There's a special mystique to the number pi -- songs have been written about it and there's a day named after it. Jordan Ellenberg explains why.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Audio
Anne Strainchamps talks with biologist Tyler Volk and science writer Dorion Sagan, co-authors of "Sex and Death" or "Death and Sex" if you flip the book upside down.
The whole town of Massillon, Ohio, is obsessed with their high school football team, the Tigers. Former player Kenneth Carlson was so crazy for the team, and curious about his town's obsession, he made a documentary about it. He tells Anne Strainchamps about his film, his team and his town.
Shakespeare biographer Stephen Greenblatt isn't persuaded by rumors that question William Shakespeare's work. He insists Shakespeare's genius is that he was not a nobleman
Yo-Yo Ma has founded the Silk Road Ensemble in an effort to bring together musicians from different backgrounds to use music as a cultural force for understanding and peace.
Music writer Peter Guralnick tells us how the legendary Sam Phillips created rock and roll as a musical protest.
As the daughter of a child psychologist, writer Jessica Lamb-Shapiro grew weary of the simple solutions offered by popular self-help books. So maybe it was only natural that she wanted to understand why people liked them so much. To find out, she read hundreds of books and articles, journeyed to conferences headed by self-improvement icons, and even conquered her fear of flying along the way.
Historian Simon Schama tells Steve Paulson that Rembrandt thought art should tell the truth and that he was an enormously innovative painter.
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