KQED's Forum

A proposed rule change for obtaining Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits could reduce or eliminate income for some 400,000 adults with Down syndrome, dementia and other disabilities who live with low-income relatives, according to a new analysis from ProPublica. It’s a change that advocates worry will further burden disabled people and their families — and could make it harder for disabled people to stay in their homes instead of institutions. We talk with disability rights advocates about the proposed changes and the shifting landscape for people with disabilities under the Trump Administration.

Guests:

Eli Hager, reporter, ProPublica; his recent article is, “The Trump Administration Aims to Penalize Disabled Adults Who Live With Their Families”

Kristen Pedersen, executive director, The Arc San Francisco

Eric Harris, associate executive director of external affairs, Disability Rights California

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The new Netflix documentary “The Plastic Detox” follows six couples struggling with unexplained infertility, asking them to cut plastic from their lives to see if that could help them conceive. While not a scientific study, the film explores the intriguing possibility that reducing everyday plastic exposure can actually improve our health. But how likely is this? We talk with the fertility researcher and one of the couples in the documentary to hear what they think we should — and should not — take away from the experiment.

Guests:

Shanna Swan, professor of environmental medicine, Icahn School of Medicine; founder and director, Action Science Initiative

Monique Tavares, owner, San Ramon construction company BL Pavers; participant, “The Plastic Detox”

Jasmine McDonald, associate professor of epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University

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Pioneering geneticist J. Craig Venter, who revolutionized biology with his role in sequencing the human genome, died last week in San Diego. In this hour, we look back at Venter’s scientific contributions and consider whether our expectations for the medical and scientific transformations from DNA mapping have been realized. How has our knowledge of the human genome changed our understanding of how life works on a molecular level, and how much could it continue to change with the new powers of AI?

Guests:

Dr. Fyodor Urnov, professor of Molecular Therapeutics, University of California, Berkeley; scientific director, Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI)

Philip Ball, science writer, his most recent book is How Life Works: A User’s Guide to the New Biology

Michael Marshall, science writer, his most recent book is The Genesis Quest: The Geniuses and Eccentrics on a Journey to Uncover the Origin of Life on Earth

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Humans eat more than 550 metric tons of meat and seafood a year — a number that’s steadily climbing, and expected to do so until at least 2050. At the same time, scientists are working to develop plant-based and cultivated meats that deliver the same experience with more nutrition and at a lower cost. We talk to Good Food Institute founder and president Bruce Friedrich about his new book, “Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity’s Favorite Food— and Our Future.” Is alternative meat in your future, or even a reality for you today?

Guests:

Bruce Friedrich, founder and president, The Good Food Institute; author, Meat: How the Next Agricultural Revolution Will Transform Humanity's Favorite Food--and Our Future"

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As a teenager Mary Cain was a running phenom. At 17, she ran the 800 in under two minutes, and broke numerous national high school records. She went pro that same year, to be coached by Alberto Salzar at Nike. But while Cain was winning accolades on the track, she was suffering deeply. In her new memoir, “This is Not About Running,” Cain, now a second year medical student at Stanford, recounts how Salazar and his team created a culture of abuse that ground down athletes like her. We talk to Cain about what lessons can be learned from her experience and her efforts to protect young athletes.

Guests:

Mary Cain, author, "This Is Not About Running;" former professional runner; second year medical student at Stanford

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A blue whale mother that fasts for months while her calf puts on close to 250 pounds a day. A male hamster who acts as a midwife while his partner gives birth. Healthy bird parents that lurch along the ground, feigning injury to keep predators away from their nest. These are some of the remarkable examples of animal caregiving that science journalist Elizabeth Preston says can hold up “uncanny mirrors to the human experience and the puzzle of why and how we’ve evolved to pour our resources into our children.” We talk to Preston about her new book, “The Creatures’ Guide to Caring.” What have you noticed about the animal caregivers around you?

Guests:

Elizabeth Preston, science journalist; author, "The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care"

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After a federal appeals court on Friday blocked mail-order access to the abortion pill mifepristone, the Supreme Court stepped in to pause the ruling, restoring access to one of the most common ways to end early pregnancies. Despite the administrative stay, it is not clear how the court will handle the case. We’ll talk about what the restrictions could mean for access both in states with abortion bans and in California and other states where abortion remains legal.

Guests:

Mary Ziegler, professor of law, UC Davis School of Law

Shefali Luthra, reproductive health reporter, The 19th [an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy]

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We all know the stinging pain of rejection: the exclusion from a high-school in-group or the all-too-common experience of applying for a job and receiving an email starting with “We regret to inform you…” But beyond the personal experience of rejection is a power dynamic worth interrogating, argues author Alison Kinney. Her new book, “United States of Rejection: A Story of Love, Hate, and Hope,” examines it as not only a personal force, but a political one.

Guests:

Alison Kinney, author; assistant professor of writing, Eugene Lang College at The New School

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When punk rock thrashed through the Bay Area in the 70s and 80s, there were some venues that became iconic hubs, like Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco and Berkeley’s Gilman street. But in rural Sonoma country, the scene was cobbled together in backyards, barns, and from fields with very long extension cords. Growing up in Santa Rosa, KQED’s arts and culture editor Gabe Meline was both a part of the punk scene and an obsessive collector of its flyers, zines, cassettes and ephemera. He’s now guest curated a new exhibit at the Museum of Sonoma County, Disturbing the Peace: Sonoma County’s Early Punk Underground. We talk to Meline — and check in those in punk scenes of other Bay Area towns — about the music and ethos of punk and why this young DIY movement against authority is so relevant now.

Guests:

Gabe Meline, senior editor, KQED Arts & Culture

Mike Park, owner, Asian Man Records - an independent label based in San Jose; member of the ska-punk band Skankin' Pickle in the 1980s and 90s

Matthew Kadi, photographer and drummer. His band Monster Squad started in Vacaville in 1997 and is still playing shows.

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In the last month, about a dozen authors wrote to Forum saying they’d been messaged by a fraudster claiming to be Mina Kim. In exchange for a “small fee,” they’d be invited to talk about their book on the show. This is a new kind of impersonation scam targeting the wider publishing industry, and like online dating schemes, they’re using flattery and promises of publicity to con the authors into sending money. We look at why authors are being targeted, just how deep this publishing scam goes, and how AI is superpowering online scams.

Guests:

Lauren Goode, senior correspondent covering Silicon Valley, Wired

Dan Barry, senior writer, The New York Times

Julian Sancton, senior features editor, The Hollywood Reporter

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