Alain de Botton tells Steve Paulson how modern readers can derive comfort from philosophy, and sees no conflict between talking about serious ideas and entertaining the reader.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Psychiatrist Allen Peterkin tells Steve Paulson that beards make people think of either Santa Claus or Satan, and that facial hair is making a comeback.
In the mid-1930's, Alan Turing made the revolutionary discovery that launched the digital age. He proved that information can be translated and communicated using nothing but a series of ones and zeroes. And that was just the first of Turing's intellectual achievements. Biographer Andrew Hodges explained Turing's genius to Jim Flemming in 2012.
Another winning entry in our 3 Minute Futures flash fiction contest, this story comes from Michelle Clay in Massachusetts.
Abram de Swaan is a Dutch sociologist who studies the politics of language. He tells Steve Paulson that English is the worldwide language of business and diplomacy, though many wish it weren’t.
Anne Strainchamps goes looking for hope about the world's environmental problems among the children of Randall Elementary School in Madison, Wisconsin.
Alex Stone is a magician with a degree in physics. He performs a magic trick over the radio and explains how it works.
To hear one of Alex Stone's favorite bar tricks, listen here.
Novelist Amy Tan tells Anne Strainchamps about the murder that shaped her life as a writer and the role that fate has played in her family's history.
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