Think from KERA

The relief after a prison release is often followed by a hard landing: no job, no home, no safety net and a system too overloaded to help parolees from going back to jail. Jason Hardy was once a probation and parole officer and is now a special agent for the FBI, and he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the often-ignored world of post-incarceration and his ideas for true system reform. His book is “The Second Chance Club: Hardship and Hope After Prison.”

The phrase “in one ear and out the other” originated well before the advent of the smart phone. Now there’s doubt about that one ear. Reporter Kate Murphy joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why listening—even to gossip—is good for our brains and human connection. Her book is “You’re Not Listening: What You’re Missing and Why It Matters.”

In the late 1600s, it was thought the heart was made of “the stuff of souls.” It’s easy to see why: they break with love and are sometimes said to be made of gold. Even now we take for granted that they power our lives. Gabriel Brownstein joins host Krys Boyd to talk about his complicated relationship with his own heart, which he writes about in “The Open Heart Club: A Story About Birth and Death and Cardiac Surgery.”

By now you’ve got the message about coronavirus protocol: wash your hands, don’t touch your face, masks won’t protect you. Still, an estimated 40- to 70-percent of people worldwide will catch it — though most will barely notice. Dr. James Hamblin is a staff writer at The Atlantic and a lecturer at Yale School of Public, and he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about preparing for coronavirus on a national and individual level.

If you hear a sudden yelp from your spouse in the next room, chances are you’re about to be called to squash a bug. But what if, instead, you made a moral case for cohabitating with creepy crawlers? John Hainze, an entomologist and ethicist with Seattle University Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability,joins host Krys Boyd to talk about his evolution from pesticide designer to insect advocate. His new book is “Nature Underfoot: Living with Beetles, Crabgrass, Fruit Flies, and Tiny Life All Around Us.”

Like “fake news,” lawyers in a courtroom can claim “junk science,” pitting one expert’s testimony against another’s. So how do judges decide what a jury should hear? Reporter Peter Andrey Smith joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the standards by which courts decide what scientific evidence is admissible. His article “Where Science Enters the Courtroom, the Daubert Name Looms Large” was published by Undark.

When a small American town dies, can it be brought back to life by immigrants hoping to become Americans themselves? Cynthia Anderson, journalist and teacher of writing at Boston University, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about Lewiston, Maine — a city that has transformed itself through the arrival of African Muslim refugees. She tells the story in her book,“Home Now: How 6,000 Refugees Transformed An American Town.”

Home DNA testing kits are popular for amateur detectives looking for family origins. But investigating a family tree sometimes unearths long-buried secrets. Journalist Libby Copeland joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the pluses and minuses of opening a door into who is really related to whom. Her new book is called “The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are.”

In the 2020 presidential race, candidates have proposed plans to reform higher education. On this hour of “Think,” we’ll talk about affordability, accessibility, and attrition problems when it comes to attending universities and look at whether free college is a viable option to solve these problems. Guests include Matthew M. Chingos, vice president at the Urban Institute Center on Education Data and Policy, journalist Paul Tough, and Anthony A. Jack,assistant professor of education at Harvard.

Mothers in the workplace often struggle with the balance between being a team player and raising a family. But research says that’s not what’s holding them back from reaching the C-suite. Robin J. Ely, Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the real reasons businesses have a tendency to stall female advancement. Her article “What’s Really Holding Women Back?” was published in the Harvard Business Review.