"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
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
February 17, 2018
Previous Airdates:
February 17, 2018
September 22, 2018
May 11, 2019
October 03, 2020
The first birth is when you arrive here, as a wet, wiggling newborn. But there may be other transitions in your life that feel just as difficult and profound. Some people actually call those passages rebirth. Read more
Original Air Date:
September 15, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 15, 2018
June 15, 2019
July 25, 2020
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
On the tenth anniversary of his suicide, David Foster Wallace faces renewed criticism over his treatment of women, in his life and work. Fans and critics are re-reading his work, struggling to reconcile genius with misogyny.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 08, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 08, 2018
Checking someone else’s privilege can be a form of hostility. Checking your own can be an act of humility. Does anyone actually benefit from talking about privilege? This hour, the benefits and drawbacks of talking about privilege.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 18, 2015
Previous Airdates:
October 18, 2015
July 23, 2017
September 08, 2018
April 11, 2020
Automated machines are taking over our lives. They're not the scary robots you see in movies, but more and more of today's technology — from smart phones to airplanes — is automated. But do we want to give machines so much control?Read more
Original Air Date:
November 29, 2015
Previous Airdates:
November 29, 2015
September 02, 2017
September 01, 2018
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
Psychedelic science is back — and they could help heal people with addictions, PTSD and end-of-life anxiety.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 23, 2017
Previous Airdates:
March 05, 2017
September 23, 2017
August 25, 2018
A garden, a tree, an apple and a serpent. The story of Adam and Eve is as old as sin. But it’s a lot more than a Bible story.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 05, 2017
Previous Airdates:
September 16, 2017
February 05, 2017
August 25, 2018
July 27, 2019
There are the female scientists you can name, and the ones forgotten by history. Like Mileva Marić-Einstein. She might just have been more brilliant than Albert was — but we'll never know. Read more
Original Air Date:
August 23, 2018
Previous Airdates:
August 23, 2018
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
Sexism has no boundaries, as we're quickly discovering. But what impact does it have on scientific discovery if sexist behavior drives women out of science entirely?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 02, 2017
Previous Airdates:
December 02, 2017
August 18, 2018
Whether it’s nail biting or handwashing, most of us have a compulsion we can’t give up. Maybe that’s a good thing?Read more
Original Air Date:
April 23, 2017
Previous Airdates:
April 23, 2017
November 04, 2017
August 11, 2018
May 04, 2019
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 you ever crave silence? Maybe some can’t stand to hear themselves thinking, but others go to great lengths to find respite from a blaringly loud world.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 09, 2017
Previous Airdates:
December 09, 2017
August 04, 2018
April 27, 2019
February 22, 2020
It was a dirty word 25 years ago. But now, more and more people are identifying as Socialists…in America and on the ballot.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 04, 2018
Previous Airdates:
August 04, 2018
Who really runs the world? Presidents and prime ministers, or CEOs and bankers? And who’s responsible when everything falls apart?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 23, 2017
Previous Airdates:
December 23, 2017
July 28, 2018
March 23, 2019
May 02, 2020
Bees are endangered, but all over the world, people are stepping up to save them — in backyards, science labs, and the abandoned lots of urban Detroit.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 28, 2018
Previous Airdates:
July 28, 2018
May 18, 2019
July 18, 2020
Jeff Kripal is a highly original, even maverick, historian of religion. In this conversation — part of a collaboration with the LA Review of Books — Kripal takes Steve to where all the weird stuff we can’t explain lives ... or hides.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 26, 2018
Previous Airdates:
July 26, 2018
When suicide bombers blow up crowded marketplaces, or a lone shooter attacks a nightclub, one question we’re always left with is why. This hour, a look at the underlying psychology of political violence.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 16, 2016
Previous Airdates:
July 16, 2016
March 12, 2017
July 21, 2018
Wherever you turn, it seems like someone’s angry — on Facebook and cable news, in street marches and congressional town halls. It would seem that we’ve entered a new era of increased hostility. But how did we, as a nation, get here?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 26, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 21, 2017
March 26, 2017
July 21, 2018
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
When we hear from politicians and activists that "the West is at risk, that a clash of civilizations threatens Western culture," what does that mean exactly? And who do we think is coming for it?Read more
Original Air Date:
November 11, 2017
Previous Airdates:
November 11, 2017
July 14, 2018
We take road trips and endless highways for granted, but there are other countries where people can pay a heavy price just for getting behind a wheel.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 09, 2017
Previous Airdates:
July 09, 2017
July 07, 2018
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
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
Do scientists see the world in a different way? Not really. Just be curious.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 16, 2017
Previous Airdates:
April 16, 2017
September 30, 2017
June 30, 2018
April 20, 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
Original Air Date:
June 21, 2018
Previous Airdates:
June 23, 2018
February 16, 2019
November 23, 2019
August 08, 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
We live, work and play in Red and Blue tribal bubbles, filling our social media feeds with news sources that affirm our place in that order, rather than challenging it. What is that isolation doing to us? What can we do to escape it?Read more
Original Air Date:
June 16, 2018
Previous Airdates:
November 04, 2017
June 16, 2018