“Death is not a failure,” writes Dr. Atul Gawande. “Death may be the enemy, but it is also the natural order of things.” We live much longer than we used to, thanks to medical advances, but what are the emotional and financial costs of extending life? Some doctors don't know how to talk...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
November 16, 2014
Previous Airdates:
August 09, 2015
November 16, 2014
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
Original Air Date:
November 09, 2014
Previous Airdates:
August 02, 2015
November 09, 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
Previous Airdates:
February 02, 2014
September 14, 2014
February 08, 2015
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
Previous Airdates:
June 01, 2014
January 04, 2015
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
Previous Airdates:
February 02, 2014
September 14, 2014
February 08, 2015
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
Previous Airdates:
January 26, 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
Previous Airdates:
December 15, 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
Previous Airdates:
March 24, 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
Previous Airdates:
October 07, 2017
January 20, 2013
We put together our favorite interviews with female athletes.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 29, 2012
Previous Airdates:
July 29, 2012
Worried about climate change? Trying hard to reduce your carbon footprint? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, living small and liking it – an argument in favor of the radically local life.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 02, 2010
Previous Airdates:
May 02, 2010
May 15, 2011
You know Marcel Proust as the author of the massive autobiographical novel, "In Search of Lost Time." But did you know that Proust can also be considered a scientist? That's the argument that Jonah Lehrer makes in his book, "Proust Was A Neuroscientist." Lehrer explains how Proust made...Read more
Original Air Date:
March 21, 2010
Previous Airdates:
March 21, 2010
February 27, 2011
Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part Five: Can Science be Sacred?
What if you don't believe in God, and the thought of church makes you queasy? Can you still experience the sacred? There's a growing movement of secular scientists who revel in the awe...Read more
Original Air Date:
December 19, 2010
Previous Airdates:
December 19, 2010
Worried about climate change? Trying hard to reduce your carbon footprint? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, living small and liking it – an argument in favor of the radically local life.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 02, 2010
Previous Airdates:
May 02, 2010
May 15, 2011
You know Marcel Proust as the author of the massive autobiographical novel, "In Search of Lost Time." But did you know that Proust can also be considered a scientist? That's the argument that Jonah Lehrer makes in his book, "Proust Was A Neuroscientist." Lehrer explains how Proust made...Read more
Original Air Date:
March 21, 2010
Previous Airdates:
March 21, 2010
February 27, 2011
We look at the controversial Gnostic Gospels and the story of a buried Christianity.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 10, 2006
Previous Airdates:
December 10, 2006
December 16, 2007
What do you call young people who strap on explosive vests and detonate them in a crowded marketplace? President Bush says they're fascist terrorists. The Western press labels them suicide bombers. But to a Muslim, particularly one who's sympathetic to their political ideology,...Read more
Original Air Date:
September 03, 2006
Previous Airdates:
September 03, 2006
July 29, 2007
We talk with E.O. Wilson about the growing rift between science and religion. We'll also get a very different take on religious belief from historian Garry Wills, author of "What Jesus Meant."Read more
Original Air Date:
March 26, 2006
Previous Airdates:
April 29, 2007
March 26, 2006
We look at the controversial Gnostic Gospels and the story of a buried Christianity.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 10, 2006
Previous Airdates:
December 10, 2006
December 16, 2007
What do you call young people who strap on explosive vests and detonate them in a crowded marketplace? President Bush says they're fascist terrorists. The Western press labels them suicide bombers. But to a Muslim, particularly one who's sympathetic to their political ideology,...Read more
Original Air Date:
September 03, 2006
Previous Airdates:
September 03, 2006
July 29, 2007
We talk with E.O. Wilson about the growing rift between science and religion. We'll also get a very different take on religious belief from historian Garry Wills, author of "What Jesus Meant."Read more
Original Air Date:
March 26, 2006
Previous Airdates:
April 29, 2007
March 26, 2006
Mark Sundeen got an offer he couldn't refuse. A publisher paid him upfront to write a book on bullfighting in Spain. Mark doesn't speak Spanish, knows nothing about bullfighting, and hates to travel, but that didn't stop him from writing the book. He just made the whole thing up. In this hour of...Read more
Original Air Date:
March 13, 2005
Previous Airdates:
March 13, 2005
February 19, 2006
Join us for stories about bread in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 14, 2004
Previous Airdates:
November 14, 2004
July 10, 2005
Mark Sundeen got an offer he couldn't refuse. A publisher paid him upfront to write a book on bullfighting in Spain. Mark doesn't speak Spanish, knows nothing about bullfighting, and hates to travel, but that didn't stop him from writing the book. He just made the whole thing up. In this hour of...Read more
Original Air Date:
March 13, 2005
Previous Airdates:
March 13, 2005
February 19, 2006
Join us for stories about bread in this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 14, 2004
Previous Airdates:
November 14, 2004
July 10, 2005
On Christmas Eve of 1914, German soldiers in the Flanders trenches lit candles on small Christmas trees. British, French, Belgian and German troops serenaded each other with songs. Soon enemy soldiers broke bread with each other and exchanged letters. In this hour of To the...Read more
Original Air Date:
December 16, 2001
Previous Airdates:
December 16, 2001
December 15, 2002
On Thanksgiving Day most Americans spend at least a little time doing just that – giving thanks. But followers of a Japanese discipline called Naikan practice what you could call “extreme gratitude.” They make a point of thanking everyone and everything in their lives – every day....Read more
Original Air Date:
November 24, 2002
Previous Airdates:
November 24, 2002
On Christmas Eve of 1914, German soldiers in the Flanders trenches lit candles on small Christmas trees. British, French, Belgian and German troops serenaded each other with songs. Soon enemy soldiers broke bread with each other and exchanged letters. In this hour of To the...Read more
Original Air Date:
December 16, 2001
Previous Airdates:
December 16, 2001
December 15, 2002
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