Think from KERA

The rise of athleisure wear is a signal: fitness has become a luxury industry. Cat Zhang, culture writer at the Cut, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the pandemic propelled Americans into “performing” fitness, why it’s become a symbol of the wealthy and privileged, and how we got so competitive in the first place. Her article is “We Are Thinking About Fitness All Wrong.” Learn about your ad cho...

Only 2-percent of Black women are physicians, which leaves millions without doctors that look like them. Uché Blackstock MD is the founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her family, her mother who was also a Harvard-trained doctor, as well as her sister, and how she’s devoted her career to understanding and addressing health inequities of different races. H...

Our genes don’t really determine how well we’ll age in later life — and that’s good news. Dr. Eric Topol is executive vice president and a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, the largest nonprofit biomedical institute in the United States. He’s also a practicing cardiologist, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the study of what he calls the “wellderly” – those people who age t...

Society expects a mother to be nurturing and attentive at all times. So what happens when mom just isn’t feeling particularly maternal? Margo Lowy, psychotherapist and contributor to Psychology Today, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the perfectly normal feelings of sometimes hating the work of motherhood, why it’s so hard to talk about it, and why more women need to open up about their unaddressed...

 Content creation has exploded this decade, but how much of it is actually good? Spencer Kornhaber, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the massive output of music, TV, movies, podcasts – even memes – constantly chips away at our attention spans. We’ll also talk about how derivative this content often is, how streaming might’ve killed creativity, and why innovation i...

College students sometimes get in trouble for using A.I. to complete assignments, but is there a way to use it as a teaching tool? Clay Shirky, vice provost for A.I. and technology in education at New York University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how professors are using A.I. in the classroom and whether or not the technology gets in the way of critical thinking. His article “ Is AI Enhancing E...

Mentally ill inmates are at risk of neglect, dehydration – even starvation. New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the four-fold increase since the 1980s of people in jail awaiting trial, the increasingly outsized population of mentally unwell people lacking proper treatment, and the alarming rise in jail deaths that could’ve been prevented with better supervision....

The dad who coaches the team and brings home the bacon is a modern invention. Augustine Sedgewick joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how fatherhood has evolved over millennia, how the patriarchy and fatherhood diverge, and how thinkers as far back as Aristotle thought about the role of dads. His book is “Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choice...

Space is the final frontier — and not too long ago, to explore it you had to be a man. Cady Coleman is a former NASA astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, scientist, pilot and musician. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how hearing Sally Ride speak changed the trajectory of her life and what months on the International Space Station taught her about her career and motherhood. Her book is “S...

Every relationship has a person who loads the dishwasher like an architect, and one who throws plates in like a tornado. Ellen Cushing, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why arguments over daily chores might signal deeper issues in a partnership, why some household appliances have such a hold on us, and, yes, we’ll get to scientific proof of how that dishwasher is real...

We hear a lot about the male “epidemic of loneliness” these days—maybe it’s from behaviors learned in childhood. Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice and senior fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how we parent girls and boys differently, asking boys to hide their emotions while allowing girls to express theirs and how even in infanc...

Finding happiness is no longer an abstract pursuit—there’s serious science behind it, but it’s research that hasn’t always been held in the highest esteem. Susan Dominus, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how studying happiness became a respected field of study, what psychologists are learning about different types of happiness, and what data says about...

Why are we following the lead of tech billionaires when it comes to guiding public policy? Science journalist Adam Becker joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the ways Silicon Valley scions might have A.I. all wrong, the obsession with space colonies and why we aren’t asking more critical questions for their version of the future. His book is, “ More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and...

 We think we’ll win the lotto even though the odds are low— and that sums up just how wrong we are when we think about risk. Allie Volpe is a senior reporter at Vox. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the many ways we get risk management wrong, why data shows it is hindering younger generations from taking chances and ways we can manage anxiety over the things we can’t control. Her article is, “...

Last Thursday, the first American Pope was introduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV. Christopher White, Vatican correspondent at the National Catholic Reporter and author of the upcoming book “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy,” joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, what his mission for the church might be going forward, and the signif...

We want our airline pilots to fly only when they’re healthy, which can lead to masking symptoms of mental illness. Helen Ouyang is an emergency physician and associate professor at Columbia University. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss rules around pilot health — which can discourage them to seek necessary treatment for fear of being deemed unfit to fly — and why there are both pros and cons to...

A.D.H.D is a fairly common diagnosis, but some researchers are wondering if we should start taking a more nuanced approach to treatment. Paul Tough is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why A.D.H.D. might be experienced by anyone at a given time and might not be a permanent diagnosis, and why doctors are rethinking standard stimulant me...

Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, James Baldwin —1963 brought great minds together to work on the common goal of Civil Rights. Peniel Joseph is Barbara Jordan Chair in Political Values and Ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and professor of history and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how...

Humans have an extraordinarily high genetic mutation rate — which just means we’ll never be perfect. Laurence D. Hurst is professor of evolutionary genetics in the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why imperfection is baked into our genetic code, why other species can get rid of “junk” DNA better, and what this means for human evolution....

 We’ve all had moments of blind rage, but the science says we can be wide-eyed and alert even in our most emotional moments. Ethan Kross is a professor in the University of Michigan’s psychology department and its Ross School of Business and he is the director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the newest research into controlling our emotions so they do...

The high cost of living combined with a modest bank account has young people asking if they should save or splurge? And many of them are choosing to splurge. Journalist Claire Lampen joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why Gen Z is taking on second jobs and side hustles to pay for meals out, elaborate vacations and other treats that might more prudently be skipped. Her article in The Cut is “Is Everyb...

It was first thought schools would close for only a few weeks during Covid, but that stretched into a year. Was it too long? Journalist David Zweig joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what we can learn from school closures during the pandemic and to look at the reality that decisions were based on scientific guesswork. His book is “An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of B...

The early 2000s preached “girl power” to the masses — but that often looked like sex and plastic surgery. Sophie Gilbert, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what coming of age in the early aughts meant for young women in an atmosphere of highly sexualized body image, how porn manifested itself into pop culture, and what society had to say about powerful women. Her book i...

 Grandparents raising their grandchildren have taken on a “second shift” of parenting — and it’s exhausting them. Faith Hill, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how lack of childcare is reshaping what used to be the golden years of grandparenting, how it’s changing what retirement looks like, and why saying “no” to family is so difficult. Her article is “Grandparents Are...

 Ed Helms is known as a comedian, actor and writer—and also as an investigator of history’s biggest gaffes. The host of the podcast SNAFU joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the cats that were trained for the CIA, a plan to nuke the moon, and other bad ideas that never saw fruition (thankfully). His book is called “SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups.”   Learn about your ad c...