KQED's Forum

Figure skater Ilia Malinin’s shocking 8th place finish at the Winter Olympics is reigniting conversation about “the yips” or “the twisties.” Whatever you call them, elite athletes can suddenly lose the ability to perform skills they’ve practiced countless times – finding themselves unable to throw a baseball, or putt, in a straight line. Or to land the quadruple axel they’ve practiced for years. W...

If you ask a parent, they are likely to deny they have a favorite child. But ask a kid, and they will tell you that is not true. And researchers agree. They found that roughly two-thirds of parents have a favorite child, and that golden child retained their status for decades. While being the favorite has some obvious upsides, being the apple of your parent’s eye has its pitfalls, and the negative...

Super Mario Bros. The Legend of Zelda. Pokémon. Animal Crossing. Video games from the Japanese company Nintendo have been surprising, delighting and challenging players since the 1980s. The Guardian’s video games editor Keza MacDonald has been playing Nintendo games for three decades and has recently introduced her own children to their colorful worlds. And in her new book “Super Nintendo,” MacDon...

Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary, “The Perfect Neighbor” was a massive hit on Netflix last year. Told mostly through police body camera and security footage, the film gripped viewers with an immersive look at the events leading up to the murder of a mother of four children in Florida. Gandbhir is nominated for two Academy Awards this year for “The Perfect Neighbor” and a short documentary, “The Devil...

California senator Adam Schiff says that President Donald Trump will try to “subvert” the midterm elections this year by attempting to overturn any result that disadvantages Congressional Republicans. The President has recently called for nationalizing elections, made multiple unproven claims about voter fraud and pushed the FBI to seize ballots from a Georgia district he lost in 2020. Meanwhile,...

Facing a $376 million deficit, BART announced that without more funding, it will consider drastic cuts including closing one-third of its 50 stations and raising fares by 30%. The agency is pinning its financial future on a proposed sales tax on the November ballot as it struggles to recover from a changed post-pandemic commuting pattern. What would the Bay Area be without BART? We talk to the age...

Breakthrough treatments for high blood pressure, HIV infection and obesity: they’re all available in part because of studies done on animals. And though the Animal Welfare Act has for many years regulated the treatment of lab animals, more than 95% of those used in research today are excluded from its protections. Larry Carbone is a veterinarian who’s spent decades caring for animals in research f...

In her new book, “Tiny Gardens Everywhere,” MIT environmental historian Kate Brown uses the global history of gardening to help us imagine cities that are resilient and self-sufficient. She unearths a rich history of the role small urban gardens have played in supplementing wages, keeping families fed and nurturing community and resilience in times of economic upheaval, war and environmental damag...

From The Washington Post to CBS, mass layoffs, shifts in editorial direction and even direct interference in coverage are raising questions about whether the press can still hold power accountable, from their own bosses to the current administration. As reporters leave and subscribers drop, we look at the challenges the fourth estate is facing and the ways the right wing is expanding its influence...

Elon Musk’s merger of SpaceX with his AI start-up xAI has created what the New York Times calls “the most valuable private company on earth,” allowing Musk to forge ahead with new plans to develop data centers in outer space and an IPO expected later this year. Musk’s companies hold billions in government contracts as his own net worth tops $800 billion, and his decisions affect not just his share...

Despite an explosion of dating apps and social media that seemingly make it easier to meet people, rates of marriage and couples living together have steadily decreased since 1990, according to the Pew Research Center. For singles looking for a relationship, dating is even harder than meeting potential partners. So, how do you go from the meet-cute to a lasting relationship? We’ll talk with coache...

Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare workers are on strike across California over stalled contract talks, staffing levels and pay. But Kaiser, the state’s largest private employer, says it’s offered its strongest wage proposal yet, with increases to come. As negotiations falter, we’ll talk about the issues at stake and the impacts on patients. Are you a K...

When the marquee lights of the Castro Theater dimmed two years ago, many worried that this grande dame of cinema would never be the same. Now after a $41 million renovation, the 104-year old SF icon is ready for its coming out party. The organ has been refurbished, the ceiling cleaned, and hidden gems, like a gold proscenium have been discovered. No longer just a movie house, the theater will host...

“After the US Constitution, the tax code is the single most important document affecting Americans’ lives. But because it is a deeply opaque, seven-thousand-page document, few Americans have any idea what the code says.” So writes legal scholar Ray D. Madoff, who argues the tax code is one of the main drivers of our nation’s historic wealth inequality — allowing the ultra-wealthy to avoid taxation...

In 1977, a fledgling magazine startup in San Francisco published a searing story about the Ford Pinto, a car model that executives put on the market knowing its design could cause deaths and serious injuries. That was one of many investigative scoops Mother Jones has published in its 50-year history that established its reputation for holding corporations and politicians accountable. Staying alive...

Since Donald Trump broke into the political scene in 2015, the United States has seen a surge in white supremacist hate groups. Investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the 2018 murder of a gay, Jewish college student by a neo-Nazi in Orange County to explore the rise of white, Christian nationalism there – digging into how Trump’s attacks on immigrants, pardons of the January 6th rioters and...

Amid a ballooning rental housing market across the Bay Area, Oakland rents are mostly staying flat. Today, the median San Francisco rent for a one-bedroom home is about 70% higher than in Oakland. While Oakland often trails the city’s rental market, the gap is now far larger than in recent history. We’ll discuss whether Oakland has cracked the code on making housing more affordable, or whether oth...

Prenuptial agreements are no longer just for the wealthy. They’re being pitched as smart financial planning for ordinary couples, and now more than 40% of married and engaged Millennials and Gen Z-ers say they’ve signed one. Younger generations are using prenups to negotiate everything from intellectual property rights, social media handles and who gets the sneaker collection. We’ll talk about wha...

The shortcomings and inequities of the American criminal justice system are painfully clear to those who have worked in it. Former public defender and legal activist Emily Galvin-Almanza will walk us through the many  points in our system where justice fails. We talk to her  about what reform should like and her new book, “The Price of Mercy: Unfair Trials, a Violent System, and a Public Defender’...

Chocolate is changing — and not just in flavor. As the planet warms, cacao is becoming harder to grow, reshaping how chocolate is made and who gets to make it. From commodity price volatility to farmers’ livelihoods to the price tag of your favorite bar, we’ll talk about what’s at stake for this decadent treat. We’ll speak with chocolate makers, sustainability experts and a cacao farmer about how...

One week ahead of his much-anticipated Super Bowl performance, Bad Bunny made history when he won the first Grammy for album of the year for a Spanish-language record. He used his acceptance remarks to admonish cruel immigration enforcement, uplift immigrants and shout out his native Puerto Rico. As scholars Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, point out in their new book, “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Bob Wachter was one of the nation’s trusted voices, helping us better understand the disease that upended our world and healthcare system. Now he’s focused on what he sees as the next great disruption in medicine: Generative AI. Though we need to address its flaws and limitations, Dr. Wachter says AI is essential to a healthcare system buckling under the weight of...

Against a backdrop of threats made by President Trump to attack Iran with “speed and violence,” talks between the two nations are set to resume this Friday. Since late December, Iran has been roiled by massive nationwide protests that have been met by a brutal response from the regime, resulting in the deaths of over 6,800 protestors with another 11,000 deaths under investigation  according to the...

As protests against federal immigration agents’ use of deadly force in Minneapolis spread nationwide, privacy experts are raising alarms. Immigration agencies are using facial-recognition and other tools to identify immigrants – and to track American citizens who observe or protest ICE operations. The surveillance technology allows agents to scan people’s faces and link them to government database...

Over the weekend, San Francisco’s public school teachers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike. The dispute is centered on pay, health benefits, and support for special education, all at a time when the district has been facing financial headwinds so dire that the state has contemplated stepping in to run the district. We get the latest on the labor negotiations and talk about what a potentia...