Where does creativity come from? And what exactly is going on in your brain when the Muse descends?Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
February 09, 2019
Previous Airdates:
February 09, 2019
September 21, 2019
May 09, 2020
January 16, 2021
We’re in the midst of the largest vaccine rollout of our lives. A turning point, we hope. But it’s complicated — medically, logistically, philosophically.Read more
Original Air Date:
January 16, 2021
Previous Airdates:
January 16, 2021
Not everyone has a big yard to stretch out in while sheltering in place. But maybe all you need is a virtual space to call your own.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 16, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 16, 2020
January 09, 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
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
In times of crisis, we need music. We look at how far people will go — even under quarantine, during a pandemic — to find ways to make music together.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 25, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 25, 2020
January 02, 2021
How can we, individually and collectively, find meaning in the experience of the coronavirus pandemic?Read more
Original Air Date:
May 23, 2020
Previous Airdates:
May 23, 2020
December 26, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
December 30, 2017
Previous Airdates:
December 30, 2017
December 29, 2018
December 28, 2019
December 26, 2020
If plants are intelligent beings, how should we relate to them? Do they have a place in our moral universe? Should they have rights?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 19, 2020
Previous Airdates:
December 19, 2020
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
We all miss touching things — groceries, door knobs, hands, faces. And most of all, skin. The living tissue that simultaneously protects us from the world, and lets us feel it. In this episode, the politics, biology, and inner life of your skin.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 18, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 18, 2020
December 12, 2020
From Africa to England, to a kamikaze cockpit, and to realms of fantasy. Books aren’t just books. They’re passports.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 14, 2020
Previous Airdates:
March 14, 2020
December 05, 2020
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
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
Why do people turn to poetry during troubled times? We saw it after 9/11 and we're seeing it now. When the world seems broken, poetry is often the one kind of language that helps.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 04, 2020
Previous Airdates:
April 04, 2020
November 21, 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
Original Air Date:
September 29, 2018
Previous Airdates:
September 29, 2018
May 11, 2019
February 01, 2020
November 21, 2020
For centuries, mathematicians have been looking for the deep design, the mathematical code to explain everything from microorganisms to spacetime. But it’s a dangerous quest.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 07, 2017
Previous Airdates:
October 07, 2017
May 05, 2018
March 02, 2019
November 14, 2020
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
Computer scientists are closing in on the next frontier in artificial intelligence — machines that can create. Make art. Write stories. Compose music. The dream is to open the door to a whole new kind of creativity. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 15, 2017
Previous Airdates:
January 15, 2017
November 11, 2017
July 07, 2018
April 13, 2019
November 07, 2020
What do you do when the headlines are freaking you out and the news is making you tense? A lot of people find sports takes their mind off things. It’s like this one worry-free, politics-free zone. Until it isn’t.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 07, 2020
Previous Airdates:
November 07, 2020
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
What if experiencing dread — the horror of it all — is good for you?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 26, 2019
Previous Airdates:
October 26, 2019
October 31, 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
Original Air Date:
August 11, 2018
Previous Airdates:
August 11, 2018
March 09, 2019
January 11, 2020
October 24, 2020
The pandemic, the protests, the President’s Twitter feed — everything is exhausting. But maybe it doesn’t have to be?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 24, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 24, 2020
Americans are getting ready to vote. But this election is different from other years. What's really on the ballot?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 17, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 17, 2020
Do chimpanzees have spiritual experiences? A remarkable discovery in West Africa suggests they might.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 14, 2017
Previous Airdates:
May 14, 2017
November 25, 2017
July 14, 2018
June 22, 2019
October 17, 2020
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
Original Air Date:
June 25, 2017
Previous Airdates:
June 24, 2017
April 28, 2018
January 19, 2019
November 23, 2019
October 10, 2020
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
Exchanging glances with the natural world happens more often than you’d think. It can be so profound, there’s a name for it: eye-to-eye epiphany.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 08, 2020
Previous Airdates:
February 08, 2020
October 03, 2020