Think from KERA

Some of the most unusual syndromes found around the world occur only within a specific culture. This hour, we’ll talk about these maladies with Frank Bures, who visited Nigeria, Hong Kong, Singapore, Borneo and other stops in search of answers. He writes about what he learned in “The Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World’s Strangest Syndromes” (Melville House).

As a boy, Vinh Chung escaped South Vietnam with his family to resettle in Arkansas. And despite language and cultural barriers, he thrived and eventually graduated from Harvard Medical School. This hour, on World Refugee Day, we’ll talk with him about his story of courage and familial sacrifice, which he writes about in “Where the Wind Leads: A Refugee Family’s Miraculous Story of Loss, Rescue, and Redemption” (Thomas Nelson). Chung speaks tonight at the Dallas Museum of Art as part of DMA Arts and Letters Live.

[2016-06-16 12:00:00] Self-driving cars sound like a dream for bumper-to-bumper traffic. And imagine all the reading during long road trips! This hour, we’ll talk about how these cars will function and how engineers are making them safe with U.C.-Berkeley research engineer Steven Shladover. He writes about the future of self-driving cars in the June issue of Scientific American magazine.

[2016-06-16 13:00:00] Recent heavy rain that caused flooding in Houston and other parts of the state has also replenished reservoirs. When it comes to our water supply, though, 60 percent of it comes from groundwater. This hour, we’ll talk about how water is managed in Texas with Sharlene Leurig, director of the Texas Environmental Flows Initiative. She writes about the topic for Our Desired Future, a multimedia project that looks at the sustainability of the state’s water supply.

[2016-06-15 13:00:00] Feminism has progressed in the U.S. to the point that a major political party has selected a woman to run for the presidency. Along the way, though, the term has also been co-opted and commodified. This hour, we’ll talk about how feminism has changed over the decades with Andi Zeisler. She writes about the topic in “We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrl to CoverGirl, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement” (PublicAffairs).

[2016-06-15 12:00:00] This episode of  Think is part of A Nation Engaged, a collaborative project between NPR and its member stations. This week’s question: “Does my vote matter?  In the run-up to the presidential election, we’ll be hearing a lot about Ohio, Florida, Colorado and other swing states. So how does that make voters in Texas feel? This hour, as part of a national coordinated conversation organized by NPR, we’ll talk about whether voters here feel that their votes count – and if they even plan to vote – with a panel of North Texas political organizers.

[2016-06-14 13:00:00] In the hours following this weekend’s mass shooting in Orlando, people across the country headed to their local blood banks to make a donation. This hour, we’ll talk about our blood supply – how it’s managed, why some people can donate when others can’t and about whether we’re equipped to mobilize mass blood drives in an emergency. We’ll be joined by Dr. Ravi Sarode, director of transfusion medicine and hemostasis at UT Southwestern, and Dr. William Crews, medical director of laboratory services for Carter BloodCare.

[2016-06-13 12:00:00] In the 19th Century, lithium was used to treat gout, epilepsy, cancer and other conditions. These days it’s used primarily to treat depression and bipolar disorder. This hour, we’ll talk about how scientists learned to use lithium most effectively – and about its strong Texas ties – with University of Toronto psychiatry professor Dr. Edward Shorter.

[2016-06-13 13:00:00] Jody Williams has been an activist her entire life – from protesting the Vietnam War to fighting for peace in El Salvador and Nicaragua. This hour, we’ll talk to her about what it takes to be an effective activist and about how she negotiated an international treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. Her memoir is called “My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize” (University of California Press).

[2016-06-09 13:00:00] Between proven science and shared assumptions, we pretty much have a collective sense of how the world works. Future generations may look back, though, and wonder what we were thinking. This hour, we’ll attempt to look at well-worn wisdom through fresh eyes with Chuck Klosterman. His new book is called “But What If We’re Wrong: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past” (Blue Rider Press).