Doctors and nurses are rightly celebrated as frontline workers. Also included in that category, though, are many low-wage workers: the people who bag our groceries, deliver our packages and clean our buildings. Bama Athreya, senior specialist for labor and employment rights at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute and a Fellow at Open Society Foundations, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about laborers who don’t have the luxury of working from home – and about how the pandemic has severely affected the gig economy. Her article “A Pandemic is No Time for Precarious Work” was published on Medium.

From Patient Zero in Washington State to now more than 30,000 deaths and counting, how can we piece together a clearer picture of how the pandemic unfolded across America? Miles O’Brien joins host Krys Boyd to talk about his coast-to-coast reporting on the people affected by the coronavirus – and about how inaction by elected officials contributed to the outbreak. His Frontline documentary “Coronavirus Pandemic”airs Tuesday night on PBS stations.

Now that human activity above ground has been curtailed, how has life under the sea been affected? Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how aquariums foster ocean life and contribute to a healthy environment.

As an astronaut with two NASA missions under his belt,Mike Massimino knows what it’s like to live for long periods of time in cramped quarters. Sound familiar? He joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how he learned to adapt to a confined space while in space. His latest book, newly adapted for young readers, is “Spaceman: The True Story of a Young Boy’s Journey to Becoming an Astronaut.”

As scientists try to better understand the coronavirus, it’s worth remembering that the global scientific community has now been studying outbreaks fairly continuously for more than a century. Medical historian Mark Honigsbaumjoins host Krys Boyd to talk about why bacterial and viral disasters continue to take us by surprise. His book is called “The Pandemic Century: One Hundred Years of Panic, Hysteria, and Hubris.”

When a budding musician takes to social media to offer a new song to the world, do we consider it simply an expression of creativity or a commodity that needs reimbursement? Music historian Ted GioiajoinshostKrys Boyd to talk about how we value art. His essay “Gratuity: Who Gets Paid When Art Is Free,” was published in Image Journal.

Older people have seen a lot – including plenty of tough times. And yet we so often neglect to ask elders about the wisdom they’ve gained through perseverance.Dr. Karl Pillemer, professor of gerontology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine,joins host Krys Boyd to look at our current crisis through the eyes of people who can say from experience that “this, too, shall pass.”

On “Project Runway,” there’s always an avant-garde challenge in which contestants make clothing that’s wild and not consumer-ready. Eventually, though, some wild ideas trickle down to the showroom floor. Shahidha Bari, professor of fashion cultures and histories at the London College of Fashion, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about what we’re telling the world when we put on a ball gown – or a pair of worn-out jeans. Her book is called “Dressed: A Philosophy of Clothes.”

We all want to feel like we fit in. But insecurity about our social status is actually something many of us have in common.Olga Khazan, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how her outsider status growing up shaped her–and about what research says about the advantages of being different.Her book is called “Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World.”

Today’s “Think” show is dedicated to talking with experts to try to explain some of the more mysterious elements of the coronavirus. Host Krys Boyd talks with Dr. Peter Hotez, founding dean and chief of the Baylor College of Medicine National School of Tropical Medicine, about the push for a COVID-19 vaccine. Wired senior correspondent Adam Rogers talks about the math behind epidemiological models. And Courtney Cogburn, associate professor of social work at Columbia University, discusses why black and Latino Americans are disproportionately affected.