In some of our favorite science interviews — discover the joy of studying fossils, the invention of a paper microscope, the science of flow states, pioneering field studies of great apes, and the astrophysics of making a hard-boiled egg.

Original Air Date: April 22, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:

'Lab Girl' Author Discusses Women In Science, Life Lessons From Childhood — Could a 50 Cent Microscope Change the World? — Cooking With Neil deGrasse Tyson — The Science of Peak Performance — The Women Who Revolutionized Primatology

Guests:

Hope Jahren, Manu Prakash, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jamie Wheal, Jane Goodall, Jane Goodall, Birute Galdikas

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We all need a good fantasy world to retreat to sometimes – whether it's Hogwarts or Middle Earth, Westeros or Wakanda. But magical thinking can be dangerous too. And escapism isn't always innocent. So where do you draw the line between fantasy and reality?

Original Air Date: September 17, 2022

Interviews In This Hour:

Why not escape into fantasy? A tale of Disney adults — The magical thinkers, the dreamers, and the hucksters of America's fantasyland — Neil Gaiman on where dreams — and nightmares — come from

Guests:

Sarah Rachul, Marianne Eloise, Kurt Andersen, Neil Gaiman

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In the first episode of "Luminous," our series about the philosophy and the future of psychedelics, how can psilocybin ease our fears about dying? And how can psychedelics change the way we approach the end of life?

Original Air Date: April 08, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:

How a pioneering psychedelic researcher 'leaned in' to his terminal cancer diagnosis — Dying without fear: How psychedelics can ease the anxiety of terminal illness — The terror and the ecstasy of psychedelics

Guests:

Roland Griffiths, Lou Lukas, Anthony Bossis

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Categories: LuminousPod,

2019 was an important year throughout the African diaspora — the 400th year since enslaved Africans first arrived in the United States. In Ghana — once the center of the European slave trade — 2019 was declared "the year of return" and the start of a campaign to encourage descendants of enslaved Africans to re-connect with the land of their ancestors. Thousands of African-Americans made the trip to Ghana — and many have decided to stay. They're fed up with police brutality and systemic racism in the US, ready to build new lives in Africa — and their number is growing.

Original Air Date: September 03, 2022

Interviews In This Hour:

‘This is where I should be’: 1,500 Black Americans make Ghana their new home — The land of your ancestors — Should Africans move to America? — A Black friendship

Guests:

Robert Hanserd, Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman, Prince Marfo, Ato Quayson, Emmanuel Kofi Apraku Bempong

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You're not even out of bed and you're already worrying. So let's talk about it: How anxious we are, how we got that way, and what to do about it.

Original Air Date: March 25, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:

Patricia Pearson on A History of Anxiety — To Waste Time Is To Deepen Life — Treating Anxiety With Horror Films — Natalie Merchant on 'Leave Your Sleep' — Robert Rand on Healing Through Zydeco

Guests:

Patricia Pearson, Richard Polt, Eliza Smith, Natalie Merchant, Robert Rand

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Do you ever feel like there’s something missing in your life? You don’t know exactly what it is. And there’s never enough time to really think about it. You might get a glimpse of it if you slow down, or look deeply at something (or someone), or remember some childhood joy. What if that thing you’re missing is a sense of wonder?

Original Air Date: March 18, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:

A sense of wonder through the eyes — and ears — of a child — What goosebumps, tears and grief can teach us about being awestruck — Finding sacred meaning through poetry

Guests:

Lulu Miller, Dacher Keltner, Jennifer Michael Hecht

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Sharing of personal pronouns has become standard practice on resumes, business cards, email signatures and more. And that’s just one sign of an increasingly widespread shift in how we think about gender. So what’s next? And what would it take to actually celebrate gender freedom? To have trans joy?

Original Air Date: January 15, 2022

Interviews In This Hour:

Historian Jules Gill Peterson shares stories of trans experiences from the 1920s and 1930s — A Diva's Oasis? Bounce Music — 'Detransition, Baby' author Torrey Peters on life, love, gender and parenthood — Many Identities, One Spirit

Guests:

Jules Gill-Peterson, Big Freedia, Torrey Peters, Akwaeke Emezi

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As audio producers, one of the most fun things we get to do is bring the soundscape of a novel to life — cue the monsters, the storms, the footsteps of a creature emerging slowly from the ocean. So that’s what we’re bringing you today: Great writers, epic sound design.

Original Air Date: July 03, 2021

Interviews In This Hour:

Nnedi Okorafor's Alien Invasion of Lagos — Neil Gaiman Brings Us To The End Of The World — A Not So Distant Future in the N.K. Jemisin's 'Broken Earth' Trilogy — Ann Patchett on 'State of Wonder' — Richard Powers on Writing the Inner Life of Trees — Lorrie Moore on Bringing Characters To Life With Brevity — Kelly Link on 'Pretty Monsters' — Mark Sundeen on 'The Making of Toro'

Guests:

Nnedi Okorafor, Neil Gaiman, N. K. Jemisin, Ann Patchett, Richard Powers, Lorrie Moore, Kelly Link, Mark Sundeen

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America is in the midst of a new debate over how we tell our history. You can see it everywhere – in arguments over critical race theory and AP history classes, in museums and state capitals, in the news and on talk radio. It’s fueled in part by an emerging generation of public historians who are re-shaping our national narratives.

Original Air Date: February 25, 2023

Interviews In This Hour:

Uncovering The Blind Spots In Historical Narratives — Columnist Jamelle Bouie on dispelling 'civic myths' with American history — How 'Praise Houses' Reclaim A Lost Piece of Black History

Guests:

Rund Abdelfatah, Ramtin Arablouei, Jamelle Bouie, Charmaine Minniefield

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We all know we should walk more. The evidence just keeps accumulating – walking makes us healthier, happier, smarter, more relaxed, more resilient – not to mention longer-lived. But even with the best of intentions, sometimes we all need a little push to get out the door.

Original Air Date: July 30, 2022

Interviews In This Hour:

Walking the footsteps of trailblazing women — Human feet are terrible, evolutionarily speaking — Walk the earth

Guests:

Annabel Abbs, Jeremy DeSilva, John Francis

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