Program Alert: May 6, 2011

Think airs Monday to Thursday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. on KERA-FM. Podcasts are available online at www.kera.org/think.

Monday, 5/09

Noon:  Who are today’s real adventure heroes? We’ll talk this hour with Mark Jenkins whose current National Geographic cover story “Yosemite’s Superclimbers” profiles a few athletes who are pushing the climbing envelope in unbelievable new directions.

1pm:  What does it take to really understand a country and the people who live there? We’ll talk this hour with NPR Morning Edition editor Miranda Kennedy, who writes about her five year immersion in a totally different culture in her new book “Sideways on a Scooter: Life and Love in India” (Random House, 2011).

Tuesday, 5/10

Noon:  What happened in Cambodia? We’ll examine the post-Khmer Rouge, post-Vietnamese and post-United Nations history of the country with Stanford University journalism professor and New York Times veteran reporter Joel Brinkley. His new book is “Cambodia’s Curse: The Modern History of a Troubled Land” (PublicAffairs, 2011).

1pm:  Why is high school so hard for some kids and so easy for others? How can we help them all navigate the challenging and complex youth culture of today and still manage to learn something? We’ll talk this hour with University of Texas sociologist Robert Crosnoe. His new book is “Fitting In, Standing Out: Navigating the Social Challenges of High School to Get an Education” (Cambridge, 2011).

Wednesday, 5/11

Noon:  Are the recent revolts and protests in the Middle East a logical next step in the history of the Arab people and their culture? We’ll take a look back and discuss the possible future of the region this hour with Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford. His 2009 book, “The Arabs: A History” (Basic Books, 2011), has just be reissued in paperback.

1pm:  How is a knowledge of creatures we may never see important to our general understanding of how life works on our planet? We’ll find out this hour with Ellen Prager, former chief scientist at the world’s only undersea research station and author of the book “Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Oceans’ Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter” (University Of Chicago Press, 2011).

Thursday, 5/12

Noon:  The United States may be falling behind overall when it comes to science and math education, but there are a few American kids who are achieving fantastic results in the world of high-stakes pre-college science fair competitions. We’ll go behind the scenes of the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair this hour with Judy Dutton, whose new book is “Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch . . . and What It Takes to Win” (Hyperion, 2011).

1pm:  Are you considering turning your backyard into an urban farm? Or perhaps you’re considering a back-to-nature relocation to the country. We’ll discuss trading the rat race for chickens, goats, bushels of produce and lots of work this hour with Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of “The Bucolic Plague: How Two Manhattanites Became Gentlemen Farmers: An Unconventional Memoir” (Harper Perennial, Paperback, 2011).

ABOUT Think

Think is a topic-driven interview program hosted by Krys Boyd covering a wide variety of subjects ranging from history, politics, current events, science, technology and trends to food and wine, travel, adventure, and entertainment. Think airs Monday to Thursday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. on KERA-FM. Podcasts and streamed video are available online at www.kera.org/think.

ABOUT KERA

KERA is a not-for-profit public media organization that serves the people of North Texas. The station broadcasts to the fourth-largest population area in the United States. KERA produces original multimedia content, carries the best in national and international public television and radio programs, and provides online resources at www.kera.org. The station’s extensive coverage of the arts can be found at www.artandseek.org. KERA-TV broadcasts on Channel 13.1. KERA WORLD broadcasts on 13.2. KERA-FM broadcasts on 90.1 in Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton, 88.3 in Wichita Falls, 100.1 in Tyler and 99.3 in Sherman. KXT 91.7 FM, KERA’s new music station, KXT 91.7, is streamed online at www.kxt.org.

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