Think from KERA

If you’ve ever named your car or owned a favorite T-shirt, you know that these everyday objects are more than just things. Francine Russo joins us to talk about the psychology behind why we get so attached to some objects – to the point where we assign them human qualities. Her story “Our Stuff, Ourselves” appears in Scientific American magazine.

We’re at the point in our political discourse that many diehard Democrats and Republicans can’t even debate policy issues because to compromise at all is to concede a part of themselves. University of Maryland political scientist Lilliana Mason joins us to talk about why extreme partisanship is bad for democracy, which she writes about in “Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identity” (University of Chicago Press).

In her 25 years on the bench, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has reliably sided with the Supreme Court’s liberal wing. The 85-year-old’s life is the subject of the new documentary “RBG,” and its directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen join us to talk about Ginsburg’s journey from diminutive New Yorker to cultural icon. “RBG” opens in theaters on May 11.

After serving a combined 60 years for crimes they didn’t commit, a trio of former inmates opened a detective agency in Dallas to investigate other wrongful convictions. Christopher Scott – one of the three – joins us to talk about how he rebuilt his life and how he’s helping others do the same, the subject of the Independent Lens documentary “True Conviction,” which airs tonight at 9 on KERA-TV.

In 1976, Suzanne Mitchell took over control of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, transforming the troupe – and the gameday experience – forever. The documentary “Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders” details how the squad influenced American culture and provided its members with once-in-a-lifetime experiences – some good, some not. The film screens Sunday as part of the USA Film Festival. We’ll talk with director Dana Adam Shapiro and Toni Washington, who cheered for the Cowboys in the early 1980s.

Dogs may be man’s best friend – but they’ve got a strange way of showing it sometimes. Evolutionary biologist Marc Bekoff joins us to talk about the curious habits of our four-legged friends – and about how observing them closely can bring us closer to the dogs in our lives. His new book is called “Canine Confidential: Why Dogs Do What They Do” (University of Chicago Press).

For all of the natural world that we can see, there are millions upon millions of tiny organisms we can’t see. Eugenia Bone studies these microbes, and she joins us to talk about their outsized impact on our daily lives. Her new book is called “Microbia: A Journey into the Unseen World Around You” (Rodale).

Islamophobia has been ever present since Sept. 11, 2001. Its roots in America, though, go back centuries. University of Detroit Mercy associate law professor Khaled A. Beydoun joins us to talk about how anti-Muslim ideas have been ingrained in our legal system since the days of slavery. His new book is called “American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear” (University of California Press).

Every day, women head into fields, hotels and houses to pick crops, make beds and care for other people’s children. And along with low pay and long hours, they endure sexual harassment and assault. Investigative journalist Bernice Yeung joins us to talk about how women working jobs at the bottom of the economic spectrum are so blatantly taken advantage of by the men who employ them. Her new book is called “In a Day’s Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America’s Most Vulnerable Workers” (The New Press).

In the novel “Everything Here Is Beautiful” (Pamela Dorman Books), older sister Miranda dutifully watches over her unpredictable sibling, Lucia. Author Mira T. Lee joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about how Lucia’s developing mental illness tests the bond between the sisters.