Think from KERA

The legacy of the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn reverberates in politics today. Kai Bird is a Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer and journalist and executive director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the life of the man who first prosecuted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage – which catapulted his career into th...

Twenty-five years after the world-altering terrorism of 9/11, is al-Qaeda still a threat? Graeme Wood is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss whether the terrorist organization al-Qaeda has been lying low or regenerating power in the background, why analysts are split on the answer, and how disparate jihadist groups have been essentially allowed to “franchise” the...

Paris used to be a cool 70 degrees in summer. Now it’s often 95 and climbing —with no A/C to help. Eric Klinenberg is Helen Gould Shepard Professor in the Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how Europe is warming at twice the rate of other continents due to global warming, what this means for people suffering...

Days or even hours before death, some dementia patients become lucid again – and scientists want to know why. Journalist Billy Brennan joins host Krys Boyd to discuss “paradoxical lucidity,” where dementia patients seem to “wake up” and interact right before they decline again, what this “rally” means about our consciousness and brain activity before death, and why this happens more often than sci...

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Federal government enacted laws that aimed at both protecting Americans and keeping tabs on what we do. Now that 25 years have passed, is it time for us to revisit some of them? Abigail R. Hall is an Independent Institute Senior Fellow and professor of economics at the University of Tampa. She joins host Krys Boyd to make the case that some of these laws have outliv...

Much of America’s racial wealth gap can be traced to economic policies dating back decades and even centuries. Mehrsa Baradaran is professor of law at the University of California, Irvine. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history of the wealth gap, why she believes politics keeps that gap alive for Black Americans and solutions that could alleviate the disparity. Her book is “ The Racial We...

Same-sex coupledom is surprisingly frequent in the animal kingdom – scientists have found 1500 species and counting that pair up in this way. Perrin Roosevelt Ireland is an artist and environmentalist who serves on the board of the Roosevelt Institute, was an inaugural artist in residence at the New York Aquarium and is a Banff Graphic Novel Resident. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss interestin...

Have you ever stopped to consider just how much time you spend participating in government bureaucracy? Annie Lowrey is a staff writer at The Atlantic, and she joins us to talk about just how much the government makes us work for the services it provides and how those systems could become more efficient. Her book is “ The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time―and How to Fix It. ” Learn abou...

Masculinity is on display in our country in all sorts of interesting – and weird – ways. After his only son was lured into this world, Jon Ronson turned his keen observational powers on this far-reaching subculture. He joins host Krys Boyd to talk about what he found, which he writes about in “ The Castle: Adventures in a World of Unraveling Men. ” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-...

Tyler Austin Harper was on a tenure track at a college in Maine when he began to realize that the school’s DEI policies were actually burdening him as a Black man. “The inescapable conclusion I arrived at was that I had been hired to be visibly Black first and a scholar second, if at all,” he writes in an essay for The Atlantic headlined “Confessions of a Token Black Professor: Why I lost faith in...

Even after a global pandemic, researchers are fairly free to study and enhance deadly viruses in labs that have fairly low biosafety standards. Alina Chan is a molecular biologist, and she joins host Krys Boyd to talk about precautions that can be put in place that allow for important research to be conducted while protecting the public. Her recent New York Times essay is “How to Stop a Lab Leak f...

Dolly Parton created and image that was glittery and bubbly, blonde wigs and rhinestone dresses – which belies the powerful brand of feminism that attracts her adoring fans. The mark her death, we’re revisiting our 2020 conversation with Sarah Smarsh, who joined host Krys Boyd to explore the creative genius of the iconic singer and actress — a prolific songwriter of more than 3,000 songs — and a p...

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