Think from KERA

When faced with a big decision, most of us think hard about our options. Yale psychology professor John Bargh talks about why no matter how much we reason through our choices, our unconscious mind often makes the decision. His new book is called “Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do” (Touchstone).

As the director of UC-Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab, Matthew Walker spends his waking hours looking into the value of rest. He talks about the many benefits of good sleep – from recalibrating our emotions to restocking our immune system. He shares his findings in “Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams” (Scribner).

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. and within the last decade, the number of teenagers seeking counseling services for these disorders has surged. Now, parents, schools and therapists are struggling to decide what the best solution for this growing health crisis is. Journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis joins us to talk about why more American teenagers are suffering from anxiety, which he recently wrote about for The New York Times Magazine.

In the winter of 1952, a thick smog blanketed London for five days, killing 12,000 people. And it provided a perfect cover for a killer named John Reginald Christie to terrorize the city from the ground. Kate Winkler Dawson tells the story of a particularly disturbing week in British history, which she writes about in “Death in the Air: The True Story of a Serial Killer, the Great London Smog, and the Strangling of a City” (Hachette Books).

Walter Isaacson has an affinity for genius, having written seminal biographies of Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Steve Jobs. He’ll talk about his latest book, “Leonardo da Vinci” which links the Italian polymath’s art to his scientific life.

UT-Dallas’ Center for Brain Health unveils its new Brain Performance Institute today, which will focus on how we can stretch the brain’s capabilities. Neurologist Dr. Geoffrey Ling is in town for the opening, and stops by for a conversation about new research into brain injury and resilience.

Intelligence services from Russia, China and other world powers have figured out a way to gain sensitive information about the U.S. from an unlikely place: university campuses. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Daniel Golden talks about how some foreign college students are actually working as spies for their home countries – and about how the FBI and CIA are returning the favor abroad. His new book is called “Spy Schools: How the CIA, FBI, and Foreign Intelligence Secretly Exploit America’s Universities” (Henry Holt and Co.).

“Sustainability” is one of the buzz words of the environmental movement. Some scientists are beginning to think, though, that over-population and climate change are actually the natural demise of civilizations – possibly even ones that existed on other planets. Astrophysicist Adam Frank discusses climate change from an interplanetary perspective. He speaks tonight at 5:30 at Dallas Hall on the SMU campus.

The Great Recession is nearly a decade in the past, but some American workers are still feeling its effect. Jessica Bruder joins us to talk about how the recession created a new breed of migrant worker – primarily older Americans. She tells their story in “Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century” (W.W. Norton and Company).

The president of the United States is known as the leader of the free world and is also in charge of the world’s largest economy. It’s a lot to put on one person. UT-Austin history professor Jeremi Suri joins us to talk about how the job has grown well beyond what the Founding Fathers conceived – and about how that expanded scope has continuously led to the public’s dissatisfaction. His new book is called “The Impossible Presidency: The Rise and Fall of America’s Highest Office” (Basic Books).