Paul Tough, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why the U.S. is an outlier globally when it comes to college popularity.
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Racial justice starts in your community
Princeton African American Studies professor Ruha Benjamin talks about emerging racial justice programs and policies making a difference and the inspiration we can take from that work to do better in our own lives.
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In Oregon, an experiment in drug laws
Journalist Jack Holmes joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss why heroin and fentanyl are now easily-accessible street drugs, and if this radical way of confronting addiction as a behavioral-health issue is doing more harm than good.
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How cable news went all-in on politics
Historian Kathryn Cramer Brownell joins guest host John McCaa to discuss the rise of cable news, which she argues decentralized traditional media and led to today’s fractured political landscape.
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Meet the D.C. power brokers who aren’t politicians
Ben Terris of The Washington Post joins guest host John McCaa to discuss the names we don’t know who are shaping politics today, and the wild stories that make up life on The Hill.
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How big state schools spend all of that tuition
Wall Street Journal higher education reporter Melissa Korn joins host Krys Boyd to discuss a look into 50 flagship state universities and how inflows of cash are not necessarily benefiting students – and how those schools justify their decisions.
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For old-school conspiracy theorists, QAnon crossed a line
Conspiracy theory researcher Annie Kelly discusses how old-school skeptics raised on late-night call-in radio fear modern day conspiracy theorists are giving their passion a bad name.
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We’re doing the wrong things to fix poverty
Sociologist Matthew Desmond won a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for his book “Evicted,” and he joins us to discuss his follow-up investigation, which centers on the idea that affluent Americans keep poor people poor.
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The world’s full of scams – here’s how they get you
Psychology professor Daniel Simons discusses the many ways we get taken for a ride and the faulty thinking that got us there so we can be aware next time.
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Global sperm counts are down. Is it time to worry?
New York magazine writer Simon van Zuylen-Wood discusses a burgeoning industry of at-home sperm testing and whether or not amping up reproduction should be a priority for our warming, resource-strapped planet.
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When unloading a house, it’s seller beware
ProPublica reporter Anjeanette Damon discusses their long look into how HomeVestors of America acquires homes, and the way the business model is set up to reward franchisees.
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Coal is out, batteries are in and miners still win
Journalist Nick Bowlin discusses his trip to a mining conference, which revealed an industry excited about the lithium, manganese and zinc that will be needed to fuel a clean-energy revolution.
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