KERA's Think KERA

Chances are you’re slumped over in your chair reading this — a constant in our modern world. Historian Beth Linker is the Samuel H. Preston Endowed Term Professor in the Social Sciences in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how posture ignited public health panics and race hierarchies of previous generations and why we should examine our previous beliefs to better understand fitness today. Her book is “Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America.”

After the blockbuster success of his novel “Crazy Rich Asians,” Kevin Kwan is back with a new summer read. The author joins host Krys Boyd to discuss his new novel – which again dives into themes of class, race, and money. It’s also a fun romp through the tropes of 19th Century marriage plots with true love on the line. The book is “Lies and Weddings.”

Are you too good at delaying gratification?

After a long day when we lay down to rest, that’s when our brains really fire up to help us dream. Dr. Rahul Jandial is a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist who oversees the Jandial Lab at City of Hope Cancer Center in Los Angeles. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how dreams help or brains function, why they are essential to memory and why dreams across cultures are remarkably similar. His book is “This Is Why You Dream: What Your Sleeping Brain Reveals About Your Waking Life.”

With Caitlin Clark making headlines in the WNBA, money in women’s sports is currently a hot topic. Macaela MacKenzie is a journalist who covers women’s equality and a contributor to Glamour magazine. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Title IX, the formation of professional women’s leagues, and their fight for equality on and off the playing field. Her book is “Money, Power, Respect: How Women in Sports Are Shaping the Future of Feminism.”

Bad news: more young people are getting cancer. The good news? Better drugs are targeting the disease. Dylan Scott, a reporter for Vox’s Future Perfect, and science journalist Jyoti Madhusoodanan, join host Krys Boyd to discuss the reasons why cancer is hitting earlier and earlier, and the scientific breakthroughs using the body’s own immune system to combat it.