Persi Diaconis was a stage magician before he discovered probability theory and became one of the world's leading mathematicians. He tells us about some very powerful formulas derived from card shuffles and magic tricks.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Ruth Reichl draws on her career as a high-profile food writer and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine in her first novel -- "Delicious". It's the story of a magazine writer with a superhuman sense of taste, who discovers a secret cache of letters from the legendary chef and cookbook writer James Beard.
Thomas Seeley is a professor of neurobiology and behavior at Cornell University. He talks about the social organization of a bee colony with Steve Paulson.
Point of attack. Defensive Line. Football and war have a lot in common. Former foreign policy advisor to President Clinton, Michael Mandelbaum, talks conflict and the game.
Saul Williams has been hailed as hip hop's poet laureate. He talks with Anne Strainchamps, and we hear some of his work.
Tony Perrottet specialized in exotic travel until he decided to go to Rome, then travel the sites of the ancient world using classical Roman tour guides.
What other sensory phenomena are out there, waiting to be discovered? A growing online community is watching and making videos to trigger a particular set of tingling sensations, and the calm euphoria that often follows them. Here's part of the story of ASMR. Who knows, maybe you have it too?
Hear Stephanie talk about having ASMR or listen in on Ilse's conversation about her experience with ASMR, and the book she's working on.
Stephen Greenblatt tells the remarkable story of how the discovery of an ancient poem helped launch the Scientific Revolution. Also, an excerpt from Lucretius' poem "On the Nature of Things."
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