Why are Cuba and the U.S. restoring diplomatic relations? Journalist Ann Louise Bardach says Cuba desperately needs to open up its economy now that its patron, Venezuela, can no longer play the role of sugar daddy. And Raul Castro is finally stepping out of the shadow of his ailing brother Fidel.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Tom Lessl conducted a study of the Darwin fish emblem some people slap on their cars. He says that it seems to have little to do with evolution but represents a rejection of fundamentalist Christianity.
Anne Strainchamps sat down with the great Turkish writer Elif Shafak. Her latest novel, “The Architect’s Apprentice,” is an epic tale set in the height of the Ottoman Empire. It has bloodshed. It was palace intrigue. It has romance. And, yes, it has architecture.
Shafak’s tale centers around a 16th century mosque architect named Mimar Sinan. Though a character in her novel, Sinan was also a real person – considered to be the greatest architect in the Islamic World.
Salman Ahmad, lead singer of the Pakistani rock group Junoon, talks with Anne Strainchamps about being a Muslim and a rock musician.
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.
Stefan Kanfer tells Jim Fleming that Groucho Marx flaunted authority his whole life, and that the price of his comedic genius was a tormented private life.
Neuroscientists say that about a quarter of our mental energy is dedicated to maintaining our narrative identities. Julian Keenan says there's got to be an evolutionary benefit for all that "self".
Steve Paulson prepared this report on the life of Edward Abbey, who's book changed the way people thought about the earth.
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