I dunno, but it seems kind of extreme, not to mention risky, to bio-engineer a mass mosquito die-off. So Steve Paulson tracked down the world’s greatest living entomologist to see what he has to say. E. O Wilson is sometimes called “the ant man” – that’s the insect he studied most – but he’s best known as the evolutionary biologist and a champion of biodiversity. He’s 86 years old now, and has just finished what is probably his last book – called “Half Earth”. It’s a passionate plea to save humanity by dedicating half the planet to nature. You’d assume that Wilson would be happy to let mosquitos live in that half… but that’s not what he told Steve.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Eugene Mirman is an indie comic and the author of an outlandish self-help send-up called "The Will to Whatevs." He tells Jim Fleming that school was horrible for him and gave rise to his nerd humor.
One of the enduring ideas – and an everyday saying – is that it’s possible to “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” Of course, it’s physically impossible, but producer Sara Nics thought there had to be a way to do it with some engineering know-how and well-built boots.
Christopher Caldwell talks with Steve Paulson about the European discomfort with the rising tide of Muslim immigration.
More than 100 million people have Twitter accounts. Every moment, across the globe, they are posting thousands of short digital messages; that’s a lot of data.
Maybe it can help us keep an eye out for cultural change?
Caitlin Matthews is a Celtic scholar and storyteller. She talks with Anne Strainchamps about the various myths of a lost paradise and how we can find it within ourselves.
After all the debates about the Muslim world, it’s refreshing to look back at one of the world’s great mystics - the Sufi poet Rumi.
David Greenberger transforms the words of elderly people in his series of "Duplex Planet" zines, comic books, spoken-word performances and radio plays.
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