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
Exploring the Deeper End of Ideas
Show Archives
- April 06, 2019
Look around the political landscape and you see something we haven’t seen for decades — politicians proudly identifying as socialists. Has their moment arrived?Read more
- March 30, 2019
There's a lot of hand-wringing these days about the American Empire. Is it doomed to come crashing down the way the Roman Empire did?Read more
- June 02, 2018
- March 30, 2019
Amidst economic devastation, producer Charles Monroe-Kane asks what it takes to survive in the Rust Belt.Read more
- March 23, 2019
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
- July 28, 2018
- March 23, 2019
Who really runs the world? Presidents and prime ministers, or CEOs and bankers? And who’s responsible when everything falls apart?Read more
- March 16, 2019
- October 19, 2019
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
- June 16, 2018
- March 16, 2019
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
- August 11, 2018
- March 09, 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
- April 14, 2018
- March 09, 2019
Hip hop created a sound that changed music, art, fashion, and politics. What's next? Diplomacy? Journalism? Education? Philosophy?Read more
- March 02, 2019
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
- May 05, 2018
- March 02, 2019
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
- February 23, 2019
- October 05, 2019
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
- March 24, 2018
- February 23, 2019
Maybe it’s nostalgia. Maybe it’s something more. But analog is back in style.Read more
- June 23, 2018
- February 16, 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
- June 09, 2018
- February 16, 2019
Across professions, half of Americans surveyed say they’re exhausted from work. More and more of us feel scrambled, tired and drained. Are we facing daily lives more prone to burnout? And what can we do about it?Read more
- February 09, 2019
- September 21, 2019
Where does creativity come from? And what exactly is going on in your brain when the Muse descends?Read more
- February 10, 2018
- February 09, 2019
What can science reveal about lust, romance, and compassion?Read more
- June 30, 2018
- February 02, 2019
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
- January 27, 2018
- February 02, 2019
- October 19, 2019
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
- January 30, 2019
Remember virtual reality? Back in the 1990’s, it was going to be the technology of the future. Today, it’s here. But we're still figuring out what to do with it.Read more
- January 26, 2019
- 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
- March 31, 2018
- January 26, 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
- June 09, 2018
- January 19, 2019
- November 09, 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
- April 28, 2018
- January 19, 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
- March 17, 2018
- January 12, 2019
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
- January 12, 2019
Procrastination can be an occasional bad habit, but it can also be a lot worse. It can lead to depression, low self-esteem, anxiety. Today, we try to answer the question, Why do we put things off and how can we stop?
...Read more
- May 19, 2018
- January 05, 2019
- October 12, 2019
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
- January 04, 2018
- January 05, 2019
Ah, January. Season of diets and fasts and cleanses, of "Drynuary" and "Veganuary." Why does being virtuous always seem to mean giving up pleasure?Read more