We talk with experts about how to begin difficult conversations about making death a greater part of life, and how they can transform both the dying and the surviving.Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Why do Americans suck at math? And why do so many claim to hate it?Read more
Original Air Date:
August 10, 2014
Was Marx right after all in his critique of capitalism? Our ongoing economic struggles have spawned a new generation of Marxist activists and intellectuals, and renewed interest in Karl Marx's own life. Read more
Original Air Date:
June 01, 2014
Today we explore some new paradigms for thinking about our environmental future. And, we commemorate the 50th anniversary of death of the great environmentalist, Rachel Carson.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 04, 2014
Everyone loves a good joke, right? Well, at least when it's not at your expense. We explore hoaxes throughout history, get in the mind of a prolific prankster, and hear from writer Walter Kirn about getting duped by a dangerous con man.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 30, 2014
Where do you find crazy ideas and some of the world's smartest people? In theoretical physics - the world of parallel universes, super strings and black holes. We go on a whirlwind tour of the universe - from the multiverse to an imaginary walk on Mars.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 09, 2014
To be American can mean many things. It can mean a young black teen in a hoodie, or a illegal immigrant who’s been living here for 20 years. How do we reconcile the many different American experiences?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 02, 2014
Not every story about Afghanistan involves guns and soldiers. We see the country through art, poetry and games - from the ancient sport of Buzkashi to Afghanistan's famous hand-woven carpets. Also, Charles Yu on living safely in a science fictional universe.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 23, 2014
The bedtime stories of Sinbad, Ali Baba and Aladdin are enchanting stories. They’re also much more: violent, sexually explicit, political, and feminist.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 02, 2014
It's the "silver tsunami" — the massive numbers of people now entering their senior years. And for all those now retiring? They’re trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives.Read more
Original Air Date:
January 26, 2014
Everybody makes choices. Some of them matter for an hour, others for the rest of your life. For thousands of young people forty years ago, the choice was to go to war in Vietnam or accept the consequences of refusing.Read more
Original Air Date:
January 19, 2014
How often do we credit children with deep thoughts? With profound or subtle thinking? In this hour, we introduce some youngsters who've accomplished remarkable things: written books, gone viral on the internet, and helped heal a community. And we talk with psychologists...Read more
Original Air Date:
December 15, 2013
After 13 years of war, the US will leave Afghanistan next year. There will be many conversations about the country’s political and military future. But we’re taking a different look at Afghanistan - through the lens of Afghan fiction: films, poetry and folk tales, and...Read more
Original Air Date:
June 23, 2013
America invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003. Ten years on, questions linger. What was our mission? Were we prepared? Did we succeed? What’s the state of post-war Iraq? We answers these questions from the perspective of American “boots on the ground.”Read more
Original Air Date:
March 24, 2013
Everybody used to learn handwriting in school. And whether or not our handwriting was beautiful, we knew cursive and studied penmanship. Today, clasroom instruction hours are shrinking and who needs penmanship when we have keyboards and autocorrect? This hour, are we witnessing...Read more
Original Air Date:
February 10, 2013
The a**hole certainly isn't on any endangered species lists. Quite the opposite, in fact. We're seeing a population explosion. So we have to ask — Are we living in the "Age of the A**hole"?Read more
Original Air Date:
January 27, 2013
Is this Philip K. Dick's world and are we just living in it? It sure seems like it these days. This hour, we explore his life and work. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 20, 2013
We peer into one of the most fascinating investigations of consciousness: Stanislav Grof's pioneering study of LSD.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 02, 2012
We explore one of the world's most controversial and secretive religions — Scientology. Also, how much do we really know about the Mormon faith?
Original Air Date:
September 30, 2012
The driving force behind modern computers, Alan Turing was born a hundred years ago. He launched the digital age, founded the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence, and helped the British win WWII by cracking the Nazi "Enigma" codes. He was persecuted by...Read more
Original Air Date:
August 19, 2012
We put together our favorite interviews with female athletes.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 29, 2012
"I suspect that the airport will be the true city of the next century. The great airports are already suburbs of an invisible world capital, a virtual metropolis whose faubourgs are named Heathrow, Kennedy, Charles de Gaulle, Nagoya, a centripetal city whose population forever circles its...Read more
Original Air Date:
May 06, 2012
Daniel Kahneman is a Nobel laureate psychologist. So he’s the perfect person to give us a new way of thinking about thinking, which is exactly what he does in his new book, “Thinking, Fast and Slow.” In this hour, Kahneman tells us about the two systems that drive the way we think....Read more
Original Air Date:
January 15, 2012
