Think from KERA

Latest Episodes:

The visa process is absurd Mar 19, 2025

Show notes

Legally immigrating to the United States involves red tape, legalese, mounds of paperwork, money and a lot of finger crossing. Felipe Torres Medina is a Peabody and Writers Guild of America Award–winning writer for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”. He 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. His book is “America, Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story.

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Why measles keeps this doctor awake at night Mar 18, 2025

Show notes

The measles outbreak in West Texas is a harbinger for a very real public health threat America currently faces. 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. His book is “Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health.”

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Who gets treated as ‘disposable’ in America Mar 17, 2025

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Five years after the Covid pandemic gripped the nation, it’s time to reflect on how socioeconomic status determined life or death. 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. Her book is “Disposable: America’s Contempt for the Underclass.”

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When moving day was an American holiday Mar 13, 2025

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Americans were once encouraged to “Go West, young man.” Now, people are increasingly sticking to their own, familiar neighborhoods. 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. His Atlantic companion piece is “Stuck in Place.”

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Eureka! How your brain figures it out Mar 12, 2025

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“By Jove, I think I’ve got it!” A-ha moments can feel electrifying, but where do these bursts of insight come from? 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. His article “The Brain Science of Elusive ‘Aha! Moments’” was published in Scientific American.

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What’s your conflict style? Mar 11, 2025

Show notes

If you’ve achieved a managerial position at work, that also means you’ve unlocked a whole new world of dealing with interpersonal conflict. 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. His book, written with co-author John Eliot, is “How to Get Along with Anyone: The Playbook for Predicting and Preventing Conflict at Work and at Home.”

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There’s no perfect substitute for human blood Mar 10, 2025

Show notes

Life-saving advancements have come a long way, but engineering artificial blood has been a challenge. Nicola Twilley is a New Yorker contributor and co-host of the podcast Gastropod. She 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. Her article is “The Long Quest for Artificial Blood.”

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Will DOGE really kill the bureaucracy? Mar 07, 2025

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President Trump has focused much of his first two months in office on slashing the federal bureaucracy – an effort that has already been met with lawsuits and protests. 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.

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A scientific guide to a better brain Mar 06, 2025

Show notes

The brain operates all of our thoughts, feelings and movements — and it also helps us adjust to a rapidly changing environment. 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.

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The link between gun violence and family violence Mar 05, 2025

Show notes

Gun violence reduction programs are often run by men and targeted to men. Meanwhile, Black women who are victims of domestic violence often are ignored. 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. Her article is “Two women make sense of a lifetime of abuse and gun violence: ‘How did I get here?’”

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