Think from KERA

If it feels as if America is in a state of flux, your intuition is correct. And much of that change can be credited to the way our population is shifting among rural, urban and suburban locations. Juliana Horowitz of the Pew Research Center joins us to talk about what the country’s demographics look like today based on where people live. She’s a co-author of the center’s new report, “What Unites and Divides Urban, Suburban and Rural Communities.”

Even the most well-behaved kids need a little disciplining every once in a while. Parenting expert Katherine Reynolds Lewis joins us to talk about effective strategies for correcting behavior. Her new book is called “The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever – and What to Do About It” (PublicAffairs).

Americans generally agree on the importance of free speech, rewarding hard work and representative democracy. Steven Brill joins us to talk about how these foundational ideas – while still important – may also have contributed to some of our national dysfunction. And we’ll hear about the people working to repair the damages. Brill’s new book is called “Tailspin: The People and Forces Behind America’s Fifty-Year Fall – and Those Fighting to Reverse It” (Knopf).

The mantra “correlation is not causation” has kept scientists away from what’s known as causal thinking. UCLA computer scientist Judea Pearl joins us to talk about why it’s actually OK for researchers to draw these connections – and how this type of reasoning is already at play in the world of artificial intelligence. His new book is called “The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect” (Basic Books).

Our planet is home to an estimated 6.9 billion tons of plastic waste. And it will take a minimum of 450 years for it to biodegrade – though some of it may never break down. Jenna Jambeck studies the problem at the University of Georgia, and she joins us to talk about how plastic is threatening our oceans – and what we can do to curb our use of it. She’s featured in “Planet or Plastic,” a special report in the June issue of National Geographic magazine.

Did you know that the sun was likely once related to other stars? And that those “sibling” stars may now reside in other parts of the Milky Way? Science journalist Rebecca Boyle joins us to talk about how astronomers are gaining a better understanding of the sun’s 4.6 billion years in existence. Her story “Secret Life of the Sun” appears in the current issue of Scientific American magazine.

In 2016, Ammon Bundy was a fixture of news coverage as he led an armed standoff with federal agents at the headquarters of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. James Pogue was on the scene during the siege, and he joins us to talk about what it says about the country’s militia movement – and the role of government in rural areas. Pogue’s new book is called “Chosen Country: A Rebellion in the West” (Henry Holt).

Hearing voices has long been considered a sign of psychosis. Stanford sociologist T.M. Luhrmann joins us to talk about why a better understanding of how voices work in the brain might be a key to treating patients with mental illness. Her story “The Sound of Madness” appears in the current issue of Harper’s magazine.

People with good posture also have other positive qualities attributed to them. Emory University psychiatry professor Sander L. Gilman joins us to talk about how ideas from medicine, theology, sociology and a host of other fields have combined to influence how we think about something as seemingly simple as posture. His new book is called “Stand Up Straight! A History of Posture” (University of Chicago Press).

Charlie Marder is a newly-minted congressman who stumbles upon a conspiracy that reaches all the way to the White House. Marder is the creation of Jake Tapper, who tells his story in his 1950s-era debut novel, “The Hellfire Club” (Little, Brown and Company). The host of CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” joins us to talk about fictionalizing themes and story lines that he reports on in his day job.