Heads up, word nerds: Merriam-Webster is revising its famous third edition of the dictionary. Hopefully the finished read will be perfectly pellucid (adjective, easily intelligible or clear). We’ll talk about what we an expect.
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Gauging Group Dynamics
Team projects are the bane of some people’s school or work lives. We’ll chat with the author of Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter on how to do just that.
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Why We're Nice
We’ll talk about the science of being kind with the author of Does Altruism Exist?: Culture, Genes, and the Welfare of Others.
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What It's Like To Be Poor
About 14.5 percent of Americans live in poverty. We’ll talk with the author of Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America about the many misconceptions we have about what it’s like to be poor.
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From Spirituals to Smash Hits
What do rock ‘n’ roll, the blues and jazz all have in common? They all have roots in African American protest songs, says Baylor University associate professor Robert F. Darden.
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National Security vs. Free Speech
In a post-Snowden world, it can seem harder than ever to agree on just how much citizens have a right to know about their government. We’ll talk about that difficult balance with when we talked about how we can maintain that balance with Stephen Whitfield, professor of American civilization at Brandeis University.
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MLK's Message
We’ll delve deeply into one of Martin Luther King’s most important texts with the author of Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation.
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Art And The Afterlife
We’ll talk about modern concepts of heaven, hell, purgatory and other post-life possibilities with the author of Entertaining Judgment: The Afterlife in Popular Imagination.
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Poverty And The Brain
We’ll talk about how poverty can affect a child’s brain – and about interventions that can reverse those changes – with Dr. Jacquelyn Gamino, director of UTD’s Center for Brain Health’s Adolescent Reasoning Initiative.
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Life Without A Net
We’ll explore the merits of gambling a little with our well-being with the author of Savage Park: A Meditation on Play, Space, and Risk for Americans Who Are Nervous, Distracted, and Afraid to Die.
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The Limits Of Standardized Testing
As part of KERA’ American Graduate initiative, we’ll talk about how we can preserve diverse ways of learning with the author of The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed With Standardized Testing – But You Don’t Have to Be.
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Earthquakes In Dallas
We’ll talk about what might be causing these frequent tremors – and whether we should be worried – with SMU seismologists Dr. Brian Stump and Dr. Heather DeShon.
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