KERA's Think

[2014-01-28 13:00:00] Having an open mind is a characteristic we aspire to. But how much of our mind is already made up because of our brain chemistry? As part of KERA’s Breakthroughs initiative, we’ll talk this hour about how we may be predisposed to certain belief systems and methods of decision-making with neuroscientist D.F. Swaab, author of We Are Our Brains: A Neurobiography of the Brain, from the Womb to Alzheimer’s (Spiegel & Grau).

[2014-01-28 12:00:00] Amy Tan is the best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club, The Hundred Secret Senses and others. We’ll talk to her this hour about her career and her new novel, The Valley of Amazement (Ecco) ahead of her appearance tonight at First United Methodist Church of Dallas for Arts & Letters Live.

[2014-01-27 13:00:00] Networking takes place everywhere from parties to elevators. And you never know when that important business contact might be standing right next to you. We’ll talk this hour about how to make an impression with Susan RoAne, author of How to Work a Room: The Ultimate Guide to Making Lasting Connections – In Person and Online (William Morrow Paperbacks).

[2014-01-27 12:00:00] Earning a law degree isn’t the ticket to wealth that it once was. In fact, many newly minted lawyers have trouble even finding work. So why is the University of North Texas opening a law school? We’ll talk this hour about how the school will take a fresh approach to legal education with deans Judge Royal Furgeson Jr. and Ellen Pryor.

[2014-01-23 13:00:00] University of Houston law professor David R. Dow has defended more than 100 death-row inmates. And as the founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network, he’s recognized as a leading anti-death penalty crusader. We’ll talk to him this hour about how he arrived at his beliefs and about his new memoir, Things I’ve Learned From Dying: A Book About Life (Twelve).

[2014-01-23 12:00:00] The story of Oedipus has captivated the theater world for more than 2,000 years.The tragedy has taken many forms since Sophocles’ day – one is set in the barrios of Los Angeles in the play Oedipus El Rey. We’ll talk all things Oedipus with Kevin Moriarty, who is directing Oedipus El Rey at Dallas Theater Center, and University of Dallas classics professor David Davies.

[2014-01-22 13:00:00] P.J. O’Rourke has been making us laugh through his writing for 50 years. And as a proud Baby Boomer, he’s got plenty of wry insights to make about his generation. We’ll talk to him this hour about his new book, The Baby Boom: How It Got That Way (And It Wasn’t My Fault) (And I’ll Never Do It Again) (Atlantic Monthly Press).

[2014-01-22 12:00:00] As humans, we can reliably live about 70 years, give or take. So what are some tortoises doing that allows them to live twice as long? We’ll talk about the wide range of life expectancy in the animal kingdom this hour with ecology professor Jonathan Silvertown, author of The Long and the Short of It: The Science of Life Span and Aging (University of Chicago Press).

[2014-01-21 13:00:00] From Pride and Prejudice to Downton Abbey and on to today, the British are known for their manners. But how were those definitions of what is proper formed? We’ll talk about what passes as good manners – and how we learned them – this hour with Henry Hitchings, author of Sorry!: The English and Their Manners (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).

[2014-01-21 12:00:00] In America’s battle with obesity, obesity is winning. But new research shows that rewiring the way we think could help even the score. We’ll talk about the factors at play in our war with our weight with Dr. Deborah A. Cohen, author of A Big Fat Crisis: The Hidden Forces Behind the Obesity Epidemic – And How We Can End It (Nation Books).

[2014-01-16 13:00:00] Lies come in all shapes and sizes – from the little white ones to the whoppers. And while these fibs may temporarily get us out of a jam, the truth is that they often cause us more problems down the road. We’ll find out this hour how we can simplify our lives by being honest with neuroscientist Sam Harris, author of Lying (Four Elephants Press).

[2014-01-16 12:00:00] Jane Pauley hosted the Today show on NBC for 13 years before moving on to Dateline NBC for more than a decade. This hour, she joins us to talk about her distinguished career in broadcasting and about her new book, Your Life Calling: Reimagining the Rest of Your Life (Simon & Schuster).

[2014-01-15 13:00:00] As a NASA astronaut, Dr. Ed Lu has spent six months of his life on the International Space Station. And since then, he’s dedicated his career to opening up the possibility of space travel to the rest of us. So how much longer do we have to wait until we’re climbing in space shuttles ourselves? We’ll find out this hour with Dr. Lu ahead of his appearance this week at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science.

[2014-01-15 12:00:00] The new year is a time when we assess our lives, including our finances. As part of KERA’s One Crisis Away initiative, we’ll find out this hour what we’re doing right and how we can better build that nest egg with Certified Financial Planners Thomas E. Murphy and Crystal Billing.

[2014-01-14 13:00:00] From the archives: What exactly are Americans eating? We talked in February with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter Michael Moss. He explains the masterwork in chemistry and marketing behind phenomena like Lunchables in “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us” (Random House, 2013).