Maybe people 30,000 years ago weren't so different from us. That's one of Werner Herzog's takeaways from seeing the ancient paintings in Chauvet Cave. The renowned filmmaker describes his own experience of awe when he encountered this prehistoric art.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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British novelist Will Self has written some very strange books. His latest is called “How the Dead Live.”
If you've spent any time playing Tetris, you've probably spent a lot of time playing it. Tetris is simple yet addictive. Your job is to fit falling geometric blocks together so that there are no spaces between them. Box Brown has spent alot of time playing and thinking about Tetris. He's written and illustrated a graphic history of the world's most popular video game. It turns out that Tetris has a fascinating backstory.
Steven Biel talks about Grant Woods' iconic American painting: who the models were; how the painting's been received and why it's so often parodied.
Novelist T. Coraghessan Boyle talks with Jim Fleming about his latest. “Drop City” is set in a California commune in the 1970s, and concerns the activities at one of America’s many private little Utopias.
Scientists are combing the universe for signs of exoplanets -- planets that orbit a star other than our sun. They're finding them in record numbers. Most believe it's only a matter of time before they find an exoplanet that can -- and perhaps does -- suppport life. Sara Seager is a planetary scientist at M.I.T. and one of the pioneers of the field.
It's not just the movies that offer sequels. Susan Heyboer O'Keefe's new novel is called "Frankenstein's Monster"...
Are political beliefs predetermined at birth? Encoded in our genes? Political scientist John Hibbing does fMRI studies of liberal and conserative brains and says there are significant biological differences. His message: stop yelling at the other party. They can't help what they think.
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