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
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
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
Original Air Date:
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
Original Air Date:
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
"We live by wild mercy," Terry Tempest Williams writes. In this hour, she takes us to some of her favorite national parks, from Big Bend to Arches. We also explore the desert wilderness of Utah's Escalante area, and hear about a father and daughter's remarkable adventure into the Arctic National...Read more
Original Air Date:
July 24, 2016
When suicide bombers blow up crowded marketplaces, or a lone shooter attacks a nightclub, one question we’re always left with is why. This hour, a look at the underlying psychology of political violence.Read more
Original Air Date:
July 16, 2016
Have you ever thought about tracking down someone who bullied you when you were a child? Allen Kurzweil thought about it and actually confronted him. We'll hear his story in this hour as we explore the bullying epidemic. Also, we'll find out how the Internet has transformed bullying into a...Read more
Original Air Date:
July 03, 2016
When you don't have a voice, when you feel like lawmakers just won't listen to you, protest is one way of capturing the world's attention. But does it work? Read more
Original Air Date:
June 26, 2016