Hip hop created a sound that changed music, art, fashion, and politics. What's next? Diplomacy? Journalism? Education? Philosophy?Read more
Exploring the Deeper End of Ideas
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- 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
How does it feel to know that the commodity everyone wants is inside your skull? This hour, we focus our attention — on attention. Read more
- April 12, 2018
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
- November 03, 2018
How do we put the fairness and the fun back in American elections? In this hour, we present a few simple ideas for how to remake the electoral process.Read more
- January 13, 2018
- December 22, 2018
Psychologists say telling a good life story can make you happier. But do we also create an inauthentic version of ourselves if we turn everything into a narrative?Read more
- February 03, 2018
This hour, we explore our obsession with time travel. Why is such a recurring them in movies and TV shows? And what can time travel teach us about ourselves?Read more
Fermentation revivalists share a slow food philosophy, a DIY approach to foodcraft, and a deep interest in the health of the American gut.Read more
Can we ever get inside the mind of an animal? Can we really know how a chimp or a parrot thinks and experiences the world?Read more
- July 21, 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
Have you ever thought about tracking down someone who bullied you when you were a child? Allen Kurzweil thought about it and actually confronted him. We'll hear his story in this hour as we explore the bullying epidemic. Also, we'll find out how the Internet has transformed bullying into a...Read more
When you don't have a voice, when you feel like lawmakers just won't listen to you, protest is one way of capturing the world's attention. But does it work? Read more
There are nearly 250 million migrants across the world right now. Some will be escaping war or oppression, others will be seeking out freedom or economic prosperity, but whatever the reason, the kind of life they're looking for lies across a border that's policed and restricted. What if it didn'...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
- April 21, 2018
- June 15, 2019
More than 38 million Americans knit or crochet. Not because they crave mittens and afghans, but because they like the way knitting feels. Handwork turns out be a powerful antidote for digital overload. Read more
- March 03, 2018
We grow up scribbling with crayons and covering sidewalks with chalk, and then around middle school most of us stop. Maybe we think it's childish or just too hard. So what can we learn from the people who never stopped making art?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 23, 2018
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
- April 12, 2018
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
- 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
- May 12, 2018
Can science tell you how to "get happy?" This hour, the psychology and history behind the very idea of happiness. 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
- January 06, 2018
Why are we so obsessed with the future? Is it because we can't handle the present and all of our current problems, like climate change, racism and terrorism? That's one theory.Read more
Armed conflicts. Insurgencies. Civil Wars. Invasions. Syria. Iraq. Afghanistan. Nigeria. Ukraine. South Sudan. Gaza. Yemen. The world is at war. Why?Read more
- April 21, 2018
- June 15, 2019
More than 38 million Americans knit or crochet. Not because they crave mittens and afghans, but because they like the way knitting feels. Handwork turns out be a powerful antidote for digital overload. Read more
- September 01, 2018
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