Solar engineer Martha Lenio was the first woman to command a mission on the HI-SEAS — the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation. It's a project co-sponsored by NASA and the Univeristy of Hawaii that simulates what it would be like to live on Mars for eight months. To survive in such extremes, they were sequestered into a 1,000 square foot dome, and when they went outside they had to wear space suits. When Lenio got there, she said it didn't feel much like Mars, but she changed her mind after 8 months without the sun and wind on her skin. She spoke with Anne Strainchamps about missing her family — and missing YouTube cat videos.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Legendary showman P.T. Barnum once owned a slave named Joice Heth. Barnum claimed she was 161 years old and a former nanny to George Washington. Benjamin Reiss tells the story in his book "The Showman and the Slave: Race, Death, and Memory in Barnum's America."
Walker Smith tells Steve Paulson about the six different flavors of baby boomers and why they'll have an impact into the future.
Tony Faber says violins have to age for fifty years to sound their best.
Stephen Thompson is an editor at The Onion newspaper, and editor of “The Onion A.V. Club: The Tenacity of the Cockroach.”
Hold on. What is wonder?
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt found that there's not much research on awe. And when he took on the task, he discovered that they're not easy emotions to study.
The firey debate over schooling has flared up again. The newest dialogue? Astra Taylor’s "Unschooling” essay in n+1, and Dana Goldstein’s response in Slate. In this NEW and UNCUT interview, Taylor and Goldstein join Steve Paulson for their first joint interview on schools.
Russell Shorto is the author of "Descartes' Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict Between Faith and Reason."
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