KERA's Think

Author John Grisham is known for his legal thrillers – but he’s recently turned his attention to real-life stories of justice that are often just as gripping. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss cases of wrongful convictions, miscarriages of justice and common oversights that permeate the justice system. His book, co-written with Jim McCloskey, is “Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions.”

The zoning debate between NIMBYs and YIMBYs is fueling a housing crisis felt nationwide. Jerusalem Demsas, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why she feels decisions about land need to be accountable to the public, why zoning boards and preservationists are hurting home affordability, and why the buck should stop at elected officials. Her book is “On the Housing Crisis: Land, Development, Democracy.”

Along with dealing with airport security and disruptive passengers, flight attendants must also battle low wages. Natalie B. Compton, travel reporter for the Washington Post, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why even though being deemed essential workers, flight attendants struggle with living paycheck-to-paycheck. Plus, we’ll hear about the surprising rules that determine how much flight attendants are paid for each flight that don’t take into account how much work they actually do. Her article is “‘Barely surviving’: Some flight attendants are facing homelessness and hunger.”

Lost in the current conversations about reproductive rights and the value of motherhood are the voices of those who didn’t choose to be childless. Eugenia Cheng joins host Krys Boyd to yearning to be a mother while not being able to, why she feels pinned in by stereotypes and labels, and what she wants a broader public to understand. Her recent essay in The Wall Street Journal is headlined “I Am Childless, but Not by Choice.”

The concept of death can trigger an existential crisis in humans. Do animals face the same fears? Susana Monsó is associate professor of philosophy in the Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science at the National Distance Education University (UNED) in Madrid. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what animals know about dying – from mourning rituals to attempts at saving lives – and if this newfound understanding means we should treat animals differently. Her book is “Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death.” 

The bodies and genes of organisms can be thought of as a history book detailing how other creatures lived long ago. Richard Dawkins, inaugural Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why the bodies of animals resemble their environments from thousands of years ago, and why sequencing these genomes offers a time machine to previous stages of evolution. His book is “The Genetic Book of the Dead: A Darwinian Reverie.”

 One method for combating harmful CO2 emissions in the environment is to suck it right out of the air. Climate journalist Alec Luhn joins host Krys Boyd to discuss “direct air capture,” the challenges for pulling it off, and why it could offer an excuse for some of our biggest polluters to go on polluting. His article in Scientific American is “Can Pulling Carbon from Thin Air Slow Climate Change?”

If everything happens for a reason, and those reasons are beyond our control, maybe we don’t have free will after all. Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his case against free will, which he says is the logical choice if you look at the ways our lives are shaped by forces that start from our very biology. And we’ll hear why, even without this control, we are still bound to be moral and decent humans. His book is “Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will.”

In the national conversation about abortion rights, the voices of actual abortion providers are often unheard. Dr. Curtis Boyd was involved in establishing the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and is a founding member of the Federation’s board of directors; and Glenna Boyd, RN, is a counselor, trainer and consultant. They join host Krys Boyd to discuss their life’s work providing abortions for women in need, why they say a healthy democracy needs compromise on complex issues, and how the Dobbs decision felt like a death. Their book is “We Choose To: A Memoir of Providing Abortion Care Before, During, and After Roe.”

Nobody actually enjoys feeling down in the dumps – but there’s a lot we can learn about ourselves when we’re not at our best. This hour, host Krys Boyd talks about how we can find fulfillment in experiencing the bittersweet parts of life, how sensitive people can use their temperament as a strength, and why being positive all the time isn’t actually very helpful.