Today on Boston Public Radio:

Jonathan Gruber weighs in on the debate over President Biden’s pledge to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. Gruber is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT. He was instrumental in creating both the Massachusetts health-care reform and the Affordable Care Act, and his latest book is "startingamerica.com/">Jump-Starting America How Breakthrough Science Can Revive Economic Growth and the American Dream."

Next, we open the phone lines to ask listeners about the absence of office culture during the pandemic.

Art Caplan talks about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, as well as the lack of diversity in vaccine trial participants. Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU School of Medicine.

Tanja Bosak discusses NASA’s Perseverance rover, sharing what scientists expect to find on the Mars mission. She also talks about what it was like collaborating on the Perseverance rover in the midst of the pandemic. Bosak is a geobiologist for MIT and a return sample scientist on the Perseverance team.

Bob Thompson reviews PBS’ The Black Church and Mr. Soul!, as well as NBC’s Kenan and Young Rock. He also highlights films predicted to win Golden Globe awards Thompson is the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and a professor of television and popular culture at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Juliette Kayyem shares her thoughts on Tuesday’s Senate hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol siege. Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Richard Blanco marks Black History Month by sharing poems from writers such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Terrance Hayes, and Danez Smith. Blanco is the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history. His new book, "blanco.com/book/how-to-love-a-country/">How To Love A Country," deals with various socio-political issues that shadow America.