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
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
November 02, 2019
Previous Airdates:
November 02, 2019
July 18, 2020
February 27, 2021
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
February 27, 2021
Millions of animals migrate every year to a destination they've never seen. How do they do it — and what can we learn from them?Read more
Original Air Date:
July 25, 2020
Previous Airdates:
July 25, 2020
February 20, 2021
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
Original Air Date:
November 30, 2019
Previous Airdates:
November 30, 2019
June 13, 2020
February 20, 2021
Do the old dreams of true love and happiness ever after fit our new lives and new identities?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 13, 2021
Previous Airdates:
February 13, 2021
Hope means believing there’s a future. But can hope co-exist with cataclysmic realities like climate change, or disruptive technological advances like artificial intelligence? Read more
Original Air Date:
May 04, 2019
Previous Airdates:
May 04, 2019
February 01, 2020
February 06, 2021
Even with all the music available today, most of us still listen primarily to just a few comfy genres. But there’s so much more out there — and so much of it defies neat, algorithm-friendly categorization.Read more
Original Air Date:
June 01, 2019
Previous Airdates:
June 01, 2019
March 21, 2020
February 06, 2021
This hour we talk with people who’ve turned that around and made hope real, whether it’s through political activism, faith, music, or reading a life-changing novel.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 27, 2019
Previous Airdates:
April 27, 2019
January 25, 2020
January 30, 2021
Is hope something we’re innately born with, or something we can choose to have? We talk with people who tell us where they think hope lives in ourselves and our communities.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 20, 2019
Previous Airdates:
April 20, 2019
January 18, 2020
January 23, 2021
Covert spies painting nerve agents on doorknobs? It's not the only way to poison someone. We hear stories of radioactive paint, formaldehyde-spiked baby formula, and a beautiful garden full of plants that could kill you.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 13, 2018
Previous Airdates:
October 13, 2018
June 29, 2019
March 14, 2020
January 23, 2021
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
We’re in the midst of the largest vaccine rollout of our lives. A turning point, we hope. But it’s complicated — medically, logistically, philosophically.Read more
Original Air Date:
January 16, 2021
Previous Airdates:
January 16, 2021
Not everyone has a big yard to stretch out in while sheltering in place. But maybe all you need is a virtual space to call your own.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 16, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 16, 2020
January 09, 2021
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
Clocks and calendars chop time into increments. It’s efficient, and it helps us get to meetings on time. But what does time feel like when you stop counting it?Read more
Original Air Date:
January 04, 2020
Previous Airdates:
January 04, 2020
January 02, 2021
In times of crisis, we need music. We look at how far people will go — even under quarantine, during a pandemic — to find ways to make music together.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 25, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 25, 2020
January 02, 2021
We don’t handle endings well, in general. So this hour, let’s learn about how to make a good ending — whether leaving a lover, quitting a job, or getting ready for the end of life itself.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 30, 2017
Previous Airdates:
December 30, 2017
December 29, 2018
December 28, 2019
December 26, 2020
How can we, individually and collectively, find meaning in the experience of the coronavirus pandemic?Read more
Original Air Date:
May 23, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 23, 2020
December 26, 2020
If plants are intelligent beings, how should we relate to them? Do they have a place in our moral universe? Should they have rights?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 19, 2020
Previous Airdates:
December 19, 2020
What can we learn from the natural world — from animals, from the water — about surviving and even celebrating the cold?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 21, 2019
Previous Airdates:
December 21, 2019
December 19, 2020
We all miss touching things — groceries, door knobs, hands, faces. And most of all, skin. The living tissue that simultaneously protects us from the world, and lets us feel it. In this episode, the politics, biology, and inner life of your skin.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 18, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 18, 2020
December 12, 2020
From Africa to England, to a kamikaze cockpit, and to realms of fantasy. Books aren’t just books. They’re passports.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 14, 2020
Previous Airdates:
March 14, 2020
December 05, 2020
Some people talk to God and some think God talks to them. Read more
Original Air Date:
December 27, 2015
Previous Airdates:
December 27, 2015
September 04, 2016
April 21, 2018
April 06, 2019
December 05, 2020
What are you doing for the holidays this year? We know we need to keep it small, keep it safe. But maybe we can be creative, too.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 28, 2020
Previous Airdates:
November 28, 2020
It's a long walk from the truth to the whole truth. A biographer, a poet, a memoirist and a filmmaker describe the moral struggle and personal cost involved.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 10, 2018
Previous Airdates:
November 10, 2018
July 20, 2019
April 11, 2020
November 28, 2020
Why do people turn to poetry during troubled times? We saw it after 9/11 and we're seeing it now. When the world seems broken, poetry is often the one kind of language that helps.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 04, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 04, 2020
November 21, 2020
Cities can be cacophonous and loud, a chaos of sonic discord. If, that is, you don't really focus your listening. People who’ve trained their ears to hear urban soundscapes in new ways hear something different.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 29, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 29, 2018
May 11, 2019
February 01, 2020
November 21, 2020
Wherever you live — city or country, East coast, West coast, or in between — we share common, contemplative experiences on our walks outside.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 09, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 09, 2020
November 14, 2020
For centuries, mathematicians have been looking for the deep design, the mathematical code to explain everything from microorganisms to spacetime. But it’s a dangerous quest.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 07, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 07, 2017
May 05, 2018
March 02, 2019
November 14, 2020
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