Best-selling writer Elizabeth Gilbert brings an intrepid 19th century woman botanist to life in her latest novel, "The Signature of All Things." In this conversation, she introduces us to the wonder of moss, Darwin's correspondance with "lady scientists" and the 16th century mystic, Jacob Boehme.
How do you make music from plants? Here's a recent article about the artist Mileece.
Psychologist Barry Schwartz says we've gotten it all wrong when it comes to work. He says the conventional belief that workers are motivated by money is deeply flawed, and rooted in false theories that date back to Adam Smith.
Nina Simone's powerful voice and turbulent life are the subjects of an Oscar-nominated documentary, a new biography and a forthcoming Hollywood biopic. But it's her politics that speaks most forcefully to a new generation of African American activists. Biographer Alan Light talks about the incandescent soul singer and Black Power icon.
Stephen Braude chairs the Philosophy Department at the University of Maryland, but he's long been interested in parapsychology, especially psycho-kinesis.
Anne Strainchamps sat down with the great Turkish writer Elif Shafak. Her latest novel, “The Architect’s Apprentice,” is an epic tale set in the height of the Ottoman Empire. It has bloodshed. It was palace intrigue. It has romance. And, yes, it has architecture.
Shafak’s tale centers around a 16th century mosque architect named Mimar Sinan. Though a character in her novel, Sinan was also a real person – considered to be the greatest architect in the Islamic World.
Jedediah Berry imagines a future where science can unlock buried thoughts.
Tom Lutz wrote "Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America." He tells Steve Paulson it was his way of dealing with his teen-age son, who never left the couch.
Steve Paulson prepared this report on the life of Edward Abbey, who's book changed the way people thought about the earth.
