KERA's Think

Society expects a mother to be nurturing and attentive at all times. So what happens when mom just isn’t feeling particularly maternal? Margo Lowy, psychotherapist and contributor to Psychology Today, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the perfectly normal feelings of sometimes hating the work of motherhood, why it’s so hard to talk about it, and why more women need to open up about their unaddressed needs. Her book is “Maternal Ambivalence: The Loving Moments & Bitter Truths of Motherhood.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Content creation has exploded this decade, but how much of it is actually good? Spencer Kornhaber, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the massive output of music, TV, movies, podcasts – even memes – constantly chips away at our attention spans. We’ll also talk about how derivative this content often is, how streaming might’ve killed creativity, and why innovation is so hard to notice. His article is “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?" Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

College students sometimes get in trouble for using A.I. to complete assignments, but is there a way to use it as a teaching tool? Clay Shirky, vice provost for A.I. and technology in education at New York University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how professors are using A.I. in the classroom and whether or not the technology gets in the way of critical thinking. His article “Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It?” was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education." Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Mentally ill inmates are at risk of neglect, dehydration – even starvation. New Yorker staff writer Sarah Stillman joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the four-fold increase since the 1980s of people in jail awaiting trial, the increasingly outsized population of mentally unwell people lacking proper treatment, and the alarming rise in jail deaths that could’ve been prevented with better supervision. Her article is “Starved in Jail.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The dad who coaches the team and brings home the bacon is a modern invention. Augustine Sedgwick joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how fatherhood has evolved over millennia, how the patriarchy and fatherhood diverge, and how thinkers as far back as Aristotle thought about the role of dads. His book is “Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Space is the final frontier — and not too long ago, to explore it you had to be a man. Cady Coleman is a former NASA astronaut, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, scientist, pilot and musician. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how hearing Sally Ride speak changed the trajectory of her life and what months on the International Space Station taught her about her career and motherhood. Her book is “Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.” This episode originally aired July 25th, 2025. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Every relationship has a person who loads the dishwasher like an architect, and one who throws plates in like a tornado. Ellen Cushing, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why arguments over daily chores might signal deeper issues in a partnership, why some household appliances have such a hold on us, and, yes, we’ll get to scientific proof of how that dishwasher is really supposed to be loaded. (Be prepared to tell your significant other.) Her article is, “There Are Two Types of Dishwasher People.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We hear a lot about the male “epidemic of loneliness” these days—maybe it’s from behaviors learned in childhood. Joshua Coleman is a psychologist in private practice and senior fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how we parent girls and boys differently, asking boys to hide their emotions while allowing girls to express theirs and how even in infancy we don’t give boys the attention they need reliably. His article, “What Parents of Boys Need to Know” was published by The Atlantic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Finding happiness is no longer an abstract pursuit—there’s serious science behind it, but it’s research that hasn’t always been held in the highest esteem. Susan Dominus, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how studying happiness became a respected field of study, what psychologists are learning about different types of happiness, and what data says about contentment. Her article is, "How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding." Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Why are we following the lead of tech billionaires when it comes to guiding public policy? Science journalist Adam Becker joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the ways Silicon Valley scions might have A.I. all wrong, the obsession with space colonies and why we aren’t asking more critical questions for their version of the future. His book is, “More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity.“ Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We think we’ll win the lotto even though the odds are low— and that sums up just how wrong we are when we think about risk. Allie Volpe is a senior reporter at Vox. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the many ways we get risk management wrong, why data shows it is hindering younger generations from taking chances and ways we can manage anxiety over the things we can’t control. Her article is, “Plane crashes, pandemics, toxic spatulas. How do we live with so much risk?“ Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Last Thursday, the first American Pope was introduced to the world as Pope Leo XIV. Christopher White, Vatican correspondent at the National Catholic Reporter and author of the upcoming book “Pope Leo XIV: Inside the Conclave and the Dawn of a New Papacy,” joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, what his mission for the church might be going forward, and the significance of the papal name he’s chosen as he now looks to lead 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We want our airline pilots to fly only when they’re healthy, which can lead to masking symptoms of mental illness. Helen Ouyang is an emergency physician and associate professor at Columbia University. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss rules around pilot health — which can discourage them to seek necessary treatment for fear of being deemed unfit to fly — and why there are both pros and cons to the policy. Her article in The New York Times is “Why Airline Pilots Feel Pushed to Hide Their Mental Illness.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A.D.H.D is a fairly common diagnosis, but some researchers are wondering if we should start taking a more nuanced approach to treatment. Paul Tough is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, and he joins host Krys Boyd to talk about why A.D.H.D. might be experienced by anyone at a given time and might not be a permanent diagnosis, and why doctors are rethinking standard stimulant medications. His article is “Have We Been Thinking About A.D.H.D. All Wrong?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, James Baldwin —1963 brought great minds together to work on the common goal of Civil Rights. Peniel Joseph is Barbara Jordan Chair in Political Values and Ethics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and professor of history and founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how different political perspectives shaped a pivotal year in Civil Rights history and how violence woke the nation up to the urgent need for change. His book is “Freedom Season: How 1963 Transformed America’s Civil Rights Revolution.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Humans have an extraordinarily high genetic mutation rate — which just means we’ll never be perfect. Laurence D. Hurst is professor of evolutionary genetics in the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why imperfection is baked into our genetic code, why other species can get rid of “junk” DNA better, and what this means for human evolution. His book is “The Evolution of Imperfection: The Science of Why We Aren’t and Can’t Be Perfect. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

We’ve all had moments of blind rage, but the science says we can be wide-eyed and alert even in our most emotional moments. Ethan Kross is a professor in the University of Michigan’s psychology department and its Ross School of Business and he is the director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the newest research into controlling our emotions so they don’t control us, how labeling feelings as “good” and “bad” helps build a feelings immune system, and why avoidance is sometimes a great tool. His book is “Shift: Managing Your Emotions—So They Don’t Manage You.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The high cost of living combined with a modest bank account has young people asking if they should save or splurge? And many of them are choosing to splurge. Journalist Claire Lampen joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why Gen Z is taking on second jobs and side hustles to pay for meals out, elaborate vacations and other treats that might more prudently be skipped. Her article in The Cut is “Is Everybody Just Living Beyond Their Means?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It was first thought schools would close for only a few weeks during Covid, but that stretched into a year. Was it too long? Journalist David Zweig joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what we can learn from school closures during the pandemic and to look at the reality that decisions were based on scientific guesswork. His book is “An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The early 2000s preached “girl power” to the masses — but that often looked like sex and plastic surgery. Sophie Gilbert, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what coming of age in the early aughts meant for young women in an atmosphere of highly sexualized body image, how porn manifested itself into pop culture, and what society had to say about powerful women. Her book is “Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices