Ugly is a four letter word

Colombia is known for its illicit drug trade and now cartels there are counterfeiting U.S. dollars. Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine who reports on transnational crime, national security and science. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how Colombian authorities are trying to track down criminal enterprises counterfeiting dollar bills, how this could harm economies in Latin America and erode trust in the dollar, and why these fakes have gotten so good it’s hard to tell them from the genuine article. His article is “The Hunt for the Counterfeiter Trying to Make the Perfect Bill.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Long before A.I., people have worried about technology taking away the ability to work with our hands. Joshua Habgood-Coote is a lecturer in the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science at the University of Leeds. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the centuries-old longing to get back to the “good old days” of craftsmanship, what this nostalgia means for our modern times, and why mastering a skill might help us to be more content in our desk-bound jobs. His article “Skill Nostalgia” was published by Aeon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Wildfires are more dangerous than they’ve ever been — take if from a former firefighter. Jordan Thomas is a former Los Padres hotshot wildland firefighter and currently an anthropologist and chancellor’s fellow at the University of California. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why climate change doesn’t tell the whole story of why today’s fires rage out of control, our complicated relationship to fire, and what it’s like to run directly into the flames. His book is “When It All Burns: Fighting Fire in a Transformed World.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Open caskets used to be fairly standard, but we’re losing the artists who make that possible. John Semley joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the history, culture and economics of morticians, why their particular trade is quickly going out of fashion, and how losing this restorative mortuary science is changing the way we grieve. His article “A Dying Art: The last of the morticians” was published in Harper’s Magazine. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There is a word that no woman wants to be called: ugly. Stephanie Fairyington is a journalist who writes on gender, sexuality, family and parenting. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss her perception that she didn’t live up to modern standards of pretty – whether because of her looks or her queerness – the stigma the word “ugly” holds for women, and how she’s teaching her daughter to fight against standard measures of beauty. Her book is “Ugly: A Letter to My Daughter.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On top of his responsibilities as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio is running Venezuela. Tyler Pager, White House correspondent for The New York Times, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how and why Rubio is making big economic and political decisions for the country, the role interim president Delcy Rodriguez plays in this arrangement, and how long the White House sees this model of governance playing out. His article is “How Marco Rubio Is Running Venezuela From Afar.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For millions of caregivers, taking care of parents is a matter of love. But caregiving gets complicated when relationships are estranged. Katie Engelhart, contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the children who must decide whether to care for aging parents who abused them, the pressures they feel from outsiders, and how to make peace with bitter memories. Her article is “The Pain of Caring for a Parent Who Abused You.”  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Thomas Jefferson wrote passionately about individual freedoms, yet he enslaved hundreds. How did he square the two? Annette Gordon-Reed, Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Jefferson’s own words on race, what it meant to be “progressive” in pre-Revolutionary Southern America, and what his political aspirations meant for abolishing slavery altogether. Her book is “Jefferson on Race: A Reader.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

 We use our faces more than any other part of our body to communicate with others and that communication has evolved a lot over the centuries. Fay Bound-Alberti founded the Centre for Technology and the Body at King’s College London where she leads Interface, a project examining technologies of the face. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how facial understanding is tied to where and when people live, what happens when someone is “face blind,” and why the Mona Lisa’s smile is still so beguiling. Her book is “The Face: A Cultural History.”  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There is comfort in certainty, but there is resilience in embracing the uncertain. Simone Stolzoff joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why striving for certainty cuts off creative thinking, why building tolerance for uncertainty helps prepares us for life’s pitfalls, and why someone who claims to know it all might actually be dangerous. His book is “How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices