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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Producer Sara Nics on the story behind this show... how she's tried to come to terms with our narrative selves.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali may be the world’s most famous critic of Islam. Born a Muslim, Hirsi Ali fled to the Netherlands where she eventually became a member of Parliament...
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.
A few years ago, poet Christian Wiman picked up his pen after a three-year hiatus, when he fell in love and was diagnosed with cancer. Listen in as he reads a poem from "Every Riven Thing," the book of poems that followed. You can also hear our interview with him about the collection.
Copenhagen, Johannesburg, Kyoto, Rio... it can be hard to keep track of all the international summits where global leaders have tried to tackle climate change. Do international climate negotiations do any good? Author and lobbyist Felix Dodds thinks so. Here's why...
Daniel Radosh is married to a woman whose family is born-again Christian. They took Radosh to a Christian rock festival and introduced him the world of Christian pop culture.
Candace Pert's latest project is a CD of therapeutic words and music called “Psychosomatic Wellness.”
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