Irene Pepperberg teaches animal cognition at Harvard and is an associate research professor at Brandeis. For thirty years, she worked with a remarkable grey parrot named Alex.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Isabel Swift heads Harlequin Enterprises’ editorial department which publishes 700 new romance novels a year. She says romances are feminist fiction.
Jack Zipes tells Steve Paulson why he’s not a big fan of the Harry Potter Books, what great children’s literature should do, and how he fights with his daughter about her books and music.
The 18th century was not only the Age of Enlightenment. It was also the age when many cities conquered darkness by installing public lighting. Dartmouth historian Darrin McMahon says it's no accident that cities lit up at the same time as the Enlightenment values of rationality and progress flourished.
What separates your mind from an animal's? It's a question we've all asked, but renowned primatologist Frans de Waal says there's no point trying to rank who's smarter or dumber in the animal world. In fact, he believes there's no clear dividing line between humans and the rest of the animal world.
Chad Harbach is a cofounder and coeditor of the literary magazine N+1. A few years ago, he penned a widely circulated essay looking at the rise of creative writing MFA programs in the US. He believes they're creating a distinctly new literary culture, with its own set of motivations and goals.
James Kakalios tells Jim Fleming that without quantum physics, we wouldn't have ipods or CD players or laptops.
Siberia is enormous, but Ian Frazier has crossed it all, from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, in a barely functioning van.
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