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
Exploring the Deeper End of Ideas
Show Archives
- December 08, 2018
- December 07, 2019
Even the most welcome gift can spark guilt, resentment, obligation or vulnerability. This hour, unwrapping the tangled emotions behind giving — and getting.Read more
- March 31, 2018
- January 26, 2019
- December 07, 2019
Home entertainment options have never been richer, but public places like movie theaters and performance spaces are suffering. What do we lose when everyone stays home?Read more
- November 30, 2019
The board games we play tell us so much more about ourselves than we think — our history, our politics and our inner psychology.Read more
- April 12, 2018
- November 30, 2019
Reading books isn't always the best way to learn. Some things you need to learn from your elders, and their wisdom has often been passed down through the generations. Read more
- June 23, 2018
- February 16, 2019
- November 23, 2019
It creeps into everything: guilt that we're not good enough, fit enough, smart enough. As we peruse Instagram, all we see is the perfection of others reflecting our own failures back at us. Why do we spend so much time feeling guilty? Should we?Read more
- April 28, 2018
- January 19, 2019
- November 23, 2019
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
- November 16, 2019
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
- April 07, 2018
- December 29, 2018
- November 16, 2019
Can we ever get inside the mind of an animal? Can we really know how an octopus or a parrot thinks? Also, the fascinating story of Charles Foster's attempt to act like a badger, when he lived in a hole in the ground and ate worms.Read more
- April 28, 2018
- December 15, 2018
- November 09, 2019
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
- June 09, 2018
- January 19, 2019
- November 09, 2019
Where do you go to find models of powerful women? The ancient world was full of them, real and mythic, but today we barely know their names. Why? This week we rediscover the women of ancient myths and legends.Read more
- November 02, 2019
Scientists and explorers have found a whole new world under our feet. It's an exciting place, and it's changing what we know about the planet and ourselves.Read more
- May 19, 2018
- November 02, 2019
We’re living through a period of mass human migration, with people on the move all over the planet. What does it take to take an unfamiliar place and make it yours?Read more
- October 27, 2018
- October 26, 2019
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
- March 16, 2019
- October 19, 2019
Whether you know it or not, your closets are filled with personal information. Do you think about what are you saying with your clothes?Read more
- January 27, 2018
- February 02, 2019
- October 19, 2019
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
- October 12, 2019
What if the most unselfish thing you could do was to pursue pleasure and joy? We make the case for the transformative power of joy, pleasure and delight.Read more
- May 19, 2018
- January 05, 2019
- October 12, 2019
If life is a play, what happens during the last act? What’s it like to live knowing you have a limited amount of time left?Read more
- February 23, 2019
- October 05, 2019
Sometimes, we take our body for granted. But even the everyday things it can do – keep our heart beating, fight off illness – are pretty extraordinary. Do you know what your body can do?Read more
- January 20, 2018
- October 27, 2018
- October 05, 2019
How can someone be a monster — a brutal dictator, a mass murderer, a serial killer — and up close seem like a decent, caring person? What happens when you find yourself liking someone who’s done terrible things?Read more
- September 28, 2019
The line between free speech and hate speech isn't always clear. When does sensitivity become censorship?Read more
- May 12, 2018
- November 03, 2018
- September 28, 2019
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
- February 09, 2019
- September 21, 2019
Where does creativity come from? And what exactly is going on in your brain when the Muse descends?Read more
- September 15, 2018
- September 21, 2019
When you’re hurt and the only way out of toxic bitterness and resentment is to let go, how do you summon the resolve to reach out to the person who hurt you most?Read more
- September 14, 2019
As monocropping and agribusiness continue to dominate modern farming, we speak to farmers, botanists and indigenous people about how they are reclaiming our seeds.Read more
- January 26, 2019
- September 07, 2019
Every so often, a new literary movement coalesces. A new generation of writers finds a voice. This time they’re young, gifted, and Native American.Read more
- June 23, 2018
- September 07, 2019
You score a royal flush in poker! Do you credit your skill? Or luck? We talk with a poker champion, a game designer, an investment banker and a choreographer about how to untangle skill from luck.Read more
- September 01, 2018
- August 31, 2019
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