Wherever you turn, it seems like someone’s angry — on Facebook and cable news, in street marches and congressional town halls. It would seem that we’ve entered a new era of increased hostility. But how did we, as a nation, get here?Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Emily Temple-Wood has been an avid Wikipedia editor since she was pretty young. And early on, she noticed that Wikipedia has a serious gender bias problem, so she began recruiting more women editors to write more Wikipedia articles about notable women. And in return she got… rape and...Read more
Original Air Date:
March 23, 2017
Why do women have to put up with this? And how do they fight back?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 19, 2017
We talk to two experts who think about the role empathy can play in tackling big problems.Read more
Original Air Date:
March 16, 2017
What can science reveal about lust, romance, and compassion?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 26, 2017
Forty years ago Richard Dawkins wrote the landmark book “The Selfish Gene,” where he argued that the gene is what drives evolution. But what if he got it all wrong?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 24, 2017
In this show, we explore storyworlds — the fictional universes that continue to enchant us. Like the ghostly supernatural realm in which Abe Lincoln’s dead son, Willie, finds himself and the surreal Pacific Northwest town of Twin Peaks, the home of some damn fine coffee.Read more
Original Air Date:
February 19, 2017
A garden, a tree, an apple and a serpent. The story of Adam and Eve is as old as sin. But it’s a lot more than a Bible story.Read more
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February 05, 2017
How do you cope with unpleasant people? We consider the adage “hell is other people.”Read more
Original Air Date:
January 22, 2017
Every generation has one or two critics with an unparalleled ability to capture the cultural moment they’re living in. Now, that critic may be Mark Greif. He’s one of the founders of the literary magazine n+1, who’s just come out with a new essay collection, “Against Everything.” In this...Read more
Original Air Date:
January 19, 2017
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
Charles Monroe-Kane talks to David Nagler about adapting Carl Sandburg's poems to music. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 12, 2017
Be strong, be tough, don’t cry – boys are bombarded with messages about being a man and the “male code” their whole lives. It's second nature, and also toxic. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 08, 2017
It's December and time again for the annual media ritual — the best of list. We're sharing the best of the best of To the Best of Our Knowledge. 2016, the year in interviews.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 18, 2016
On the centennial of Shirley Jackson's birth, we explore the great literary work that she left for us — the stories and novels that continue to resonate in our culture.Read more
Original Air Date:
December 11, 2016
You get the sense that Freeman Dyson has seen everything. He's a legendary physicist who's had a front row seat on scientific breakthroughs for the past century. Read more
Original Air Date:
December 08, 2016
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
Original Air Date:
December 04, 2016
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
Original Air Date:
November 27, 2016
Hip hop created a sound that changed music, art, fashion, and politics. What's next? Diplomacy? Journalism? Education? Philosophy?Read more
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November 20, 2016
How does it feel to know that the commodity everyone wants is inside your skull? This hour, we focus our attention — on attention. Read more
Original Air Date:
November 13, 2016
How do we put the fairness and the fun back in American elections? In this hour, we present a few simple ideas for how to remake the electoral process.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 30, 2016
Psychologists say telling a good life story can make you happier. But do we also create an inauthentic version of ourselves if we turn everything into a narrative?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 23, 2016
This hour, we explore our obsession with time travel. Why is such a recurring them in movies and TV shows? And what can time travel teach us about ourselves?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 09, 2016
Can we ever get inside the mind of an animal? Can we really know how a chimp or a parrot thinks and experiences the world?Read more
Original Air Date:
September 03, 2016