Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist who's written books on consciousness, memes and Zen Buddhism. She says her daily practice of meditation has revealed truths that have eluded the scientific study of consciousness.
You can also listen to the EXTENDED interview, and read the extended transcript.
Tom Wolfe talks with Steve Paulson, and explains why he's so fascinated by the connection between sex and social status.
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."
In many cultures, people use pain as a means of coming closer to God.
Ariel Glucklich talks with Jim Fleming about the history and psychology behind the practices.
Stephen Thompson is an editor at The Onion newspaper, and editor of “The Onion A.V. Club: The Tenacity of the Cockroach.”
Several grammy-winning folk musicians have written songs based on the stories in a book called "Wilderness Plots" by Scott Russell Sanders.
Back in 1969, Marine Karl Marlantes was dropped in the middle of a jungle in Vietnam - at the age of 23, put in charge of the lives of 40 other young men. He says he wasn't psychologically or spiritually prepared for that, or for what came after the war.
William Ian Miller tells Jim Fleming we're all guilty of faking it, and that a little social duplicity isn't necessarily a bad thing.
