To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Magical thinking" gets a bad rap these days. It suggests losing your grip on reality or being so gullible that you'll believe anything - from ghosts to miracles. But what if magic isn't pure fantasy? Maybe it's the gateway to wonder. *Guests: *Nate Staniforth, Michael Muhammad Knight, Haleema Shah, Chloe Benjamin

If you think of your life as a series of births, what changes? The first birth is when you arrive here, as a wet, wiggling newborn. But there may be other transitions in your life that feel just as difficult and profound. Some people actually call those passages re-birth. But why does the birth metaphor matter? This hour, we examine midwives, trans men, and born again Christians. Birth. Rebirth. And Born Again. Interviews in this hour: The Power of Choice When You're Giving Birth Where Are the Midwives?  Midwives in the Golden Age of Television Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity "Happy In My Own Skin": The Transition from Bess To Benn  What Does it Really Mean to Be a Born Again Christian?

On the tenth anniversary of his suicide, David Foster Wallace faces renewed criticism over his treatment of women, in his life and work. Fans and critics are re-reading his work, struggling to reconcile genius with misogyny. *Guests: *Clare Hayes-Brady, Colleen Leahy, Makini Allwood, David Foster Wallace, Amy Wallace-Havens

It's not easy in America today to find work that matters, that’s meaningful, and that pays enough to live on. Which is the one thing we don’t talk about. What’s wrong with work — and how do we fix it? **Guests: ** Alissa Quart, David Graeber, James Livingston, Niki Okuk, Studs Terkel

Haven’t listened in a while? In case you missed it, here's a sampling of what we’ve heard on the show recently. Shows featured: Our Invisible Universe Roadtrippin’ What Is School For?  Against Cynicism Loving Bees 

Guests: Ayelet Waldman Stephen Ross Katherine MacLean Daniel Kasza William Richards Interviews in this hour: Ayelet Waldman Talks about Depression, LSD, and Her Marriage With Michael Chabon How Psychedelic Drugs Will Revolutionize Psychiatry Lessons from a Psychedelic Guide On A Mountain Top, With Ayahuasca And Frog Poison Psychedelics and God Psychedelics: The Next Revolution in Psychiatry?

There are the female scientists you can name, and the ones forgotten by history. Like Mileva Marić-Einstein. She might just have been more brilliant than Albert was — but we'll never know.  Guests: Marie Benedict

From our narrow vantage point on Earth, how can we see what's out there, beyond our skies? Guests: Francis Halzen Priya Natarajan Seth Shostak Don Gurnett Neil deGrasse Tyson Interviews in this hour: How To Catch A Neutrino How Do We Investigate The Invisible Parts of the Universe? Search For Life In All The Wrong Places What Can You Hear In Space? The Universe Is Under No Obligation To Make Sense To Us 

Why is the world so damn cynical? Rather than surrendering to corrosive, hopeless snark, we look to some unexpected sources to make the case for sincerity. Guests: Jason Rohrer Christy Wampole Christian Picciolini Ingrid LaFleur Interviews in this hour: "You Are Our Miracle": A Game To Make You Love Your Fellow Player The Toll of Living Awash in Irony Can You Change The Mind Of A White Supremacist? Envisioning a Better Today Through The Tomorrows of Afrofuturism

It was a dirty word 25 years ago. But now, more and more people are identifying as Socialists…in America and on the ballot. Guests: Kshama Sawant Sean Wilentz Cheryl Blue Andrew Haug Erik Olin Wright Brother Ali Interviews in this hour: How Socialism Won in Seattle In Defense of Liberals Milwaukee's Socialist Experiment Rethinking Socialism for Today Brother Ali on Islam, the Left, and Hip Hop