Planning consultant Angie Schmitt joins us to discuss the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, why everything from bike lanes to rainbow crosswalks is codified inside it, and why many argue it needs an update.
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Look To Nature For Your Weather Forecast
Explorer Tristan Gooley joins us to talk about the subtle — and not so subtle — signs nature gives us to interpret the wind, rain, snow and sun.
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The Biology Of Trust
David Napier is professor of medical anthropology at University College London, director of the university’s Centre for Applied Global Citizenship, and director of its Science, Medicine, and Society Network. He joins us to discuss group dynamics and why public policy that values the collective good over individual interests is ultimately beneficial to everyone.
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Rethinking What Is Critical Infrastructure
Adie Tomer joins us to discuss the details of the bill, the politics behind its contents, and how its being received beyond Capitol Hill.
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The Draw Of Death-Defying Adventures
Stockton University professor Kristin J. Jacobson joins us to talk about the rise of a male-dominated, adventure-seeking culture and how it impacts the way we view — and treat — the planet.
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Readying Your Mind For A Post-Pandemic You
Dr. Madhukar Trivedi joins us to talk about what it will take to retrain ourselves to live in a world not dominated by a global pandemic.
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Darwin’s Guide To Alien Life
Arik Kershenbaum, a zoologist and fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge, joins us to talk about understanding evolution on Earth and how that might parallel alien life forms elsewhere.
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He Ran Towards His Indigenous Roots
First-generation American Noé Álvarez joins us to talk about his participation in Peace and Dignity Journeys, which allowed him to explore the world of his ancestors.
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Your Ancestors Were Not Helicopter Parents
Michaeleen Doucleff, correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk, joins us to discuss her journeys with her daughter, from the Arctic to the Yucatan, to understand parenting best practices around the world and why American parents may be getting it all wrong.
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A Post-Mortem On Texas’s Colossal Energy Failure
University of Houston energy fellow Ed Hirs and Texas Water Resources Institute associate director Wendy Jepson join us to explain why one of the toughest weeks in Texas history was likely preventable – and what the state needs to do to make sure an energy disaster doesn’t strike again.
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Artificial Solutions To Preserve The Natural World
New Yorker staff writer Elizabeth Kolbert joins us to talk about how scientists are looking to address climate change by studying the ways plants and animals have already adapted to live alongside humans.
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What Is Appalachia Without Coal Mining?
Jeff Young is managing editor of Ohio Valley ReSource, a regional journalism collaborative reporting on economic and social change in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. He joins us to discuss his investigations into the struggles of the people and businesses there, and why they don’t bode well for the future of the nation.
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