Science and Technology - Think

An update on the search for alien life

January 3, 2024 Environment, Science and Technology, Think

Adam Frank, professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester, joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss the many ways scientists are searching for life in space.

Why do our bodies age?

December 19, 2023 Health, Science and Technology, Think

Coleen T. Murphy, professor of genomics and molecular biology at Princeton, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how worms and other simple organisms offer insights into the aging process and how we might slow it down.

For farmers, climate change is complicated

December 18, 2023 Current Events, Environment, Science and Technology, Think

Laura Reiley, who covers the business of food for The Washington Post, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the ways U.S. farmers are approaching modern problems of output and how the industry is working to do more with less.

The early online forum that built a trans community

December 14, 2023 Culture, Race/Identity, Science and Technology, Think

Samantha Riedel, contributing writer for Them magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the discovery of a CD-Rom with four years of content from the late 1990s, which shows a burgeoning trans community being born online.

A digital detox is not impossible

December 12, 2023 Culture, Science and Technology, Think

Chris Moody, professor at Appalachian State University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why he and his wife decided that to be better parents, they needed no internet distractions – and why that sense of isolation has been freeing.

Could deep brain stimulation cure depression?

December 8, 2023 Mental Health, Science and Technology, Think

Laura Sanders, who writes about neuroscience for ScienceNews, joins host Krys Boyd to talk about the pros and cons of deep brain stimulation, where electrical pulses are delivered straight into the brain during surgery.

Could facial recognition software send you to jail?

December 7, 2023 Current Events, Science and Technology, Think

Eyal Press, a contributing writer for The New Yorker, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss cases of mistaken identity that sent innocent people to prison, all on the authority of tech that is still new and has unintended bias built in.

The ancient inventions that made the modern world

December 4, 2023 History, Science and Technology, Think

Roma Agrawal, an engineer, author and broadcaster, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss simple inventions such as the rivet and string that we don’t think of as particularly revolutionary but which carry all the innovations of today on their shoulders.

We have trashed innerspace

November 29, 2023 Environment, Global Issues, Science and Technology, Think

Jaime Green, editor of “The Best American Science and Nature Writing,” joins host Krys Boyd to discuss space trash and what can be done about it.

You don’t want to live on Mars

November 27, 2023 Environment, Science and Technology, Think

Kelly Weinersmith, adjunct faculty member in the BioSciences department at Rice University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the impracticalities of space colonization and the conflicts it could create back on Earth.

The rough road to driverless cars

November 27, 2023 Current Events, Economics, Science and Technology, Think

Texas Monthly writer Dan Solomon joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the progress being made by tech companies producing driverless cars, as well as the safety concerns that still have yet to be addressed.

What personalized medicine promised, and what it delivered

November 24, 2023 Health, Science and Technology, Think

James Tabery, a professor at the University of Utah, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why precision medicines focused on gene technology benefit only the rich, while average citizens are left behind in this new model of curing disease.