We used to start the day with coffee. Now it’s coffee and Wordle. Or Spelling Bee. Or both, plus the crossword. We are in a golden age of word games – which is fun, and one way to get just a tiny bit of relief when the world feels out of control.Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
What would it be like to live in a world where magic is still alive? Not weird, not woo-woo, but part of everyday life. Even now, there are places where magic never died.Read more
Original Air Date:
October 12, 2024
Most of us have no idea what will happen when we die. But some people were actually declared dead and came back with remarkable stories—like meeting dead relatives. Science is now beginning to tell us what happens in near-death experiences.Read more
Original Air Date:
September 21, 2024
“Psychedelic people are practicing at the very edge of anyone else’s comfort zone,” says psychologist Katherine MacLean, on her pioneering work as a psychedelic researcher and why she reveres the Mexican healer Maria Sabina.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 30, 2024
What can we learn from whales – and whales from us? Technology like AI is fueling new scientific breakthroughs in whale communication that can help us better understand the natural world.Read more
Original Air Date:
August 24, 2024
It can be hard to enjoy the natural world these days without anxiety. The challenge is to live in this time of climate change – but still find joy and refuge in it.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 27, 2024
Erik Davis’ “Blotter” takes a deep dive into the psychedelic underground. Steve talks with Erik about the wildness of psychedelic experiences and whether they reveal a deeper dimension of consciousness.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 20, 2024
Most Americans take their sovereignty for granted — the nation’s right to make its own laws and govern its own people. But for Native Americans, sovereignty is not some abstract idea. It’s an ongoing, daily struggle.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 13, 2024
Americans used to believe that news anchors were basically reporting the truth. But in recent years, trust in journalism has largely evaporated. And that’s not an accident. So what can journalists do to regain the public trust?Read more
Original Air Date:
June 15, 2024
The sights, smells and tastes of certain foods transport us back to a certain place or time in our lives. We meet kitchen ghosts from Kentucky, hear how religion and food are intertwined, and talk about how flavor evokes emotion.Read more
Original Air Date:
May 25, 2024
Brian Muraresku makes the controversial argument that the famous Eleusinian Mysteries were fueled by a psychedelic wine — which he speculates may have inspired the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist. Read more
Original Air Date:
May 04, 2024
AI can do amazing things – write your term papers, sequence your genes, maybe replace your therapist. But does AI really have a mind? Is there a soul in the machine?Read more
Original Air Date:
March 30, 2024
In 2020, Donald Trump won 84 percent of the white evangelical vote. We talk with some Southern Baptists today, whose views may surprise you. Read more
Original Air Date:
March 09, 2024
What if we embrace our dreams — and our night selves — as a way to understand ourselves better, to connect to each other, even to lead a better life?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 24, 2024
In the world of internet influencers and YouTube stars, it’s not enough to be ordinary anymore. You need to be special. But where did this craze for personal branding come from? Why are we so obsessed with ourselves?Read more
Original Air Date:
February 03, 2024
British historian Mike Jay wants to challenge the narrative of psychedelic “exceptionalism.” He also believes more scientists should talk about their personal psychedelic experiences. Read more
Original Air Date:
January 27, 2024
For generations, through wars, crisis, and political upheaval, documentary poets have helped make sense of some of our most difficult moments – by expressing what might otherwise be impossible to say. So what are they writing about today?Read more
Original Air Date:
January 13, 2024
There's a fascinating question at the heart of psychedelic science. Is it the mind-blowing experience that fundamentally changes a person’s outlook on life? Or is it the powerful molecules that rewire the brain?Read more
Original Air Date:
December 16, 2023
Maps reflect the time they were drawn for. How will the next generation of cartographers deal with challenges like a world being reshaped by climate change? Read more
Original Air Date:
December 09, 2023
Over the course of 20 years, Chris Bache had 73 high-dose LSD experiences — doses so high that the human body couldn’t tolerate anything more. Read more
Original Air Date:
November 18, 2023
What is this thing, that’s all around us, invisible, inescapable, always running out? What is time?Read more
Original Air Date:
November 18, 2023
We celebrate weird fiction in all its forms, from haunted video tapes on YouTube to the original eldritch being himself, H.P. Lovecraft. Read more
Original Air Date:
October 28, 2023
The knowledge about many psychedelics comes from Indigenous cultures — which raises ethical questions for the Western scientists studying them. Can psychedelics be decolonized?Read more
Original Air Date:
October 21, 2023