Think from KERA

Gen Zer’s have lived their lives online, and they’re burned out. Freya India is the author of the Substack GIRLS, where she writes about the challenges girls and young women face in the modern world, and a staff writer for Jonathan Haidt’s newsletter, After Babel. She joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss the pressure to build personal “brands,” how even childhood has been commodified and the many ways mental health is suffering. Her book is “GIRLS®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Kevin Warsh has been confirmed as the next Federal Reserve Chair will the central bank remain independent? Frontline correspondent and filmmaker James Jacoby joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Trump’s efforts to control the Fed, his push to indict current Chair Jerome Powell, and the far-reaching consequences of these sustained attacks. The documentary is called “The President and the Fed.“ Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The most reluctant politician we’ve ever had just happens to have been our first president. H.W. Brands is Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss George Washington who saw himself as a solider and not a politician why he felt it was paramount for a president to defer to Congress, and the grievances he had against the crown before the Revolution. His book is “American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The 1980s brought us the young upstarts known as the Yuppies and you may be living their lifestyle today. Dylan Gottlieb is historian at Bentley University and co-host of Who Makes Cents: A History of Capitalism Podcast and author of “Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York.” He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the social and political changes Yuppies brought to not just urban settings, but throughout the country, why “self-optimization” is just a byproduct of their high-wage, long-hours lifestyles, and why their success came at the cost of equality. His companion article in The New York Times is “How Yuppies Changed America. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In the debate of nature vs. nurture, the animal world does a lot more nurturing than you might think. Science journalist Elizabeth Preston joins host Krys Boyd to discuss parenting styles of animals – like otters that teach their offspring to swim – the role dads play in caring for their young, and what science knows about love in non-human creatures. Her book “The Creatures’ Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

If you could choose your future baby’s hair color, height, even I.Q. should you? Christopher Cox is an editor at New York Magazine, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the $50,000 tests that promise to help prospective parents choose the most desirable traits, if this new practice is a form of modern eugenics, and if these tests even work. His article is “Can You Really Choose Your ‘Best Baby’?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The first college students to have access to A.I. are graduating, and employers are wary. Amanda Hoover is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering the tech industry. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how companies are trying to discern if A.I. is being used to cheat through interviews, why no one quite knows what these graduates are capable of, and what these types of intellectual shortcuts are doing to higher ed. Her article is “Meet the graduating class of CollegeGPT.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

People are injecting themselves with unregulated compounds bought from the internet — so how safe is this health trend? Dhruv Khullar is a physician and contributing writer at The New Yorker. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the realities of injectable peptides — what they promise and what are falsehoods, what the FDA has to say about these substances, and why some people are willing to take huge risks in hopes of better health. His article “Why Are People Injecting Themselves with Peptides?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

To answer the age-old question “why do we exist?” it might be helpful to add a little science into out existential pondering. we need to employ quantum physics for the answer. Hakeem Oluseyi is an astrophysicist, inventor, educator and CEO of the Astro Society, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the space-time continuum of life as we know it, the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe, and how our imagination shapes our existence. His book is “Why Do We Exist?: The Nine Realms of Universe that Make You Possible.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There’s power in speaking truth to power — you just need the courage of your convictions. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw is Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, and the cofounder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum. She joins host Krys Boyd to talk about her upbringing, which taught her to speak out when things weren’t fair, how that helped shape her work in critical race theory and intersectionality, and why she feels all people have the power to push for change. Her book is “Backtalker: An American Memoir.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Whether you notice it or not, you speak with an accent. Valerie Fridland, professor of linguistics in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how accents from the Southern drawl to the California Valley Girl came to be, why accents are key to culture, and why, in our mass media world, some are fading away. Her book is “Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Our lives are ruled by markets, but you don’t have to be an economist to understand these forces. Alex Mayyasi, host of the new podcast “Gastronomics” and a longtime contributor to “Planet Money,” joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the nuts and bolts of the economy – from how zoning codes create jobs to the cross purposes of dating apps – and breaks it down for the Average Joe to understand. His book is “Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth believes America’s wars around the world are part of a holy Christian mission. Peter Wehner, contributing writer at The Atlantic and a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the Psalms he quotes about smiting enemies, how he is taking inspiration from the Bible for military conquests and why he wants his entire chaplain corps to think this way. His article is “Hegseth’s Unholy War Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The average new car in America costs $50,000, but how many people can actually afford one? Clifford Winston is an economist who specializes in transportation and microeconomic policy. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss where the low-priced cars have gone, how all the new bells and whistles are squeezing those on a budget, and why even repair bills are now sky high. His article for The New York Times is “The Death of the Basic American Car.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The U.S. military attack on Venezuela was fast and surgical — so how is the country doing now? Missy Ryan, staff writer for The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what Venezuelans on the ground think of the regime change, how the new government is faring and whether legitimate democracy now has a foothold there. Her article is called “Venezuela Seems to Be Going … Well?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For children who felt responsible for their parents’ happiness: There’s a way to turn that into joy. Anna Konkle is co-creator and co-star of the Hulu series “Pen15,” and she joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her childhood – when her parents fought all the time and she felt like the peacemaker – her complicated relationship with her father and how she turned that experience into comedy for her critically acclaimed series. Her book is called “The Sane One.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

President Trump’s threats to attack drug cartels inside Mexico have put the bilateral relationship on edge. Arturo Sarukhan served as Mexican Ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013, and he joins guest host John McCay to discuss why he believes the U.S.-Mexico relationship hasn’t been this fractured since the 1980s, how the previous Mexican president known as AMLO played into this, and how nations across the world are watching and reacting to this new rhetoric. His article “Can Mexico Avoid a Confrontation With the United States?” was published in Foreign Affairs. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The super rich are wildly different than the rest of us, in part by the way they’ve designed their lives. New York Magazine features writer Lane Brown joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the frictionless world of the extremely wealthy – where access to just about anything is automatic – the differences between old and new money and the everyday stressors that they feel that those with less don’t. His article is “What Does Extreme Wealth Do to the Brain?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Many of us offload heavy thinking to A.I., and our brains are going soft in the process. Cal Newport, professor of computer science at Georgetown University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how employing computers to do our deepest thinking dulls our ability to concentrate and the things we can do right now to keep us sharp and alert. His recent essay published in The New York Times is “There’s a Good Reason You Can’t Concentrate.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Recent graduates take heart: There is meaningful work out there for you. Jodi Kantor, Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times investigative reporter, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how to find passion in your work, what it takes to find out what we’re good at and how to choose work that the world needs. Her book is “How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices