Tom Lutz wrote "Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America." He tells Steve Paulson it was his way of dealing with his teen-age son, who never left the couch.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Psychologist Alison Gopnik is changing the way we think about babies. Her lab at UC-Berkeley has found evidence of empathy and scientific thinking in children as young as 14 months.
When you talk about Japanese popular culture, there's one name that towers above all others. Literally. Godzilla. The giant green lizard recently became an official Japanese citizen. William Tsutsui knows all there is to know about this larger-than-life movie star; he's the author of "Godzilla on My Mind."
Jazz pianist and cognitive scientist Vijay Iyer just won a MacArthur "genius" award. He's also landed a job at Harvard teaching music. He tells Anne Strainchamps how he incorporates science into his music.
Writer Stephen Kuusisto is blind. He talks of what he remembers about visiting the seashore and a stable in Finland as a child.
Producer Charles Monroe-Kane interviewed artist and barber Faisal Abdu'Allah in Madison, WI, at the Atwood Family Barber Shop.
Suprabha Beckjord runs as a spiritual practice. She's a follower of Sri Chinmoy, who believed athletics could enhance spiritual enlightenment. So he set up various weightlifting, swimming, and distance running events. His most famous - and most grueling - is the annual Sri Chinmoy Self-Transcendence 3100 Mile Race. The race, which exceeds the distance from Boston to Los Angeles, takes place around a half- mile loop in Queens, New York. Suprabha Beckjord ran those 3100 miles for 13 years in a row. Her fastest race was 49 days and 14 hours, an average or more than 63 miles a day. Rehman Tungekar talks with her.
Sara Lorimer tells Jim Fleming about the Chinese woman who ran an empire of six fleets and eighty thousand pirates, and the Irish pirate who gave birth during a battle.
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