It's a long walk from the truth to the whole truth. A biographer, a poet, a memoirist and a filmmaker describe the moral struggle and personal cost involved.Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
November 10, 2018
Previous Airdates:
November 10, 2018
July 20, 2019
April 11, 2020
November 28, 2020
What are you doing for the holidays this year? We know we need to keep it small, keep it safe. But maybe we can be creative, too.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 28, 2020
Previous Airdates:
November 28, 2020
Why do people turn to poetry during troubled times? We saw it after 9/11 and we're seeing it now. When the world seems broken, poetry is often the one kind of language that helps.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 04, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 04, 2020
November 21, 2020
Cities can be cacophonous and loud, a chaos of sonic discord. If, that is, you don't really focus your listening. People who’ve trained their ears to hear urban soundscapes in new ways hear something different.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 29, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 29, 2018
May 11, 2019
February 01, 2020
November 21, 2020
Wherever you live — city or country, East coast, West coast, or in between — we share common, contemplative experiences on our walks outside.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 09, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 09, 2020
November 14, 2020
For centuries, mathematicians have been looking for the deep design, the mathematical code to explain everything from microorganisms to spacetime. But it’s a dangerous quest.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 07, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 07, 2017
May 05, 2018
March 02, 2019
November 14, 2020
What do you do when the headlines are freaking you out and the news is making you tense? A lot of people find sports takes their mind off things. It’s like this one worry-free, politics-free zone. Until it isn’t.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 07, 2020
Previous Airdates:
November 07, 2020
Computer scientists are closing in on the next frontier in artificial intelligence — machines that can create. Make art. Write stories. Compose music. The dream is to open the door to a whole new kind of creativity. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 15, 2017
Previous Airdates:
January 15, 2017
November 11, 2017
July 07, 2018
April 13, 2019
November 07, 2020
Did you know that the U.S. military has a long history of working with psychics to try to discover enemy secrets? We examine this history and take a deep dive into the paranormal.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 28, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 28, 2017
October 27, 2018
October 26, 2019
October 31, 2020
What if experiencing dread — the horror of it all — is good for you?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 26, 2019
Previous Airdates:
October 26, 2019
October 31, 2020
The pandemic, the protests, the President’s Twitter feed — everything is exhausting. But maybe it doesn’t have to be?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 24, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 24, 2020
Why is the world so damn cynical? Rather than surrendering to corrosive, hopeless snark, we look to some unexpected sources to make the case for sincerity.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 11, 2018
Previous Airdates:
August 11, 2018
March 09, 2019
January 11, 2020
October 24, 2020
Do chimpanzees have spiritual experiences? A remarkable discovery in West Africa suggests they might.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 14, 2017
Previous Airdates:
May 14, 2017
November 25, 2017
July 14, 2018
June 22, 2019
October 17, 2020
Americans are getting ready to vote. But this election is different from other years. What's really on the ballot?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 17, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 17, 2020
New experiences rewire the brain. So after all we’ve been through, are we different? We consider the "COVID brain" in both neuroscience and the arts.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 10, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 10, 2020
Most of us will never know what really happens behind bars. Prisons are generally off limits to the public and press, but several new investigations are drawing attention to the conditions in many of our nation's jails. This hour, what should a prison be?Read more
Original Air Date:
June 25, 2017
Previous Airdates:
June 24, 2017
April 28, 2018
January 19, 2019
November 23, 2019
October 10, 2020
"Magical thinking" gets a bad rap these days. It suggests losing your grip on reality or being so gullible that you'll believe anything - from ghosts to miracles. But what if magic isn't pure fantasy? Maybe it's the gateway to wonder. Read more
Original Air Date:
February 17, 2018
Previous Airdates:
February 17, 2018
September 22, 2018
May 11, 2019
October 03, 2020
Exchanging glances with the natural world happens more often than you’d think. It can be so profound, there’s a name for it: eye-to-eye epiphany.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 08, 2020
Previous Airdates:
February 08, 2020
October 03, 2020
Africans are moving into cities in unprecedented numbers. Lagos, Nigeria, is on track to have 100 million people. So how and why do cities thrive?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 14, 2019
Previous Airdates:
December 14, 2019
September 26, 2020
Amidst economic devastation, producer Charles Monroe-Kane asks what it takes to survive in the Rust Belt.Read more
Original Air Date:
June 02, 2018
Previous Airdates:
April 30, 2016
October 14, 2017
June 02, 2018
March 30, 2019
September 26, 2020
While their domesticated cousins sleep on our beds, Congress debates wild wolves’ survival. This hour, we’ll explore our complicated relationship with our canine cousins, and the feelings they evoke – fear, hatred, and also love. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 27, 2018
Previous Airdates:
August 06, 2017
January 27, 2018
February 02, 2019
October 19, 2019
September 19, 2020
We explore the ancient, obscure, occult science and art of alchemy — it turns out to be a lot more relevant to our lives than you’d believe.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 19, 2020
Previous Airdates:
September 19, 2020
Is there a book you can’t forget? A book that left a mark on you? We celebrate books and reading with an eclectic cast of writers from around the country.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 16, 2019
Previous Airdates:
November 16, 2019
September 12, 2020
All over the world, nation states are splintering. Separatism is on the rise. What causes nation states to erode? And what happens when they do?Read more
Original Air Date:
May 12, 2018
Previous Airdates:
May 12, 2018
November 03, 2018
September 28, 2019
September 12, 2020
We surround ourselves with possessions, but at what point do they start to possess us?Read more
Original Air Date:
September 05, 2020
Previous Airdates:
September 05, 2020
It's not easy in America today to find work that matters, that’s meaningful, and that pays enough to live on. Which is the one thing we don’t talk about. What’s wrong with work — and how do we fix it?Read more
Original Air Date:
September 01, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 01, 2018
August 31, 2019
September 05, 2020
Every night, millions of us turn out the lights hoping and praying for a good night’s sleep. And every night, millions of us lie awake in the dark.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 07, 2020
Previous Airdates:
March 07, 2020
August 29, 2020
Trees talk to each other, and even form alliances with other trees or other species. Some are incredibly old — the root mass of aspens might live 100,000 years. In this hour, we explore the science and history of trees.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 28, 2018
Previous Airdates:
April 28, 2018
December 15, 2018
November 09, 2019
August 29, 2020
What if the guiding principle we used in cooking, eating and growing food was love? From an Iranian-American kitchen to the chocolate forests of Ecuador, we explore new ways to express deep flavors and personal identity through food and cooking.Read more
Original Air Date:
June 30, 2018
Previous Airdates:
June 30, 2018
February 02, 2019
December 28, 2019
August 08, 2020
August 22, 2020
A new generation of Black farmers are working to reclaim land, hoping to grow justice along with vegetables and plants.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 22, 2020
Previous Airdates:
August 22, 2020