Think from KERA

Even during the darkest night sky, all around us we’re surrounded by light. Science writer Bob Berman joins us to talk about the many kinds of light we cannot see – how they are crucial for life and how they can kill us if we’re not careful. His new book is called “Zapped: From Infrared to X-Rays, the Curious History of Invisible Light” (Little, Brown and Co.)

The U.S. is home to more than 20 percent of the world’s inmates. In a special episode looking at our criminal justice system, we’ll talk with a law school professor about why America locks up more of its citizens than any other country, we’ll hear from a criminologist about our increased use of solitary confinement, and we’ll talk with a former inmate who’s made it her life’s work to help other incarcerated women transition back to freedom.

As we go through life, our brains collect memories every day. And scientists are starting to better understand how our minds organize these memories to help us better navigate life. Alcino J. Silva of the UCLA Brain Research Institute joins us to talk about the latest research into memory storage, which he writes about in Scientific American.

Thanks to emojis, we can now send whole texts to one another that don’t contain a single word. Linguist Vyvyan Evans joins us to make the case that all of these hearts, winks and thumbs are actually advancing our ability to communicate. His new book is called “The Emoji Code: The Linguistics Behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats” (Picador).

As the income divide in America continues to increase, so does the level of desperation for the working poor. Brookings economist Carol Graham joins us to talk about how when individuals stop believing they have a future, they cease to invest in them, the subject of her recent report “The Geography of Desperation in America” (Brookings).

The Tarahumara people of Northern Mexico are some of the world’s greatest ultrarunners. That skill caught the attention of the country’s drug cartels, who began to use the Tarahumara to transport drugs across the border. Ryan Goldberg joins us to talk about the difficult position these athletes are in, which he writes about in the current issue of Texas Monthly.

A new study of 111 brains donated by former NFL players showed that all but one suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. Boston University neurologist Jesse Mez lead the study, and he joins us to talk about his findings and what the information might mean for the future of football.

Transgender Americans were told last week by President Trump that they are no longer able to serve in the military. And a debate is underway in Austin over where transgender Texans will be allowed to use the restroom. Heath Fogg Davis – a Temple University political scientist who also happens to be a transgender man – joins us to talk about the current issues facing the trans community. His new book is called “Beyond Trans: Does Gender Matter” (NYU Press).

Last week in San Antonio, 10 people died and nearly 30 more were hospitalized after experiencing extreme heat while being smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico. For nearly 30 years, Hipólito Acosta worked as a U.S. special agent tasked with busting smugglers and others who took advantage of immigrants. He joins us to talk about his experience, which he writes about in “Deep in the Shadows: Undercover in the Ruthless World of Human Smuggling” (Arte Publico Press).

Scientists have a pretty solid understanding of how viruses and other contagions are passed among us. It’s still a mystery, though, that behavior also seems to be contagious. Science journalist Lee Daniel Kravetz joins us to talk about why we sometimes mimic one another, which he writes about in “Strange Contagion: Inside the Surprising Science of Infectious Behaviors and Viral Emotions and What they Tell Us About Ourselves” (Harper Wave).