Think from KERA

Without algae, we wouldn’t have everyday items like paint, shampoo – even beer! Ruth Kassinger joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about how this miracle organism might just be the key to creating a more sustainable future. Her new book is called “Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plagued Us, and Just Might Save Us” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Last month, the ACLU reported that 525 migrant children separated from their parents cannot be located. And for thousands more, parents know where their children are but cannot get to them. Aura Bogado, reporter for Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss the 1 in 10 migrant children stranded in U.S. custody for prolonged periods. Her series, co-written with data reporter Melissa Lewis, is called “The Disappeared.”

John Grisham’s characters are familiar by now: brilliant lawyers in over their heads with mysterious, dark forces hot on their heels. And we can’t get enough. Grisham joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about his prolific pace of writing a book a year – and about the art of the legal thriller. His latest is called “The Guardians.”

For fictional Asian-American character Willis Wu, the magic of Tinseltown is his ticket from obscurity to his ultimate goal: the next “Kung Fu Guy.” Charles Yu, author and writer for shows on FX, AMC and HBO, joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss his book “Interior Chinatown: A Novel.” It’s a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for fiction and has drawn praise for its story-within-a-story construction.

Since the first missions to space, the idea of who is the perfect astronaut has slowly transitioned from a maverick white male to include a much broader swath of the population. Jay Bennett, science editor at National Geographic, joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about how NASA is pinning its future on a diverse collection of scientists and future astronauts. His recent article is “How the ‘Right Stuff’ to be an Astronaut has Changed Over the Years.”

The ability for people to so easily switch from, say, devoted family man to serial killer is the crux of America’s continued fascination with true crime. That’s the subject of “American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century.” Author and investigative journalist Maureen Callahan joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about the subject of the book, a man named Israel Keyes, who meticulously plotted and murdered victims undetected for 14 years.

Everyone has got one, and they all weigh roughly the same, but the infinitesimal variations on the near-quadrillion connections mean our brains are quite mysterious. Neuroscientist David Eagleman, host of the Emmy-nominated television series “The Brain,” joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the latest understanding of how our minds work. His book is called “Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain.”

Undocumented people in the U.S. live in constant fear that one misstep could lead to deportation. Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is a former DACA recipient, and she joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the undocumented immigrants she met across the country and the toll it takes on their health and happiness. Her book, nominated for a 2020 National Book Award for nonfiction, is called “The Undocumented Americans.”

It wasn’t too long ago that tattoos were considered edgy, even anti-social. But modern-day bodies feature imprints of daisies and butterflies alongside those skulls and daggers. Filmmaker Alan Govenar joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the history of tattooing, from Biblical times to today. His documentary “Tattoo Uprising” is a production of Frame of Mind and Art&Seek and airs on tonight at 10:30 p.m. on KERA-TV.

As our oldest living president, Jimmy Carter continues to forge a legacy of benevolence and modesty, which, in reflection, is exactly how he met his political moment post-Nixon. Jonathan Alter, MSNBC political analyst and former senior editor at Newsweek, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Carter’s moral message after Watergate and his governing skills that sought to bring peace to a divided country. Alter’s new book is “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, A Life.”