KQED's Forum

Oakland-based musical artist Esotérica Tropical performs a live in-studio concert, playing songs off her new self-titled debut album. Her music is a fusion of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba rhythms and electronic flourishes, all accompanied by her harp. The artist calls the songs on the album love letters to her native Puerto Rico, offering “a powerful ode to healing and resistance.” Guests: Esotérica Tr...

The fastest moving human-built object ever, the Parker Solar Probe, will enter the sun’s atmosphere on December 24th. It’s the closest any artificial object will have gotten to the sun. We’ll talk with astronomer Andrew Fraknoi about what the solar probe hopes to learn and other exciting developments in astronomy, such as the discovery of the hungriest black hole yet found – it consumes the mass o...

For New York Times cooking columnist Eric Kim, the holidays are a time to embrace traditional dishes but have fun with the framework – like deviled eggs with seaweed or baked potatoes with caramelized kimchi. They’re also an occasion, he says, to get together with friends and make huge batches of “foldy” foods like dumplings and empanadas. We’ll talk to Kim and New York Times editor-in-chief for c...

As the year ends, Forum looks back at some of our – and your – favorite books from 2024. What was the book you just couldn’t put down or that you’re still thinking about months later? Among this year’s top sellers were “James” by Percival Everett, a retelling of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” as well as “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire...

Half of Americans think California is in decline, and almost half of Republicans think it’s “not really America,” according to a poll this year from the Los Angeles Times. California has long been the place out of staters love to hate, and for decades it’s been a synonym for liberalism itself. But the bashing is getting even more political — led by a president-elect who blames the state’s progress...

On the site of what is poised to be a massive housing development in Hunters Point, the U.S. Navy conducted radiation experiments on troops, lab personnel, and civilians from 1946 to 1963. In a six-part investigative series, the San Francisco Public Press uncovered how researchers injected radiation into participants, had troops crawl through mud chemically engineered to resemble nuclear fallout,...

UC Davis is known as one of the best schools to study winemaking. And now it’s becoming a magnet for faculty and students drawn to the study of coffee. What started as a popular undergraduate class has turned into a full-fledged research center – the first of its kind in the U.S. We talk to the director of the UC Davis Coffee Center and its head roaster about the science of coffee, including how t...

For 45 years, the Bay Area’s vocal ensemble Kitka has entranced audiences with their complex harmonies, breathtaking vocal techniques and vast repertoire of traditional songs from Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The 10 members of Kitka join us in studio to share songs from their Wintersongs concerts, featuring music from the country of Georgia. Guests: Shira Cion, Executive Director, Kitka Women's Voc...

After president-elect Donald Trump announced his plans to nominate Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Senate confirmation seemed unlikely. Other than serving in the military, Hegseth lacked experience — and reporting emerged alleging sexual misconduct, financial mismanagement and alcohol abuse. But Trump is galvanizing his base to protect Hegseth’s nomination. We’ll talk about the li...

Why are humans so bad at predicting the future? What exactly is college for? And does expensive wine really taste better? Those are among the many questions tackled by journalist Stephen Dubner and economist Steven Levitt over the years, since their bestselling book Freakonomics came out in 2005. We’ll talk with Dubner about the duo’s book and podcast empire which aims to reveal “the hidden side o...

Learning to play piano, saxophone or cello can be intimidating at any age, but adult learners face special challenges such as the time and financial commitment and possibly a fear of not being good enough. We talk about the joy and satisfaction learning an instrument can bring. Whether you’re picking up your old violin or sitting down at the piano for the first time, tell us, what makes you want t...

This past year, the Bay Area’s local music scene continued to cultivate artists as eclectic as our region. KQED Art’s list of the best Bay Area albums from 2024 included La Doña, LaRussell, Sam Reider and the Human Hands, and Naked Roommate. Spotify’s list of the top U.S. songs for this year included “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey and “Good Luck, Babe!” by Chapp...

Some California residents could soon be eligible for an e-bike voucher worth up to $2000. State officials say the program will cut pollution and help meet climate goals, while promoting transportation equity for low income Californians. E-bike popularity has soared, with U.S. sales rising from around 250,000 per year to more than a million between 2018 and 2022. But an increase in e-bike accidents...

If buying presents is your kryptonite, the plethora of gift guides that have likely hit your inbox may be the answer. This season, it seems like every media outlet, store, or Substack newsletter has a gift guide curated for every kind of interest. We talk to experts about gifts for the people in your life: The foodie, the gardener, the kids, the colleagues and the weird uncle. And we hear from you...

Syrians continue to celebrate the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the dictator whose decades-long rule was marked by terror and violence against his own people. But the situation on the ground is fluid and complex. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, one of the key rebel groups controlling Damascus, has former ties to Al-Qaeda and is currently labeled a terrorist group by the United States government. Its leader, Moha...

The murder of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO exposed widespread public anger over insurance claim denials and the overall state of medical care in the U.S. And it’s not just social media venting: a recent Gallup survey reveals that “Americans’ positive rating of the quality of healthcare in the U.S. is now at its lowest point” since 2001. We’ll talk with New York Times investigative health care reporter S...

We look at Donald Trump’s plans to nominate former Hawaii congress member Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel as FBI chief. Nearly one hundred former national security officials have raised alarms about Gabbard’s sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, while Patel has said he wants to dismantle the FBI. We talk about the domestic and national...

Inflation has driven up the cost of living for most Americans making them feel squeezed every time they go shopping. And while many voters cited inflation and the economy and top concerns during the recent presidential election, economists note that Donald Trump’s plans are perhaps more likely to bring higher prices than lower ones. We talk with The Atlantic writer Annie Lowrey about how we are ex...

“Broken” is how the Legislative Analyst’s Office describes California’s unemployment insurance financing system in a new report. California is already $20 billion in debt to the federal government for unemployment claims paid during the pandemic, and losses continue to mount. But businesses and labor groups are at odds over whether companies should pay more in taxes to fix it. Meanwhile, the Emplo...

Remember that tsunami on Thursday…that didn’t happen? After a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck 45 miles southwest of Eureka, a tsunami warning went into effect along the Northern California and Southern Oregon coastline. But why did it take so long for us to find out we weren’t at risk? Why did some places, like Berkeley, order evacuations, and other cities were silent? We’ll look at the region’s e...

The past year, more than any other, “demonstrated how podcasts as a whole bleed into the real world and play a huge role in American culture, for better or worse,” Vulture podcast critic Nicholas Quah recently wrote. It used to be, if a presidential nominee wanted to make news, they would go on TV. In 2024, it was all about podcasts…shows like Joe Rogan and Call Her Daddy. The industry is still re...

Growing up in an Indian family, Sahaj Kaur Kohli felt pressured to meet her parents’ high expectations for a “good Sikh girl”. Despite being a top student in high school, she battled depression, struggled to keep up in college and dropped out. She eventually went on to become a therapist, mental health advice columnist for the Washington Post, and founder of Brown Girl Therapy, an online community...

Cars, lumber and avocados are just a few items that could see their prices increase if president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs take effect. Throughout Trump’s campaign, he promised to impose tariffs on “day one,” but his targets — China, Canada and Mexico — are California’s biggest trading partners. Forty percent of the state’s imports come from China and Mexico. We look at which industrie...

Avian flu has killed 1.5 million chickens and turkeys in California and 100 million birds nationwide since the outbreak began in 2022. And earlier this year, scientists discovered that the virus had jumped to mammals, specifically cattle, raising questions about the virus’ mutation. In California, the largest dairy producing state in the country, 475 dairies have reported incidences of avian flu i...

Californians are the most confrontational drivers in the country according to a recent survey from Forbes Advisor. Nearly half of California drivers surveyed said another driver cut them off on purpose, more than half say they’ve been tailgated and almost a third have been threatened or yelled at. Across the country, the number of people injured or killed in road rage incidents involving a gun has...