Bruce Watson tells Steve Paulson why Erector Sets were so huge. They reflected the spirit of America’s Industrial Age, and A.C. Gilbert marketed them directly to boys.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Daniel Tammett loves numbers, can do calculations in his head into the millions, and can recite pi to more than 22,000 digits. But he has trouble telling right from left and looking people in the eye.
Could the Internet feel happy or depressed? That's a distinct possibility, according to Christof Koch. In this EXTENDED interview, he talks about computer consciousness, God, and just what it means that our brains have a hundred billion neurons and trillions of synapses. Koch wonders whether all matter might have consciousness.
Coral reefs and many of the oceans' marvels may disappear before this century ends, according to a new scientific study. Science writer Elizabeth Kolbert says we're facing the sixth great extinction. She tells stories from the front lines of the fight against extinction, from Panama to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.
Cheryl Gilkes talks with Steve Paulson about the importance of the female soloist in the tradition of gospel music.
David Edmonds talks with Jim Fleming about Bobby Fischer’s infamous chess match with Boris Spassky for the World Chess Championship in 1972.
Bill Streever is an Alaskan biologist and a "cryophile" - someone who loves the cold. He describes what it's like to jump into freezing water as hypothermia starts to set in.
We re-examine the myth of Robert Johnson. The most famous blues singer of them all died at the age of 27 after recording only 29 songs. Today he's idolized, but Elijah Wald says that may be for the wrong reasons.
Pages
