Where does obsessive collecting come from? And what does it mean? Lorraine Daston takes us back to 17th century Europe and the nobility’s Kunstkamera, or chambers of wonders. They were filled with nature’s freaks and anomalies. But these marvels, these monsters, gave birth to modern science.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Steve's hard at work on this weekend’s “Words and Music” show. Here's his note on the inspiration behind the show, and a taste of an interview with a scientist who's putting rappers in MRI machines.
Maurice Sendak has written and narrates a story called "Pincus and the Pig: A Klezmer Tale." It's based on Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf".
Filmmaker Philip Groning talks with Anne Strainchamps about the six months of silence he filmed with the Carthusian monks of the Grand Chartreuse in the French Alps.
In this short excerpt, Jane Goodall talks about her lifelong wish to get inside the mind of a chimpanzee. What's it like to think without words?
Robbie Fulks talks to Doug Gordon about his latest album, "Georgia Hard," and his former identity as a staff songwriter for a Nashville music publisher.
Rachel Cohen tells Steve Paulson that Ulysses S. Grant owed his publishing success to Mark Twain, and many other unlikely connection stories.
Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, like many returning Iraq War veterans, struggled alone with his PTSD. Eventually he got help and made a film called "Now, After."
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