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
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Original Air Date:
November 20, 2021
Previous Airdates:
November 20, 2021
June 25, 2022
February 04, 2023
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
August 21, 2021
April 16, 2022
February 04, 2023
Between masks and vaccinations, COVID-19 has added even more to the ethical baggage we carry with us when we travel. As we get back out there into the world, we revisit a show from 2019 about the ethical dilemmas travel poses.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 25, 2019
Previous Airdates:
May 25, 2019
May 14, 2022
January 28, 2023
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
Original Air Date:
August 08, 2020
Previous Airdates:
August 08, 2020
April 24, 2021
January 22, 2022
January 28, 2023
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, producer Charles Monroe-Kane made 300 yard signs that read "You're not ok. That's ok." He put them on his porch. Soon they were gone.Read more
Original Air Date:
June 18, 2022
Previous Airdates:
June 18, 2022
January 21, 2023
Floods, wildfires, winds and extreme temperatures. We talk with the people who are writing the story of climate change as we are living it.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 14, 2021
Previous Airdates:
August 14, 2021
April 02, 2022
January 21, 2023
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
January 14, 2023
A Native American hero — one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known — is now being celebrated by a new generation.Read more
Original Air Date:
January 14, 2023
Previous Airdates:
January 14, 2023
Geometry is the secret sauce of mathematics. It's different from everything else, and it applies to everything from human evolution to romance novels.
Read more
Original Air Date:
May 28, 2022
Previous Airdates:
May 28, 2022
January 07, 2023
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
Original Air Date:
December 14, 2019
Previous Airdates:
December 14, 2019
September 26, 2020
July 17, 2021
March 26, 2022
January 07, 2023
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
December 31, 2022
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
May 21, 2022
December 31, 2022
Science tells us mountains are giant piles of rock, formed millions of years ago. But that's not all they are — there was a time when mountains were gods.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 24, 2021
Previous Airdates:
July 24, 2021
March 12, 2022
December 24, 2022
Do you ever crave silence? Maybe some can’t stand to hear themselves thinking, but others go to great lengths to find respite from a blaringly loud world.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 09, 2017
Previous Airdates:
December 09, 2017
August 04, 2018
April 27, 2019
February 22, 2020
August 07, 2021
December 24, 2022
Jazz wasn't just born in America. There's an alternative history — a story of colonial empires, grassroots revolutions and the global migration of sound.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 04, 2020
Previous Airdates:
July 04, 2020
March 06, 2021
October 09, 2021
March 05, 2022
December 17, 2022
We talk with poets and novelists about how they deeply notice the historical time we live in — through their words and voice.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 07, 2022
Previous Airdates:
May 07, 2022
December 17, 2022
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
Original Air Date:
April 07, 2018
Previous Airdates:
April 07, 2018
December 29, 2018
November 16, 2019
June 05, 2021
December 10, 2022
Wakanda is a very American version of an idealized African future. So how do African science fiction writers tell stories about their own imagined future?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 10, 2022
Previous Airdates:
December 10, 2022
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
December 03, 2022
As our world gets more and more virtual, traditional skills like blacksmithing and woodworking are starting to look better and better to a lot of people.Read more
Original Air Date:
April 09, 2022
Previous Airdates:
April 09, 2022
December 03, 2022
When you’re hurt and the only way out of toxic bitterness and resentment is to let go, how do you summon the resolve to reach out to the person who hurt you most?Read more
Original Air Date:
May 21, 2017
Previous Airdates:
May 21, 2017
December 07, 2017
September 15, 2018
September 21, 2019
July 24, 2021
November 26, 2022
What might seem like fleeting chart-topping fodder is actually a powerful vehicle for bringing people together, and music fans can teach us about community and hope.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 26, 2022
Previous Airdates:
March 26, 2022
November 26, 2022
The pandemic, the protests, the arguments on social media — everything is exhausting. But maybe it doesn’t have to be?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 24, 2020
Previous Airdates:
October 24, 2020
July 10, 2021
February 26, 2022
November 19, 2022
In this final part of our series, we’re talking about work — specifically the right to meaningful work.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 19, 2022
Previous Airdates:
November 19, 2022
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
November 12, 2022
PTSD and other mental health challenges can push people into poverty. How do you break the cycle? How do we truly care for people mentally and financially?Read more
Original Air Date:
November 12, 2022
Previous Airdates:
November 12, 2022
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
Original Air Date:
January 31, 2016
Previous Airdates:
January 31, 2016
November 13, 2016
April 12, 2018
November 30, 2019
July 10, 2021
November 05, 2022
In the first of three episodes of "Going For Broke" all about the care economy, we're thinking about housing. Many of us would consider it a basic human right. But in America, it can be hard to come by.Read more
Original Air Date:
November 05, 2022
Previous Airdates:
November 05, 2022
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
October 29, 2022
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
October 29, 2022
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