Hope means believing there’s a future. But can hope co-exist with cataclysmic realities like climate change, or disruptive technological advances like artificial intelligence? Read more
Exploring the Deeper End of Ideas
Show Archives
- September 29, 2018
- May 11, 2019
- February 01, 2020
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
- April 27, 2019
- January 25, 2020
This hour we talk with people who’ve turned that around and made hope real, whether it’s through political activism, faith, music, or reading a life-changing novel.Read more
- June 16, 2018
- March 16, 2019
- January 25, 2020
There's a new kind of music packing nightclubs with young fans. It's jazz — but not the sound of your grandparents' supper club. Infused with hip hop and other popular musical forms, jazz is being remade.Read more
- April 20, 2019
- January 18, 2020
Is hope something we’re innately born with, or something we can choose to have? We talk with people who tell us where they think hope lives in ourselves and our communities.Read more
- March 02, 2019
- January 18, 2020
Today, borders are a political flashpoint. But in a highly connected world, does the idea of a national border even make sense anymore?Read more
- January 11, 2020
What drives us toward armed conflict? And what does it take for peace activists to face down tyrants and military leaders?Read more
- August 11, 2018
- March 09, 2019
- January 11, 2020
Why is the world so damn cynical? Rather than surrendering to corrosive, hopeless snark, we look to some unexpected sources to make the case for sincerity.Read more
- January 04, 2020
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
- January 04, 2020
- January 12, 2019
- March 17, 2018
A chorus of hope is coming from an unexpected group — teenagers. They have superpowers — innocence, idealism, and Instagram — and they aren't waiting for permission to use them to shape the world.Read more
- June 30, 2018
- February 02, 2019
- December 28, 2019
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
- December 29, 2018
- December 28, 2019
We don’t handle endings well, in general. So this hour, let’s learn about how to make a good ending — whether leaving a lover, quitting a job, or getting ready for the end of life itself.Read more
- December 21, 2019
On this Winter Solstice, what can we learn from the natural world — from animals, from the water — about surviving and even celebrating the cold?Read more
- May 12, 2018
- December 21, 2019
Can science tell you how to "get happy?" This hour, the psychology and history behind the very idea of happiness. Read more
- December 14, 2019
Africans are moving into cities in unprecedented numbers. Lagos, Nigeria, is on track to have 100 million people. So how and why do cities thrive?Read more
- December 08, 2018
- December 07, 2019
Even the most welcome gift can spark guilt, resentment, obligation or vulnerability. This hour, unwrapping the tangled emotions behind giving — and getting.Read more
- March 31, 2018
- January 26, 2019
- December 07, 2019
Home entertainment options have never been richer, but public places like movie theaters and performance spaces are suffering. What do we lose when everyone stays home?Read more
- November 30, 2019
The board games we play tell us so much more about ourselves than we think — our history, our politics and our inner psychology.Read more
- April 12, 2018
- November 30, 2019
Reading books isn't always the best way to learn. Some things you need to learn from your elders, and their wisdom has often been passed down through the generations. Read more
- June 23, 2018
- February 16, 2019
- November 23, 2019
It creeps into everything: guilt that we're not good enough, fit enough, smart enough. As we peruse Instagram, all we see is the perfection of others reflecting our own failures back at us. Why do we spend so much time feeling guilty? Should we?Read more
- April 28, 2018
- January 19, 2019
- November 23, 2019
Most of us will never know what really happens behind bars. Prisons are generally off limits to the public and press, but several new investigations are drawing attention to the conditions in many of our nation's jails. This hour, what should a prison be?...Read more
- November 16, 2019
Is there a book you can’t forget? A book that left a mark on you? We celebrate books and reading with an eclectic cast of writers from around the country.Read more
- April 07, 2018
- December 29, 2018
- November 16, 2019
Can we ever get inside the mind of an animal? Can we really know how an octopus or a parrot thinks? Also, the fascinating story of Charles Foster's attempt to act like a badger, when he lived in a hole in the ground and ate worms.Read more
- April 28, 2018
- December 15, 2018
- November 09, 2019
Trees talk to each other, and even form alliances with other trees or other species. Some are incredibly old — the root mass of aspens might live 100,000 years. In this hour, we explore the science and history of trees.Read more
- June 09, 2018
- January 19, 2019
- November 09, 2019
Where do you go to find models of powerful women? The ancient world was full of them, real and mythic, but today we barely know their names. Why? This week we rediscover the women of ancient myths and legends.Read more
- November 02, 2019
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
- May 19, 2018
- November 02, 2019
We’re living through a period of mass human migration, with people on the move all over the planet. What does it take to take an unfamiliar place and make it yours?Read more
- October 27, 2018
- October 26, 2019
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
- March 16, 2019
- October 19, 2019
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