...

On top of his responsibilities as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio is running Venezuela. Tyler Pager, White House correspondent for The New York Times, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how and why Rubio is making big economic and political decisions for the country, the role interim president Delcy Rodriguez plays in this arrangement, and how long the White House sees t...

For millions of caregivers, taking care of parents is a matter of love. But caregiving gets complicated when relationships are estranged. Katie Engelhart, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the children who must decide whether to care for aging parents who abused them, the pressures they feel from outsiders, and how to make peace with bitter memori...

Thomas Jefferson wrote passionately about individual freedoms, yet he enslaved hundreds. How did he square the two? Annette Gordon-Reed, Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Jefferson’s own words on race, what it meant to be “progressive” in pre-Revolutionary Southern America, and what his political aspirations meant for abolishing slavery altoge...

 We use our faces more than any other part of our body to communicate with others and that communication has evolved a lot over the centuries. Fay Bound-Alberti founded the Centre for Technology and the Body at King’s College London where she leads Interface, a project examining technologies of the face. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how facial understanding is tied to where and when people...

There is comfort in certainty, but there is resilience in embracing the uncertain. Simone Stolzoff joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why striving for certainty cuts off creative thinking, why building tolerance for uncertainty helps prepares us for life’s pitfalls, and why someone who claims to know it all might actually be dangerous. His book is “How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty.” Learn ab...

Consumers are mad as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore. Heather Timmons writes about consumer rights for The Guardian. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why American shoppers are fed up with higher prices, inflation, private equity and A.I. customer service (among other things) and just navigating daily life is costing us billions of dollars a year in time and fees. Learn about your...