Most people think of conflict as something to be avoided, but there's another way to view it -- as creative and generative. In his book "The Art of Rivalry," Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee explores how intense conflicts, broken friendships and personal reconciliations fueled some of the most dramatic breakthroughs in Modern Art. He tells Steve Paulson that the rivalry between Picasso and Matisse contributed, in part, to cubism.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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"Gifts make slaves like whips make dogs" is an anthropologist's tale of inter-cultural difference in gift exchanges.
David Graeber takes us on a tour of gift giving, and gift economies. He also takes a swing at the question of whether it's possible to give a truly selfless gift.
Frank Drake says SETI gets lots of false alarms and they’re all caused by signals that originate on earth, and that the situation will only get worse. But he’s still optimistic.
Cognitive psychologist Chris Moulin is studying the strange experience of deja vu. For some of his patients, the feeling of deja vu can be crippling.
Dan Shapiro tells the story of his long fight with Hodgkin’s Disease which prompted his mother to cultivate marijuana to help him cope with the nausea of chemotherapy.
TTBOOK producer Doug Gordon investigates one of surf rock’s zaniest modern acts, Los Straitjackets to find out what’s happening with their surf rock sound.
Every year TED awards a prize and in 2012 it didn't go to a person, but to an idea: The City 2.0
Anderson explains why, and what the prize makes possible.
Eric Lichtblau is one of the New York Times journalists who won a Pulitzer Prize for the story about the NSA's warrantless wire-tapping program.
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