KQED's Forum

Artificial intelligence dominates the Bay Area tech landscape, and we will catch you up on the latest headlines. From chatbots that promise to be your friend to artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which is designed to go beyond task-oriented AI to comprehend and process information in a close-to human form. We’ll talk to a panel of tech reporters about what’s on the horizon and just how much...

The Trump White House is exploring ways to get Americans to have more children, including government funded menstrual cycle classes and a $5000 “baby bonus.” Reproductive health journalist Carter Sherman calls pronatalism “a key ideological plank in the bridge between tech bro rightwingers like [Elon] Musk and more traditional, religious conservatives.” We look at the rise of the U.S. pronatalist...

Oakland’s restaurant industry is a conundrum. It’s been celebrated as the best restaurant city in the country. But restaurateurs almost universally say they are struggling  to make ends meet. As part of  our series about how the  pandemic changed us, 5 years on, we spotlight Oakland to look at whether the long trudge to pandemic recovery for restaurants will ever end. We talk with restaurant owner...

You’ve probably noticed that common hobbies from sewing to skiing have gotten more expensive. It’s a dynamic that Atlantic staff writer Tyler Austin Harper calls “hobby inflation.” And it not only affects your pocketbook but also means fewer opportunities for personal fulfillment and community building. We talk to Harper about what we lose when we can no longer afford our hobbies. Learn more about...

Succulent tomatoes that burst in your mouth. Enough zucchini to feed an army. Corn, sunflowers, and more. The summer garden has much to offer, but Bay Area summer gardening is a bit different. Some of us stay socked in fog and marine layer for weeks at a time, while others are dealing with hotter temperatures. We talk about the summer garden, take your questions, and hear what’s thriving in your p...

President Trump may have taken a softer tone in his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney this week, but whether that will quell the anger and bring Canadians back to the U.S remains to be seen. California tourism experts cite Trump’s trade policies and nationalist rhetoric for a projected 9% drop in international travelers this summer, with the sharpest declines among Canadian and Mexi...

Five former directors of the National Weather Service released a joint letter on Friday warning about the impact of major cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that they say will result in less accurate weather reports and  storm warnings that could  put lives at risk. NOAA is just one scientific organization facing widespread cuts. From NASA to the National Institute of Heal...

When political advisor Chloe Dalton found an injured newborn hare near her home in the countryside, she decided to nurse it back to health. The two quickly formed a bond of quiet companionship. We talk to Dalton about what the hare taught her about trust, attention, preparing for loss and the ordinary magic of engaging closely with the natural world. Her new memoir is “Raising Hare.” What has a re...

Trump has never hid his disdain for California. In his first hundred days in office, the President has gone on offense against the state on a number of key issues, from immigration to education. Scott Schafer and Marisa Lagos from KQED’s politics team are spending the week in D.C. talking with California’s elected officials. We check in about how state Democratic leaders are planning to counter Tr...

Public media outlets say they will fight President Trump’s executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to end its financial support for NPR and PBS. Public media leaders and executives question the order’s legality and say a loss of federal funding endangers the broader network of public media programming. We look at the potential impact on stations in rural communities in Ca...

In his new book “Sex is a Spectrum: The Biological Limits of the Binary,” Princeton biological anthropologist Agustin Fuentes makes the case that among animals, including humans, sex variation and reproductive biology is far more complex and fluid than we think. We discuss why many of the assumptions about male and female differences are more cultural than biological, and what intersex earthworms...

Tariffs on many of China’s imports into the United States now stand at 145%; most U.S. imports into China face tariffs of 125%. While President Trump and senior U.S. officials insist a trade deal is within reach, China’s Commerce Ministry has stated that it will not engage in talks until U.S. tariffs are lifted. With Trump’s trade war threatening to derail the critical relationship, and China cast...

Last month, Oil Giant Valero announced it would “restructure, or cease operations” at its Benicia refinery by the end of April 2026, as California transitions away from fossil fuels. The news left city officials, workers and residents scrambling to figure out what to do next. Valero is the city’s largest employer and a significant taxpayer, but also a source of pollution.  We talk about the possib...

Laila Lalami’s new novel, “The Dream Hotel,” imagines a dystopian future where even our dreams are under surveillance. AI tools can scan our dreams to determine whether we’re likely to commit a crime, then we’re sent away to so-called “retention centers” to be monitored in the name of “safety.” Mina sat down with Lalami in April at Night of Ideas in San Francisco to talk about the timeliness and i...

For seasoned and beginner bakers alike, there are always new techniques to learn when it comes to baking that perfect chocolate chip cookie or pie crust. Cookbook author and recipe developer Jessica Battilana shares what common mistakes bakers make, her key tips and tricks for successful baking, and why baking is bringing much-needed joy for so many people right now. Guest: Jessica Battilana, co-a...

Why do California drivers often get to keep a valid license, even after they kill someone on the road? A new CalMatters investigation studied tens of thousands of DMV driver reports and found that nearly 40 percent of the drivers charged with vehicular manslaughter since 2019 are able to drive on the road today. Nearly 400 of those drivers have caused other collisions since their first fatal crash...

For the past several weeks a 45-foot tall wire sculpture of a nude woman has loomed over San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza. “R-Evolution,” which first appeared at Burning Man in 2015, has gotten a very mixed reception, sparking controversy in the city over who public art is for and who gets a say. We’ll talk about how public art gets selected, how it illuminates the different relationships people...

On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese forces captured South Vietnam’s capital of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War. With 50 years now passed, those who left Vietnam — and subsequent generations — are reflecting on how the war and the ensuing exodus have influenced their identities and heritage. Three writers from across the Vietnamese diaspora write about the war and its lasting impacts on refugees and...

Donald Trump has given Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency far-reaching authority to fire federal workers without cause and gain access to the confidential information of millions of Americans. The effect has been a wide-scale bulldozing of the federal government. In looking back on the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, we talk with reporters from Wired...

How have you been affected by Trump’s first 100 days in office? Whether you rushed to buy a car before the tariffs set in, changed your travel plans or cut out caffeine, we want to hear how the Trump administration has affected your daily life. Have your community, job or finances been impacted? Tell us how, as well as how you’re managing — and how you’re thinking about your approach to the next 3...

Autism spectrum disorder can be found in 2.2% of the population, but for women and girls, as well as many adults, autism is a diagnosis that is often missed. We look into who is underdiagnosed and why — and how our conceptions of autism and neurodivergence are changing. As Trump’s health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. portrays autism as a “tragedy,” we’ll talk about ways in which many people with...

Kathy Ryan was the longtime director of photography at the New York Times Magazine. For nearly four decades, Ryan shaped the way we witnessed history: January 6th, wars abroad and the impacts of COVID-19 and 9/11 We’ll talk with Ryan about storytelling through images. And we’ll discuss what makes a good photograph when we’re inundated by them, now that so many of us carry a camera in our pockets....

In an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” President Trump targeted the Smithsonian, demanding that “improper ideology” be removed from exhibits. Under the order,  exhibits that “divide” Americans will be defunded, including  portrayals of race and its history at the National Museum of  African American History and Culture. We talk to Clint Smith, Atlantic staff...

Funeral rites are underway for Pope Francis, who died this week at age 88 after leading the Roman Catholic Church for 12 years. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world are expected to attend the papal funeral in Vatican City on Saturday, including cardinals from around the world. Many of these cardinals will then begin the process of electing the next pope. Before the white smoke i...

Caregiving is the most universal of human acts. But also one of the most invisible. While caring for a child, parent or loved one can be meaningful, and life defining, it can also be exhausting and life breaking. Drawing on her groundbreaking research on baby’s brains, UC Berkeley psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik is leading a multidisciplinary project to better understand the social scie...