History - Think

Demi Moore sits in front of Patrick Swayze in a scene from the movie Ghost.

Seeing Ghosts Can Actually Be Good For Us

April 27, 2021 Culture, Health, History, Mental Health, Science and Technology

Patricia Pearson joins us to talk about why we dismiss these phenomena as nonsense and what we miss in the healing process when we do.

How We Got To BIPOC

April 23, 2021 Culture, Current Events, History, Language, Race/Identity

Christopher MacDonald-Dennis is chief diversity officer at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and he joins us to talk about the evolution of BIPOC and similar terms – and why some people embrace them while others don’t.

The South Lives On In White Sororities

April 22, 2021 Culture, Current Events, History, Race/Identity

Scholar Margaret L. Freeman joins us to talk about the hyperfeminine world of sorority life and how sororities contribute to maintaining southern social hierarchies.

Could A Simple Equation Explain The Universe?

April 19, 2021 Culture, History, Science and Technology

Michio Kaku is a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York and a co-founder of string field theory. He joins us to talk about a search to explain the very reasons we exist and why that’s a controversial idea.

An Artist’s Quest To Replace The Irreplaceable

April 15, 2021 Current Events, History, Race/Identity

Michael Rakowitz joins us to talk about his work that uses historic moments as a launching board to workshop big ideas into moments of change.

Darwin’s Guide To Alien Life

April 13, 2021 Education, Environment, History, Science and Technology

Arik Kershenbaum, a zoologist and fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge, joins us to talk about understanding evolution on Earth and how that might parallel alien life forms elsewhere.

The World Needs More Toilets

April 12, 2021 Culture, Economics, Global Issues, Health, History, Science and Technology

Science journalist Chelsea Wald joins us to talk about what’s behind the plumbing and introduce the scientists and activists working to make sanitation healthy and accessible for all.

Asian Americans And The Rise In Racism

April 12, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Education, History, Race/Identity

Vishakha N. Desai, chair of Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought and a past president of the Asia Society, joins us to talk about these troubling statics, how Asians regularly face racist ideas that question their place in American society and what needs to happen to fight back.

NFTs And The Future Of Digital Art

April 8, 2021 Culture, Current Events, Economics, Global Issues, History

Kyle Chayka is a contributor to The New Yorker, and he joins us to discuss the high stakes, high-price world of digital art and why galleries, museum curators, auction houses, even everyday people are jumping on this cutting-edge trend.

Student Debt Is Crushing Parents, Too

April 7, 2021 Culture, Economics, Education, History

Caitlin Zaloom, associate professor of social and cultural analysis at New York University, joins us to discuss how college-minded parents are taking on enormous debts to fund higher education and why the middle-class is especially crunched.

Online Scams Are Out Of Control

April 6, 2021 Current Events, History, Politics, Science and Technology

Ankush Khardori, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor who specialized in financial fraud and white-collar crime, joins us to discuss internet crime, why it’s gotten worse during the pandemic, and the persistent problems facing the Justice Department.

How The Quest For Flavor Drove Evolution

April 5, 2021 Culture, Global Issues, History, Science and Technology

Rob Dunn, professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University joins us to talk about why we prefer cooked food, the various ways we taste, and how our pursuit of a good meal might’ve led to starting the first fire.