KERA's Think

[2013-04-18 12:00:00] This hour, we’ll lead off with a special live update from KERA’s Courtney Collins who’s on the ground in West, Texas after an explosion at a fertilizer plant that, according to authorities, may have killed between five and fifteen people and injured more than 160 others. In light of senseless attacks like the Boston Marathon bombings and the still largely unexplained explosion here in Texas, we’ll also delve into the concept of community resiliency with Thomas Homer-Dixon this hour. He’s a security and energy expert and author of “The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization” (Island Press, 2008). He’ll speak at Friday’s Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture conference “What Makes a Resilient City?”

[2013-04-17 13:00:00] What still needs to happen for our country to finally move beyond the legacy and reality of racial prejudice? We’ll discuss the problems and potential solutions this hour with Michael Higginbotham, the Wilson H. Elkins Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore School of Law and author of the new book “Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America” (NYU Press, 2013).

[2013-04-17 12:00:00] How are drug and treatment protocols evaluated by medical professionals and researchers and what roles do politics and business interests play in the process? We’ll spend this hour with Dr. Beatrice Golomb, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego. She’ll deliver the Center for Values in Medicine, Science and Technology Lecture at 7:30 p.m. this evening at UT Dallas.

[2013-04-16 13:00:00] What can we learn from how a loved one faces a life-threatening diagnosis and death? Well spend this hour with Rod Dreher who tells his sister’s story in the new book “The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life” (Grand Central Publishing, 2013). Dreher is in Dallas for a book signing at the Barnes & Noble across from NorthPark at 7 pm.

[2013-04-16 12:00:00] Why are dinosaurs still so fascinating to both kids and adults and what have we learned from the latest research into the lives of these incredible prehistoric animals? We’ll talk this hour with science writer Brian Switek whose new book is “My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs” (Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013).

[2013-04-15 13:00:00] What do comic book heroines tell us about how society handles real-life superwomen? We’ll talk this hour with Erin Prather Stafford, executive producer of the new documentary “Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines,” which airs on KERA television and PBS this evening. This interview is part of KERA’s Women And Girls Lead initiative.

[2013-04-15 12:00:00] Are you wondering where your hard-earned tax dollars are actually going this year? We’ll find out this hour with Mattea Kramer, senior research analyst for the National Priorities Project which explains the federal budget process with the goal of making budgetary information accessible to everyone.

[2013-04-11 13:00:00] What does it take to find and photograph some of the most elusive animals on the planet? We’ll spend this hour with Tim Laman, a field biologist and wildlife photographer from Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology and Edwin Scholes, an ornithologist and biodiversity video curator at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. For nearly a decade they’ve collaborated on a project to photograph all 39 species of New Guinea’s birds-of-paradise and they’ll talk about their work tonight as part of National Geographic Live! at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

[2013-04-11 12:00:00] Can our meals be both good for us and really delicious? We’ll explore strategies for maximizing our enjoyment of food all while maintaining our health this hour with food writer Peter Kaminsky. His book “Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well)” (Vintage, 2013) is now out in paperback.

[2013-04-10 13:00:00] From the archive – What’s it like in the slum settlements of Mumbai? Katherine Boo, staff writer for The New Yorker, spent three years reporting on the Annawadi settlement near the city’s airport. She writes about the experience and the incredible lives of the people who live there in her new book “Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity” (Random House, 2012). We talked with her last February.

[2013-04-10 12:00:00] Could the world’s biggest problems be solved by applying lessons learned through cooperation in the classroom? We’ll talk this hour with educator John Hunter, author of the new book “World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements” (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). This interview is part of KERA’s American Graduate Initiative.

[2013-04-09 13:00:00] What are the best treatments for addiction? We’ll examine the latest scientific approaches to dealing with the disease this hour with writer and journalist David Sheff. His new book is “Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013). Sheff speaks at Highland Park High School at 6:30 p.m. this evening. And he’ll speak at the Dallas Country Club tomorrow to benefit CARE.

[2013-04-09 12:00:00] What actually makes someone a hero and how does the classical or mythical concept of the hero inform the 21st century reality and impact the lives of veterans returning from war? We’ll spend this hour with Michael Mooney who profiles murdered Navy Seal sniper Chris Kyle in this month’s D Magazine, Ben Fountain – author of the book “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” and Shaun Treat, assistant professor of Rhetoric at the University of North Texas.

[2013-04-08 13:00:00] Are we all biased – even if we don’t consciously realize it? We’ll talk this hour with Harvard University psychologist Mahzarin Banaji, co-developer of the Implicit Association Test and co-author of the new book “Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People” (Delacorte Press, 2013).

[2013-04-08 12:00:00] How would you help people in the midst of a humanitarian crisis? We’ll spend this hour with three individuals who’ve answered that question. Louise Bloom and Alexander Betts are both involved in the Humanitarian Innovation Project at the University of Oxford and Erik Abild works with the Norwegian Refugee Council. They’ll all participate in a live panel discussion Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. as part of Engineering & Humanity Week at Southern Methodist University.