When things don't go the way they're supposed to — viruses, star systems, presidents, even fish — why do we so quickly seek order to explain the chaos?Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
August 08, 2020
Previous Airdates:
August 08, 2020
April 24, 2021
January 22, 2022
Are there new ways to treat depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder? We explore some unconventional treatments for mental illness, including exercise, psychedelics and even horror films.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 15, 2020
Previous Airdates:
February 15, 2020
August 15, 2020
May 08, 2021
January 22, 2022
Sharing of personal pronouns is just one sign of an increasingly widespread shift in how we think about gender. So what’s next? Maybe gender should be messy? Maybe trans should be joy?Read more
Original Air Date:
January 15, 2022
Previous Airdates:
January 15, 2022
New experiences rewire the brain. So after all we’ve been through, are we different? We consider the "COVID brain" in both neuroscience and the arts.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 10, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 10, 2020
June 12, 2021
January 15, 2022
The pandemic has made clear that parents are walking a tightrope with no safety net. Is it time for a parenting revolution?Read more
Original Air Date:
May 22, 2021
Previous Airdates:
May 22, 2021
January 08, 2022
What can we learn from the natural world — from animals, from the water — about surviving and even celebrating the cold?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 21, 2019
Previous Airdates:
December 21, 2019
December 19, 2020
January 08, 2022
Every night, millions of us turn out the lights hoping and praying for a good night’s sleep. And every night, millions of us lie awake in the dark.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 07, 2020
Previous Airdates:
March 07, 2020
August 29, 2020
June 05, 2021
January 01, 2022
Clocks and calendars chop time into increments. It’s efficient, and it helps us get to meetings on time. But what does time feel like when you stop counting it?Read more
Original Air Date:
January 04, 2020
Previous Airdates:
January 04, 2020
January 02, 2021
January 01, 2022
What if the most unselfish thing you could do was to pursue pleasure and joy? We make the case for the transformative power of joy, pleasure and delight.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 12, 2019
Previous Airdates:
October 12, 2019
July 11, 2020
April 17, 2021
December 25, 2021
We surround ourselves with possessions, but at what point do they start to possess us?Read more
Original Air Date:
September 05, 2020
Previous Airdates:
September 05, 2020
May 29, 2021
December 18, 2021
Ever want to quit your job and buy an old farmhouse, to live self-sufficiently on a few acres of your very own? The reality is much more complicated.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 18, 2021
Previous Airdates:
December 18, 2021
What if the guiding principle we used in cooking, eating and growing food was love? From an Iranian-American kitchen to the chocolate forests of Ecuador, we explore new ways to express deep flavors and personal identity through food and cooking.Read more
Original Air Date:
June 30, 2018
Previous Airdates:
June 30, 2018
February 02, 2019
December 28, 2019
August 08, 2020
August 22, 2020
December 11, 2021
Remember when reading still felt magical? We talk to authors about Wonderland, magic wands, unicorns and other children's stories that inspire.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 01, 2021
Previous Airdates:
May 01, 2021
December 11, 2021
Whether you know it or not, your closets are filled with personal information. Do you think about what are you saying with your clothes?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 16, 2019
Previous Airdates:
March 16, 2019
October 19, 2019
May 30, 2020
January 09, 2021
December 04, 2021
There's a lot of hand-wringing these days about the American Empire. Is it doomed to come crashing down the way the Roman Empire did?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 21, 2016
Previous Airdates:
February 21, 2016
November 20, 2016
December 23, 2017
March 30, 2019
December 04, 2021
It's a long walk from the truth to the whole truth. A biographer, a poet, a memoirist and a filmmaker describe the moral struggle and personal cost involved.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 10, 2018
Previous Airdates:
November 10, 2018
July 20, 2019
April 11, 2020
November 28, 2020
November 27, 2021
What are you doing for the holidays this year? We know we need to keep it small, keep it safe. But maybe we can be creative, too.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 28, 2020
Previous Airdates:
November 28, 2020
November 27, 2021
There are old folktales of people who can become animals. Animals who become people. And there’s a lesson for our own time in those shapeshifting stories.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 20, 2021
Previous Airdates:
November 20, 2021
Even with all the music available today, most of us still listen primarily to just a few comfy genres. But there’s so much more out there — and so much of it defies neat, algorithm-friendly categorization.Read more
Original Air Date:
June 01, 2019
Previous Airdates:
June 01, 2019
March 21, 2020
February 06, 2021
November 20, 2021
As monocropping and agribusiness continue to dominate modern farming, we speak to farmers, botanists and indigenous people about how they are reclaiming our seeds.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 14, 2019
Previous Airdates:
September 14, 2019
May 30, 2020
March 27, 2021
November 13, 2021
In countries all over the world, rates of loneliness are skyrocketing. How did it become a condition of modern life?Read more
Original Air Date:
April 10, 2021
Previous Airdates:
April 10, 2021
November 13, 2021
Cities can be cacophonous and loud, a chaos of sonic discord. If, that is, you don't really focus your listening. People who’ve trained their ears to hear urban soundscapes in new ways hear something different.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 29, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 29, 2018
May 11, 2019
February 01, 2020
November 21, 2020
November 06, 2021
Colonization in Africa was much more than a land grab. It was a project to replace — and even erase — local cultures. How can that be undone?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 20, 2021
Previous Airdates:
March 20, 2021
November 06, 2021
They’ve been hunted and silenced and burned at the stake, but witches are still practicing the craft. We take you from the 17th century to the online witch communities of today.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 30, 2021
Previous Airdates:
October 30, 2021
Did you know that the U.S. military has a long history of working with psychics to try to discover enemy secrets? We examine this history and take a deep dive into the paranormal.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 28, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 28, 2017
October 27, 2018
October 26, 2019
October 31, 2020
October 30, 2021
Wherever you live — city or country, East coast, West coast, or in between — we share common, contemplative experiences on our walks outside.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 09, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 09, 2020
November 14, 2020
October 23, 2021
Scientists and explorers have found a whole new world under our feet. It's an exciting place, and it's changing what we know about the planet and ourselves.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 02, 2019
Previous Airdates:
November 02, 2019
July 18, 2020
February 27, 2021
October 23, 2021
Where does creativity come from? And what exactly is going on in your brain when the Muse descends?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 09, 2019
Previous Airdates:
February 09, 2019
September 21, 2019
May 09, 2020
January 16, 2021
October 16, 2021
Millions of animals migrate every year to a destination they've never seen. How do they do it — and what can we learn from them?Read more
Original Air Date:
July 25, 2020
Previous Airdates:
July 25, 2020
February 20, 2021
October 16, 2021
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