Solar engineer Martha Lenio was the first woman to command a mission on the HI-SEAS — the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation. It's a project co-sponsored by NASA and the Univeristy of Hawaii that simulates what it would be like to live on Mars for eight months. To survive in such extremes, they were sequestered into a 1,000 square foot dome, and when they went outside they had to wear space suits. When Lenio got there, she said it didn't feel much like Mars, but she changed her mind after 8 months without the sun and wind on her skin. She spoke with Anne Strainchamps about missing her family — and missing YouTube cat videos.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Comedian and writer Tony Hawks conceived the daft idea of hitch-hiking around Ireland with a small refrigerator.
Sarah Eltantawi talks with Anne Strainchamps on what life has been like for Arab-Americans since 9-11.
Journalist Ted Conover tells Steve Paulson that wise guards accept that they rule with the consent of the prisoners, and recalls a few of his most dramatic encounters with inmates.
Cultural historian William Miller, author of “The Mystery of Courage,” tells Steve Paulson that the airline passengers who confronted the hijackers on September 11th displayed extraordinary courage.
What do you do when you’re an African-American filmmaker living in a country full of people who dress up in blackface at Christmastime? You pick up a camera. Roger Ross Williams talks about his new documentary, "Blackface." It's about the traditional Dutch celebration of "Black Pete" -- a Santa's helper who dresses in blackface, an Afro wig, red lipstick and big hoop earrings.
Photographer Rachel Sussman has documented 30 of the oldest living things in the world.
Today, the Dutch philosopher Spinoza - father of the Enlightenment - is revered, but in the mid-17th century, he was branded a heretic by his Jewish congregation in Amsterdam. Recently, philosopher Steve Nadler was asked if Spinoza should be exonerated. He explains why he said no.
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