Think airs Monday to Thursday from 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m. on KERA 90.1 FM. Encore airings of Think can be heard Monday to Thursday nights on KERA FM beginning at 9:00 p.m. Podcasts and streamed video are available online at www.kera.org/think.

Monday, 8/06

Hour 1:  From the archives – What are the challenges of designing support systems for off-earth exploration? We spent an hour last spring with NASA Engineer Kobie Boykins when he was in town to speak about his work on the Mars rover and other projects.

Hour 2:  From the archives – What causes a behavior to become a habit? Why are good habits so hard to develop and how are marketers and corporations capitalizing on our habits? In March we talked with The New York Times investigative reporter Charles Duhigg. His recent book is “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” (Random House, 2012).

Tuesday, 8/07

Hour 1:  From the archives – What are the benefits of simply taking a hike? What about when the hike lasts for months and extends for hundreds and hundreds of miles? We talked last spring with Cheryl Strayed who reset her life and learned to manage her grief, depression, and heartbreak with an 1100-mile hike in 1995. Her memoir is “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” (Knopf, 2012).

Hour 2:  From the archives – Who was James Brown before he became the “Godfather of Soul” and the “hardest working man in show business?” We explored the incredible story and heard a few of the greatest soul tunes of the 20^th Century last March with journalist and author R.J. Smith, author of “The One: The Life and Music of James Brown” (Gotham, 2012).

Wednesday, 8/08

Hour 1:  What’s the best way to recover and ensure appropriate compensation from natural disasters, human-caused tragedies, and acts of violence? Well talk this hour with Kenneth R. Feinberg, administrator of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, the fund for victims of the Virginia Tech shootings, and others. Feinberg writes about his experiences as a mediator in his new book “Who Gets What: Fair Compensation after Tragedy and Financial Upheaval” (PublicAffairs, 2012).

Hour 2:  What are the biggest misconceptions about human nature and gender differences and what does science have to say about them? We’ll talk this hour with Agustín Fuentes, professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and author of the new book “Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature” (University of California Press, 2012).

Thursday, 8/09

Hour 1:  What has become of the tribal customs, language, and beliefs of the Oglala Lakota people of the pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota? We’ll talk this hour with journalist and author Alexandra Fuller. Her current National Geographic Magazine cover story is “Life After Wounded Knee.”

Hour 2:  What role did “The Star-Spangled Banner” lyricist Francis Scott Key play in preserving slavery? We’ll talk this hour with Jefferson Morley, Washington correspondent for Salon and author of the new book “Snow-Storm in August: Washington City, Francis Scott Key, and the Forgotten Race Riot of 1835” (Nan A. Talese Doubleday, 2012).

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