Think from KERA

Clinical trials include a placebo to guard against misleading results. So what should we make of cases when placebo groups also improve? Gary Greenberg joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the possibility that the placebo effect might actually provide real results, which he wrote about recently for The New York Times magazine.

Kids questioning their sexual identity have more resources than ever. Still, the road to clarity can be arduous. Kelly Madrone joins host Krys Boyd to talk about ways to help struggling children and their parents along that path. Madrone’s book is called “LGBTQ: The Survival Guide for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens” (Free Spirit Publishing).

The criminal justice system has many ways of clearing rape cases. But a case being closed isn’t the same as justice served. Newsy reporter Mark Greenblatt joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how police departments across the country are using a federal guideline to bury these criminal cases,which he writes about for ProPublica.

With white nationalists, anti-immigrant populists, liberal academics and many other fractious groups, identity politics is having an outsized effect on the nation as a whole. Stanford University fellow Francis Fukuyama joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the need for different groups to feel as if they are heard – and the limits to that recognition – which he writes about in “Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

When someone has, say, a Jewish father and Christian mother, it’s common to inherit spiritual practices from each. Duane R. Bidwell of the Claremont School of Theology joins host Krys Boyd to talk about people who find it limiting to practice just one faith. His new book is called “When One Religion Isn’t Enough: The Lives of Spiritually Fluid People” (Beacon Press).

Some of the most unnerving times in our lives are when we’re waiting for news – good or bad. Jason Farman, director of the Design Cultures & Creativity Program at the University of Maryland, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about how patience has been a virtue throughout history. His new book is called “Delayed Response: The Art of Waiting From the Ancient to the Instant World” (Yale University Press).

If you’ve ever visited the Fort Worth Water Gardens or Dallas’ Thanks-Giving Square, you can thank Philip Johnson. Dallas Morning News architecture critic Mark Lamster joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the designer’s influence on North Texas and the world, the subject of his book “The Man in the Glass House: Philip Johnson, Architect of the Modern Century” (Little, Brown and Company).

To get you ready for the show, check out Jerome Week’s review of “The Man in the Glass House” on Art&Seek and take a tour of Johnson’s North Texas highlights with Lamster over at dallasnews.com.

Space is a subject that fascinates kids and adults alike. This hour, we’re revisiting some of our favorite conversations about the cosmos, talking about the significance of discovering liquid water on Mars, what we know about the origins of the sun and what researchers have learned from sending a satellite on a mission 3 billion miles from Earth.

By now, most adults know the first Thanksgiving didn’t quite go down the way we were taught in school. Anthropologist Jack David Eller joins us to talk about how American holidays and customs are largely borrowed from other cultures or created from myths. His new book is called “Inventing American Tradition: From the Mayflower to Cinco de Mayo” (Reaktion Books).

As the New York Times Frugal Traveler columnist, Seth Kugel visited more than 50 countries in search of rich experiences for the less-than-rich. He joins us to talk about why sticking to a limited budged can actually produce a more rewarding trip, which he writes about in “Rediscovering Travel: A Guide for the Globally Curious” (Liveright).