KERA's Think

Dean Spears is founding executive director of r.i.c.e., a nonprofit that works to promote children’s health, growth, and survival in rural India. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss a future with far fewer humans in just the next few decades.

Jordan Thomas is a former Los Padres hotshot wildland firefighter and currently an anthropologist and chancellor’s fellow at the University of California, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why climate change doesn’t tell the whole story.

Greg Eghigian, professor of history and bioethics at Pennsylvania State University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history of America’s fascination with UFOs — an obsession that spread globally — and what it all means for our civilization back here on Earth.

Rivka Galchen holds a medical degree in addition to being a staff writer for The New Yorker, and she joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss progress on developing alternative painkillers and why pain is so hard to manage in the first place.

Northeastern University history professor Gretchen Heefner discusses how modern warfare has shaped the way the Army Corps of Engineers approaches the challenges of extreme environments.

Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker discusses the agencies gutted by Musk’s attempts at cost cutting.

Journalist Amanda Chicago Lewis joins discusses why U.N. resolutions are easily ignored and if the institution has outlived its purpose.

Emily Kilcrease of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) discusses the need for an overhaul of global trade policy.

Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling joins host Krys Boyd to discuss a pushback against the scientific establishment, what our affinity for storytelling has to do with our long-held beliefs, and why the paranormal might need to be taken seriously in the future.

José Andrés joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the hope and nourishment food brings to those in desperate need, how he built his humanitarian mission, and the types of people he surrounds himself with to make the world a better place.

Ed Helms 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).

Roxane Gay joins host Krys Boyd to talk about editing a new collection that looks at hundreds of years of feminist writers and why the ideas around women’s rights are always evolving.

Sarah Hart is professor of geometry at Gresham College and professor emerita of mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why we so often look for coincidences in our lives — and why that’s a mathematically futile endeavor.

Shigehiro Oishi, Marshall Field IV Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his concept of “psychological richness,” where curiosity and spontaneity provide the stimulation we need, and how this outlook can carry us even through the hardest patches of our lives.

Grace Wade is a health reporter for New Scientist, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the new world of mucus research and how it’s both a chemical and physical barrier to disease.

Daniel Waldenstrom is professor of economics and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why understanding the metrics of measuring inequality is critical to understanding that not all people — or even countries — are being as hard hit as we might believe.

Rachel Slade joins host Krys Boyd to discuss challenges small businesses face when they want to source American-made products, how regulation gets in the way, and why labor unions might help bring jobs back.

Stacie E. Goddard is Betty Freyhof Johnson ’44 Professor of Political Science and associate provost at Wellesley College. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how, despite big talk and tariffs, Trump is hoping to shift America’s foreign policy towards alliances.

Adam Clark Estes, senior technology correspondent at Vox, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his experience wearing a multitude of health trackers.

Amanda Hess, critic at large for The New York Times, joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss the hazards of birthing and raising children in a digital world with both helpful and harmful information at our fingertips, and how parents can cut through the online chatter.

Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic and host of the BBC podcast series “The New Gurus” and “Helen Lewis Has Left the Chat”. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why the very idea of “genius” is a social construct, why the label excludes as much as it includes, and why it’s time to look at creativity in a new way.

Carly Anne York, associate professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss seemingly wacky scientific inquiries – into everything from worm blobs to elephant pee – and how they’ve yielded real breakthroughs that add to both knowledge and the economy.

Amy Littlefield, The Nation’s abortion access correspondent, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why late-term abortions are both rare and mischaracterized and what she witnessed when she visited an abortion clinic.

Vox senior correspondent Dylan Scott joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why Kennedy’s inquiry may be misdirected and how he’s discounting the fact that around 80 percent of autism causes are genetic.

Science journalist Rowan Jacobsen joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why researchers are focused on patients with multiple sclerosis and their responses to UV therapies.

New York Times Magazine staff writer Susan Dominus joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her exploration of high-achieving siblings, what their parents did right (and what you might be doing wrong), and how a little friendly competition might be a key motivator.

Elizabeth Englander is executive director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why children bully and what to do to intervene.

Tamar Mitts is a professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the difficult task of policing online hate.

Ellen Ruppel Shell, professor emeritus of science journalism at Boston University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss an animal that’s one of the most trafficked on Earth, a brief history of the significance of eels, and why they’re still somewhat mysterious.

Merijn van de Laar is a sleep scientist and psychologist, and he joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss approaching insomnia through an archaeological lens, asking how our ancestors got a good night’s rest and what they could teach us here in the modern world.

Cat Zhang, culture writer at the Cut, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the pandemic propelled Americans into “performing” fitness.

Uché Blackstock MD, founder of Advancing Health Equity, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her family how she’s devoted her career to understanding and addressing health inequities of different races.

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 to 80 without chronic disease – and the findings that he says can help us all reach that milestone.

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 needs.

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 is so hard to notice.

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.

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.

Augustine Sedgwick 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.

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.

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 really supposed to be loaded.

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 infancy we don’t give boys the attention they need reliably.

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 contentment.

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.

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.

Christopher White joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, what his mission for the church might be going forward, and the significance of the papal name he’s chosen as he now looks to lead 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.

Helen Ouyang 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 the policy.

Paul Tough 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 medications.

Peniel Joseph joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how different political perspectives shaped a pivotal year in Civil Rights history and how violence woke the nation up to the urgent need for change.

Laurence D. Hurst 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.

Ethan Kross joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the newest research into controlling our emotions so they don’t control us, how labeling feelings as “good” and “bad” helps build a feelings immune system, and why avoidance is sometimes a great tool.

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.

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.

Sophie Gilbert 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.

Faith Hill 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.

Ed Helms 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).

Working as a chef, José Andrés fed restaurants full of diners, but his dream was to take that mission to a wider world. The chef, Emmy Award-winning television personality, author, educator, and founder of World Central Kitchen joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the hope and nourishment food brings to those in desperate need, how he built his humanitarian mission, and the types of people he surrounds himself with to make the world a better place. His book is “Change the Recipe: Because You Can’t Build a Better World Without Cracking Some Eggs.”

Mary Annette Pember joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the legacy these schools left behind, from generational trauma to tribes working even today to reclaim their languages and ceremonies, and why the U.S. took this route to assimilate Native populations in the first place.

David V. Gioe joins host Krys Boyd to explain what an “intelligence liaison” is and why the U.S. has broken those unwritten rules, and why that might put our national security in a precarious position.

Dawn Logsdon joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the public library came to be so ubiquitous in American life— and so loved, and the age-old efforts to limit the books they distribute.

Jodi Kantor joins host Krys Boyd to talk about her work uncovering consequential stories, when she knows a story is ready for print, and what attracts her to stories that hold powerful people to account.

New York Times investigative reporter Adam Entous joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the dramatic secret U.S. military missions to Ukraine. And we’ll speak with the mayor of Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, about his appeal to Americans to not forget his country.

Jeffrey Kripal joins host Krys Boyd to discuss UFOs, souls, déjà vu and how these universal concepts make us more human.

David Graham, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the document that offers a blueprint for the second Trump administration, how it wants to align the DOJ with the oval office’s desires, and how it envisions the country changing socially and economically.

New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer joins host Krys Boyd to discuss cases of men mistaken for members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and deported anyway, efforts to get them back, and how the U.S. court system seems one step behind the fast-moving orders from the White House.

Christopher White is the Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Register, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the current pontiff’s health and history – and what being the first pope from Latin America means for his legacy and the church going forward.

Host Krys Boyd talks with Dr. Twila Moon and Dr. Heïdi Sevestre about the role of glaciers in climate science.

Emily Falk is professor of communication, psychology and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how our behavior is shaped by the opinions of those around us and the benefits of evolving this way.

Aziz Huq teaches law at the University of Chicago, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss specifically how the Nazis rose to power and began to persecute Jews in part because the rest of German society just went about its business without objection.

Isaac Stanley-Becker, a staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why DOGE layoffs mean safety technicians and other critical roles are understaffed.

Nilanjana Dasgupta is provost professor of psychology and inaugural director of the Institute of Diversity Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss our status quo cultural norms.

Roxane Gay joins host Krys Boyd to talk about editing a new collection that looks at hundreds of years of feminist writers and why the ideas around women’s rights are always evolving.

Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what she calls the game of economics and why it’s set up for those who are already financially well off to continue winning – and how using game theory can help level the playing field.

Venki Ramakrishnan, structural biologist and Nobel Prize winner, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the quest to live forever, if that’s even ethical, and what it looks like to alter our physiology.

Vauhini Vara joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her experience asking A.I. for critiques and insights into her deepest feelings – and we’ll consider the portrait A.I. creates of us based on what we share with it.

David Wallace-Wells joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Covid five years on, how the pandemic changed the way we view each other, and the distrust it has woven into our most venerable institutions.

Detective Mike Weber joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss his experience with several cases of medical child abuse, profiling of the mothers who committed the injuries, and how he meticulously uncovered evidence of these notoriously difficult to diagnose crimes.

Jenny Anderson joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss why teens disconnect from the world and to offer strategies to get them back on track not only in the classroom, but also in life.

New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss the deep bonds nuns have with condemned inmates, what it says about faith and friendship, and how they view the death penalty as law.

Katie Glueck joins guest host John McCaa to discuss why the Blue Wave never materialized, the current mood of a party marked by in-fighting, and strategies Democratic Party leadership might employ heading into the 2026 mid-terms.

University of South Carolina School of Law professor Derek W. Black joins guest host John McCaa to talk about the history of Southern leaders withholding literacy from Black people from the end of the Civil War through Reconstruction and beyond – and about the lengths that Black Americans have gone to to get an education.

Science journalist Rachel Nuwer joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the phenomenon, which has been recorded since ancient times, and how it may offer insight into how we understand consciousness.

Faith Hill, a staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the demise of teenage dating, what kids are missing out on when they don’t practice being in adult-like relationships, and how a new idea of adolescence is being formed — for better or worse.

Author Daniel Pink joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history of letter and number grading, why they don’t move students to care about their education or help with material retention, and why it might be time to ditch them altogether.

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his organization’s tactic of “naming and shaming” countries that violate human rights and why Americans are sometimes blind to the lessening of freedoms and dignity around the world.

David Leonhardt joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Denmark’s Center-Left party, which argues that restraining immigration and demanding immigrants assimilate quickly is the only way the country can continue to provide its generous social programs. And we’ll hear if U.S. Democratic Party leaders are taking note.

Rebekah Taussig joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why, while she’s a champion of disability rights, she worries this has pigeonholed her when she wants to explore so many other topics and possibilities.

Brian M. Rosenthal joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the problems with the system of organ donation, why healthy matches are routinely skipped and what can be done to fix a broken process.

Felipe Torres Medina joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his seemingly impossible journey to obtain a green card, why navigating the system can feel Kafkaesque, and what a proposed option for the rich to buy their citizenship could mean for the American Dream.

Dr. Adam Ratner is a pediatric infectious diseases physician in New York City, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the return of measles, what it does to the body — especially in young children — what it took to develop the very safe and effective vaccine we have today and what it means that vaccine hesitancy rates are rising.

Sarah Jones, senior writer for New York magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the cracks in the social fabric that Covid revealed, why denialism of the illness proved to be so devastating and the death of her own grandfather from the disease.

Yoni Applebaum is deputy executive editor of The Atlantic and author of “Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity.” He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how a decline in geographic mobility has reshaped the last 50 years – and his theory that it’s affecting our nation’s ingenuity and prosperity.

John Kounios is professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and director of the Creativity Research Lab at Drexel University. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what scientists understand about how the brain solves problems – and how we might tap into this phenomenon more often.

Jim Guinn is president of the Resolution Resource Group, a training and development company. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how managers spend the equivalent of one full workday a week managing team problems and his plan for identifying stressors before they get out of hand.

Nicola Twilley talks to Krys Boyd about the breakthroughs — and setbacks — in the quest for artificial blood, why it’s needed more than ever, and why eyes are on Big Pharma to finance it.

Andrew Cockburn is Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, and he joins us to talk about why reigning in federal agencies has been a challenge for previous administrations – and if the Department of Government Efficiency has figured out how to do it.

This hour, host Krys Boyd is joined by three guests who will explain how we can regain our ability to focus and tame our overactive minds – plus we’ll learn all about the growing research into the many ways listening to music benefits our brains.

Abené Clayton is a reporter for the Guardian’s Guns and Lies in America project. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why Black women are especially vulnerable to gun violence and community violence, why root causes aren’t being addressed, and why the outreach programs that do exist are ineffective.

Certified clinical sexologist and dating coach Myisha Battle joins host Krys Boyd to discuss courtship in the modern world: who pays for what and why – and how the rise in women’s paychecks is upending dating norms.

Journalist and author Alexander Clapp joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the countries that take our trash — and the ones that don’t — how much of what’s deemed recyclable actually gets made into something new and how we’re actually producing less trash today than a few decades ago.