KERA's Think

Falling global birth rates could be setting us up for disastrous consequences down the line. 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 and why stabilizing the diminishing population is such a monumentally difficult task. His bo...

Wildfires are more dangerous than they’ve ever been — take if from a former firefighter. Jordan Thomas is a former Los Padres hotshot wildland firefighter and currently an anthropologist and chancellor’s fellow at the University of California. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why climate change doesn’t tell the whole story of why today’s fires rage out of control, our complicated relationship to fire, and what it’s like ...

Last summer, former military officials testified to Congress about UFOs, and once again the nation’s imagination was ignited. 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. His book is “After the Flying Saucer...

If opioids treat pain like a hammer, what medical researchers are looking for is something more like a delicate scalpel. 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. Her article is “The Radical Development of an Entirely New...

To conquer the deserts of Africa or ice of Greenland, the U.S. military needed to get pretty crafty. Northeastern University history professor Gretchen Heefner joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how modern warfare has shaped the way the Army Corps of Engineers approaches the challenges of extreme environments, the havoc those efforts have brought to those communities, and the outlandish ideas that failed along the way. Her bo...

What is DOGE now without Elon Musk? New Yorker Benjamin Wallace-Wells joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the agencies gutted by Musk’s attempts at cost cutting and how they’re managing to stay afloat, the people in charge now that he exited in dramatic fashion, and what government employees want the public to know about how they really detect fraud and abuse. His article is “Move Fast and Break Things.”

Learn about your ad c...

The United Nations is a storied institution, but it lacks teeth to actually make a difference. Journalist Amanda Chicago Lewis joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why U.N. resolutions are easily ignored, how red tape keeps workers from forwarding policy recommendations, and why the culture inside the agency belies the peaceful exterior it tries to project. Her article “Wishful Thinking” was published in Harper’s.

<...

While the Trump administration enacts hefty tariffs on other nations, U.S. businesses are worried about how these taxes might affect them, too. Emily Kilcrease is a senior fellow and director of the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the state of limbo U.S. business owners find themselves in, why global trade policy did, in fact, nee...

There is a growing number of people who think studying ghosts or alien abductions should be serious science. Journalist 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. His book is “The Ghost Lab: How Bigfoot Hunters, Mediums...

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 ...

Ed Helms is known as a comedian, actor and writer—and also as an investigator of history’s biggest gaffes. The host of the podcast SNAFU 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). His book is called “SNAFU: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups.”

This episode originally aired, May 2nd 2025.

Learn...

Feminist author Roxane Gay has put together a compendium of notable feminist works, but even she says it’s not the last word. The contributing opinion writer for The New York Times 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. She’s the editor of “The Portable Feminist Reader.”

This episode original...

Coincidences may seem like random occurrences to many of us – but not to a mathematician. 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 — why the blind luck behind lottery wins might not be so blind after all...

Psychologists and philosophers have debated what makes a good life, traditionally focusing on the search for happiness and meaning. Recently, though, the quest for another sensation has entered the conversation: fulfillment. 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...

 It’s slimy, sticky and gross, but scientists are working hard to better understand the many important roles mucus plays in our bodies. Grace Wade is a health reporter for New Scientist, and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the new world of mucus research, how it’s both a chemical and physical barrier to disease, and how our understanding of a healthy gut might be due to this substance. Her article is “Discovering the m...

Rising inequality is a concern for governments and everyday people – but it might be useful to put the current situation into historical perspective. Daniel Waldenstrom is professor of economics and program manager for the research program Taxes and Society at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why understanding the metrics of measuring inequality is critical to ...

President Trump is determined to shift manufacturing jobs back to American soil — but that’s a monumentally difficult task. 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. Her book is “Making It in America: The Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the U.S.A. (A...

In the second Trump administration, competition among the U.S., China and Russia is starting to look more like collaboration. 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. Her article “The Rise and Fall of Grea...

With rings to track our sleep, bracelets to track our heart rate and other health gadgets, are we reaching the point of information overload? Adam Clark Estes, senior technology correspondent at Vox, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his experience wearing a multitude of health trackers – which had some benefits but also sent his anxiety levels sky high. His article is “I covered my body in health trackers for 6 months. It r...