According to historian Thomas Laqueur, neither sanitation nor the soul fully explain the rang of rituals we've developed for caring for dead bodies. For him, there is a deeper anthropological truth at work: caring for the dead marks the human transition from nature into culture.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Her most noted novel is called “Half of a Yellow Sun.”
David Orr says modern poetry shouldn't intimidate us. He's the author of "Beautiful and Pointless: A Guide to Modern Poetry."
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.
Elizabeth Little is a writer and editor who collects languages. She tells Jim Fleming about the perils of learning tonal languages.
Whatever happened to feminism? Critic Caitlin Moran thinks it's alive and well - in fact, most women are leading feminist lives even if they don't know it yet. She's here to set them straight.
Curtis Sittenfeld is the author of a novel called “Prep.” She tells Steve Paulson what she has in common with her lead character and why she feels protective of her.
Anne Strainchamps visits Barbara Moran, a coffee diviner who explains her ancient art and reads the good news in Anne’s grounds.
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