Science journalist Harriet Brown says the medical establishment has demonized fat and misrepresented the science behind dieting and weight loss. She unpacks the four most toxic medical myths about weight and health.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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As the daughter of a child psychologist, writer Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew weary of the simple solutions offered by popular self-help books. So maybe it was only natural that she wanted to understand why people liked them so much. To find out, she read hundreds of books and articles, journeyed to conferences headed by self-improvement icons, and even conquered her fear of flying along the way.
The saddest music of all to many people is Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”
The former mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, take us on a walking tour of the neighborhood of one of his big heroes, the late urban thinker, Jane Jacobs.
Susan Blackmore is a British psychologist who's written books on consciousness, memes and parapsychology. She's also fascinated by what Zen Buddhism can tell us about the mind. In this EXTENDED interview, she says her daily practice of meditation has revealed truths that have eluded the scientific study of consciousness.
Tad Williams is the author of several best-selling fantasy novels. He talks with Jim Fleming about the fantasy genre and how readers can use it to explore ideas about the real world.
How do you best portray a strong female character, either in TV or in film? That’s a question culture critic Tasha Robinson has been asking herself for a long time now, first during her 13 years as an editor for the A.V. Club and most recently as the senior editor of the movie commentary site, The Dissolve. She tells Charles Monroe Kane that it's relatability — not toughness — that defines a strong woman on screen.
Zach Helm wrote the screenplay for "Stranger than Fiction," in which Will Ferrell hears the voice of Emma Thompson apparently narrating his life.
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