They say "don't feed the trolls" — but why should sexist and racist trolls get to own the web? Was it built for them, or for all of us?Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
March 23, 2019
Previous Airdates:
March 23, 2019
February 22, 2020
July 04, 2020
Are there new ways to treat depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder? We explore some unconventional treatments for mental illness, including exercise, psychedelics and even horror films.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 15, 2020
Previous Airdates:
February 15, 2020
August 15, 2020
What can science reveal about lust, romance, and compassion?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 26, 2017
Previous Airdates:
February 26, 2017
February 10, 2018
February 09, 2019
February 15, 2020
Exchanging glances with the natural world happens more often than you’d think. It can be so profound, there’s a name for it: eye-to-eye epiphany.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 08, 2020
Previous Airdates:
February 08, 2020
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
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
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
There's a new kind of music packing nightclubs with young fans. It's jazz — but not the sound of your grandparents' supper club. Infused with hip hop and other popular musical forms, jazz is being remade.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 27, 2016
Previous Airdates:
November 11, 2017
June 16, 2018
March 16, 2019
January 25, 2020
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
Today, borders are a political flashpoint. But in a highly connected world, does the idea of a national border even make sense anymore?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 02, 2019
Previous Airdates:
March 02, 2019
January 18, 2020
What drives us toward armed conflict? And what does it take for peace activists to face down tyrants and military leaders?Read more
Original Air Date:
January 11, 2020
Previous Airdates:
January 11, 2020
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
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
A chorus of hope is coming from an unexpected group — teenagers. They have superpowers — innocence, idealism, and Instagram — and they aren't waiting for permission to use them to shape the world.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 17, 2018
Previous Airdates:
January 04, 2020
January 12, 2019
March 17, 2018
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
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
On this Winter Solstice, 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
Africans are moving into cities in unprecedented numbers. Lagos, Nigeria, is on track to have 100 million people. So how and why do cities thrive?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 14, 2019
Previous Airdates:
December 14, 2019
Home entertainment options have never been richer, but public places like movie theaters and performance spaces are suffering. What do we lose when everyone stays home?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 21, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 21, 2017
March 31, 2018
January 26, 2019
December 07, 2019
Even the most welcome gift can spark guilt, resentment, obligation or vulnerability. This hour, unwrapping the tangled emotions behind giving — and getting.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 08, 2018
Previous Airdates:
December 08, 2018
December 07, 2019
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
Reading books isn't always the best way to learn. Some things you need to learn from your elders, and their wisdom has often been passed down through the generations. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 31, 2016
Previous Airdates:
January 31, 2016
November 13, 2016
April 12, 2018
November 30, 2019
Most of us will never know what really happens behind bars. Prisons are generally off limits to the public and press, but several new investigations are drawing attention to the conditions in many of our nation's jails. This hour, what should a prison be?Read more
Original Air Date:
June 25, 2017
Previous Airdates:
June 24, 2017
April 28, 2018
January 19, 2019
November 23, 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
Is there a book you can’t forget? A book that left a mark on you? We celebrate books and reading with an eclectic cast of writers from around the country.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 16, 2019
Previous Airdates:
November 16, 2019
September 12, 2020
Can we ever get inside the mind of an animal? Can we really know how an octopus or a parrot thinks? Also, the fascinating story of Charles Foster's attempt to act like a badger, when he lived in a hole in the ground and ate worms.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 07, 2018
Previous Airdates:
April 07, 2018
December 29, 2018
November 16, 2019
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
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
Original Air Date:
April 28, 2018
Previous Airdates:
April 28, 2018
December 15, 2018
November 09, 2019
August 29, 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