KERA's Think

The recent hostage negotiations led by Qatar and Egypt are a window into how the Middle East as a whole is affected by the war in Gaza. Maria Fantappie, head of the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Africa Program at Istituto Affari Internazionali in Rome, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss shifting political realities in a region with uneasy alliances. Her Foreign Affairs article, written with Vali Nasr, is “The War That Remade the Middle East.”

Although most Americans polled say they don’t want an aggressive U.S. foreign policy, the voting record tells a different story. Jeffrey A. Friedman, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the rhetoric of presidential candidates and how voters are swayed by powerful stances. His article “The Politics of Looking Strong” was published in Foreign Affairs.

Comedian and musician Reggie Watts has embraced his weirdness and made a career of it. Watts starred as the bandleader on CBS’s The Late Late Show with James Corden and IFC’s Comedy Bang Bang! He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his memoir about growing up mixed race in a small town, and how he embraced his differences to find what’s cool. His book is “Great Falls, MT: Fast Times, Post-Punk Weirdos, and a Tale of Coming Home Again.”

David Brooks is on a mission to open hearts and minds. The New York Times columnist joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the skills we can learn to improve engagement and connection and develop character. His book is “How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen.”

Children who live in war zones face untold horrors that strip them of innocence. Zarlasht Halaimzai, writer and founder of Amna, which specializes in supporting the psychosocial well-being of refugees and other displaced communities. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her life growing up amid the bombs and guns of the war in Afghanistan, and her work to help heal the trauma of children living through conflict worldwide. Her article, published in The Guardian, is “‘I remember the silence between the falling shells’: the terror of living under siege as a child.”

The end of Reconstruction can be chronicled by listening to the music of the era. Vann Newkirk, senior editor at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who sang songs that evoked passion and heartbreak, and in doing so, saved an American art form. His article is “How the Negro Spiritual Changed American Popular Music– and America Itself.”

The demographic charts are clear: childlessness started to rise as soon as Millennials hit childbearing age. Andrew Van Dam writes the Department of Data column each week for The Washington Post. He joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why Millennials are not having children – from finances to lack of partners – even though they still want them. His article is “Millennials aren’t having kids. Here are the reasons why.”

Visiting Mars one day is the ultimate trip from some tourists, but is that a good idea? Kelly Weinersmith, adjunct faculty member in the BioSciences department at Rice University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the impracticalities of space colonization and the conflicts it could create back on Earth. Her book, co-written with husband Zach Weinersmith, is “A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?”

Genetic medicine once looked like the future of health care, but its promises have yet to materialize. James Tabery is a professor at the University of Utah in the Department of Philosophy and a member of the Center for Health Ethics, Arts, & Humanities. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why precision medicines focused on gene technology benefit only the rich, while average citizens are left behind in this new model of curing disease. His book is “Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health.”

Want to know why your flight was delayed and your baggage lost? Blame capitalism. Ganesh Sitaraman is a law professor and director of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator for Political Economy and Regulation. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why he feels unregulated capitalism created a handful of airline competitors – all too-big-to-fail and receiving government funding – and why he feels improvements are possible. His book is “Why Flying is Miserable: And How to Fix It.”

How is it that we can travel anywhere in the world faster than ever before, but actual travel times have become slower? David Leonhardt writes The Morning, the flagship daily newsletter for The New York Times. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how a lack of investment in infrastructure has put the U.S. behind peer countries in nearly every category from education to transportation to even life expectancy. His book is “Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream.”

There was a time in the early 1990s when everyone seemed to have carpal tunnel syndrome—now, not so much. Health and science reporter Benjamin Ryan joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how carpal tunnel became an epidemic and what its disappearance says about how seriously we take workplace injuries today. His article published by The Atlantic is “Whatever Happened to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?”

We have a fascination with identical twins, and twins themselves also grapple with ideas of selfhood. Helena de Bres is a philosophy professor at Wellesley College and a twin herself, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the endless questions she’s asked about her and her sister – and to reflect upon what being a multiple is really like. Her book is “How to Be Multiple: The Philosophy of Twins.”

Gun ownership in this country is as much about one’s identity as it is about self-protection. Alexandra Filindra is associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois, Chicago. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how 21st Century gun culture is a product of the 18th Century and how that has left non-white Americans with limited access to gun rights. Her book is “Race, Rights, and Rifles: The Origins of the NRA and Contemporary Gun Culture.”

One way to bridge deep divides is to get curious about the people on the other side. Scott Shigeoka has taught at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center and the University of Texas at Austin. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what he calls deep curiosity, which pushes people to move beyond biases to see the value in another person’s worldview. His book is “Seek: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World.”

Divas fill stadiums with screaming fans, and we still can’t get enough of their star power. Spencer Kornhaber, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the magnetism, narcissism and perfectionism of the people we call divas … and why they matter so much to the rest of us mere mortals. His book is “On Divas: Persona, Pleasure, Power.”

The difference between top performers and the rest of us can often be traced back to an ability to maximize potential. Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss strategies for Average Joe’s to excel. His book is “Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things.”

Nowhere else in the world does a presidential candidate win the popular vote but lose the election due to an electoral college. Harvard government professor Steven Levitsky joins guest host John McCaa to discuss how minority rule undermines democracy and why the U.S. is vulnerable to partisan takeovers from both the left and the right. His book, written with co-author Daniel Ziblatt, is “Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point.”

The framers of the Constitution warned against forming political parties, buy they happened anyway. H.W. Brands is Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, and he joins guest host John McCaa to discuss the early days of the Republic, when Federalists and Anti-Federalists battled it out and planted the seeds of our current state of division. His book is “Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics.”

The ability to remain aware during cardiac arrest is little understood. Sam Parnia, Director of Critical Care and Resuscitation Research in the Department of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss his research into cognitive awareness during resuscitation and why studying it has profound implications for our understanding of the gray area between life and death. His journal article was published in Resuscitation.