Culture | Think

Why we find pleasure in pain

December 1, 2021 Culture, Mental Health, Think

Paul Bloom joins us to discuss why we sometimes seek out pain — in everything from scary movies to marathons.

We’ll be joined by a journalist who writes about the changing media landscape, a linguist who explains how cults use very specific language to recruit new members, and a researcher who says bad ideas are parasites that infect our brains.

Why People Obsess Over Pakistani Mangoes

November 25, 2021 Culture, Environment

Food writer Ahmed Ali Akbar joins us to discuss the backchannels of importing fruit, the lengths people will go to, and the customs bureaucracy that keeps foods from reaching American shores.

Beyond Biology: Rethinking What Makes A Family

November 24, 2021 Culture, History, Race/Identity, Science and Technology

Susan Golombok, director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge and a professional fellow at Newnham College, Cambridge, joins us to talk about the outdated ideas we have about creating a happy home and the variety of parents out there who are thriving.

The words we need that don’t exist

November 19, 2021 Culture, Language, Think

John Koenig joins us to discuss his work coining new words and phrases that he hopes will perfectly capture the nuance and beauty of specific moments in our lives when the words we have at our disposal fail.

How the Muslim diaspora shaped the West

November 18, 2021 Culture, Race/Identity, Think

Omar Mouallem discusses his travels to 13 mosques across the Americas trying to understand what it means to different people to be Muslim.

Generational differences are made up

November 17, 2021 Culture, Race/Identity, Think

Bobby Duffy joins us to discuss why labels put on generations aren’t as fixed as we’re taught to believe.

The challenges – and joys – of raising a trans child

November 16, 2021 Culture, Race/Identity, Think

The writer and producer of the “How to Be a Girl” podcast talks about raising a transgender child, and how she’s grown in her approaches to gender and sexuality.

Does reality TV understand Black women?

November 15, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Race/Identity, Think

Bethonie Butler covers television and pop culture for The Washington Post, and she joins us to discuss the stereotypes these shows often play into, and if progress is being made on television.

A view of a Pride flag hanging from Peterborough Cathedral

She Couldn’t Pray The Gay Away

November 12, 2021 Culture, Health, Mental Health

Julie Rodgers joins us to discuss how religion has shaped her life, from coming out in a conservative evangelical household, to now, as she works to bridge LGBTQ communities with the church.

What your nose knows

November 2, 2021 Culture, Science and Technology, Think

Journalist Jude Stewart joins us to talk about how our sense of smell shapes our world from art to history and reveals the surprising science behind it.

When birth mothers were shamed into adoption

October 29, 2021 Culture, Health, History, Race/Identity

Gabrielle Glaser joins us to tell the story of how a system of closed adoptions across the nation operated on shifty moral ground and separated mother from child in the name of a wholesome environment.