Think from KERA

Many of us look up at the night sky and wonder if there’s life out there among the stars. This hour, we’ll talk about the five most plausible places to look – from Mars’ subsoil ice to one of Saturn’s moons. We’ll be joined by University of Victoria astronomer Jon Willis, author of “All These Worlds Are Yours: The Scientific Search for Alien Life” (Yale University Press).

The U.S. is home to 77 million millennials – the largest generation in the electorate. This hour, we’ll talk about what older generations need to know about their values and how they vote. We’ll be joined by Paul Taylor, whose essay “It’s a Millennial World Now: Twelve Things to Know” appears in the summer issue of the Bush Institute journal The Catalyst.

As children learn about their surroundings, being awestruck by new discoveries is a part of everyday life. For world-weary adults, though, that experience happens less frequently. This hour, we’ll talk about the benefits of seeking out wonder in our lives with Carlin Flora, who writes about the topic for Psychology Today.

About one in 200 people are blind – that’s 39 million worldwide. This hour, we’ll talk about recent medical advancements that may have those people seeing one day soon with David Dobbs. His story “A Cure in Sight”appears in the September issue of National Geographic magazine.

Among the many important questions voters are considering as they contemplate their presidential pick is: Who do I most trust with the nuclear codes. This hour, we’ll talk about the power a president has to deploy our nuclear arsenal – and about how those decisions are made – with Stanford political science professor Scott Sagan, an expert on weapons of mass destruction.

C. Nicole Mason was born into poverty to a 16-year-old single mother. She found a safe place, though, at school. This hour, we’ll talk with her about excelling despite hardship and dispelling the myth that the poor are incapable of helping themselves, which she writes about in her memoir, “Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America” (St. Martin’s Press).

In 2013, Honduras was the murder capital of the world. This hour, we’ll talk about how the country’s homicide rate has steadily declined in the last few years thanks to programs funded by the United States with Sonia Nazario. Her story “How the Most Dangerous Place on Earth Got Safer” appeared recently in The New York Times.

Most fossils are briefly studied by researchers before going on display in museums. A few, though, make the vault to celebrity fossil status. This hour, we’ll talk about the Neanderthal of La Chapelle, the Taung Child, Peking Man and other remains that have significantly impacted our understanding of the history of mankind with Lydia Pyne, author of “Seven Skeletons: The Evolution of the World's Most Famous Human Fossils" (Viking).

A child growing up today has lived in a world full of glowing screens since birth. This hour, we’ll talk about how all that screen time can lead to ADHD, anxiety, depression and other disorders with Nicholas Kardaras. His new book is called “Glow Kids: How Screen Addiction is Hijacking Our Kids - and How to Break the Trance” (St. Martin's Press).

About 33,000 people are killed by a gun every year in the U.S. – whether by murder, suicide or accident. This hour, we’ll explore the numbers behind these deaths – and talk about how they can be reduced – with Ben Casselman, a senior editor and the chief economics writer for the website FiveThirtyEight.