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
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
April 28, 2018
Previous Airdates:
April 28, 2018
December 15, 2018
November 09, 2019
August 29, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
June 09, 2018
Previous Airdates:
June 09, 2018
January 19, 2019
November 09, 2019
June 06, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
November 02, 2019
Previous Airdates:
November 02, 2019
July 18, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
December 04, 2016
Previous Airdates:
December 04, 2016
August 05, 2017
May 19, 2018
November 02, 2019
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
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
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
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
Original Air Date:
March 16, 2019
Previous Airdates:
March 16, 2019
October 19, 2019
May 30, 2020
January 09, 2021
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
Original Air Date:
May 19, 2018
Previous Airdates:
May 19, 2018
January 05, 2019
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
Original Air Date:
October 12, 2019
Previous Airdates:
October 12, 2019
July 11, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
February 23, 2019
Previous Airdates:
February 23, 2019
October 05, 2019
June 20, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
January 20, 2018
Previous Airdates:
July 30, 2017
January 20, 2018
October 27, 2018
October 05, 2019
The line between free speech and hate speech isn't always clear. When does sensitivity become censorship?Read more
Original Air Date:
September 28, 2019
Previous Airdates:
September 28, 2019
June 06, 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
Where does creativity come from? And what exactly is going on in your brain when the Muse descends?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 09, 2019
Previous Airdates:
February 09, 2019
September 21, 2019
May 09, 2020
January 16, 2021
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
Original Air Date:
May 21, 2017
Previous Airdates:
May 21, 2017
December 07, 2017
September 15, 2018
September 21, 2019
When was the last time you said something so mortifying that all you wanted to do was crawl under a rock and hide? From teenage angst to cringe comedy, we're setting aside the shame and reveling in all things awkward.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 20, 2015
Previous Airdates:
March 17, 2018
August 12, 2017
December 20, 2015
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
Original Air Date:
September 14, 2019
Previous Airdates:
September 14, 2019
May 30, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
February 14, 2016
Previous Airdates:
February 14, 2016
May 14, 2017
June 23, 2018
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
Original Air Date:
January 26, 2019
Previous Airdates:
January 26, 2019
September 07, 2019
May 23, 2020
“The climate crisis is a crisis of culture and thus of imagination,” says writer Amitav Ghosh. So what changes in our conversation about global warming when we tap into the imaginative worlds of novelists and artists?Read more
Original Air Date:
August 12, 2017
Previous Airdates:
August 12, 2017
February 10, 2018
November 24, 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
Original Air Date:
September 01, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 01, 2018
August 31, 2019
September 05, 2020
You're thinking about hitting “delete” on all of it — Facebook, Twitter. But is that the answer, or should we resolve to stick around and make things better?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 22, 2018
Previous Airdates:
December 22, 2018
August 24, 2019
August 15, 2020
The virtues of transgressive, subversive, rule-breaking art, both as an aesthetic and as a way of life. Read more
Original Air Date:
June 04, 2017
Previous Airdates:
June 04, 2017
November 17, 2018
August 24, 2019
August 01, 2020
Millions of people are caring for someone with severe memory loss, trying to find ways to connect. One of the best ways anyone has found is music.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 17, 2019
Previous Airdates:
August 17, 2019
June 27, 2020
Modern anti-depressants have saved a lot of minds. And lives. But what have they done to our bodies? And how do we navigate that trade-off between body and mind?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 24, 2018
Previous Airdates:
March 24, 2018
November 17, 2018
August 17, 2019
April 25, 2020
What makes someone want to walk into a ring and hit someone? Choose to take a punch? Why men — and women — fight. And why so many of us like to watch.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 10, 2019
Previous Airdates:
August 10, 2019
We delve into the new science of revulsion.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 28, 2016
Previous Airdates:
August 28, 2016
February 24, 2018
December 01, 2018
August 10, 2019
From our narrow vantage point on Earth, how can we see what's out there, beyond our skies?
Original Air Date:
August 19, 2017
Previous Airdates:
August 19, 2017
August 18, 2018
August 03, 2019
April 04, 2020
We’ve been taught to ignore, stifle, or just get over anger for many years — but what if we embraced it?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 01, 2018
Previous Airdates:
December 01, 2018
August 03, 2019