A family trip to the Pacific Northwest and the Salish Sea inspired my own curiosity about orca whales -- and that led, inevitably, to my curiosity about the orcas' own curiosity. Lucky for me, I found my way to Sara Shimazu & Jeff Friedman, orca fans, whale watch captains, and co-hosts of After the Breach Podcast. Theme music by Sean Balick; "Discovery Harbor" by Cloud Harbor, via Blue Dot Sessions.

According to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that operates Wikipedia and its sister sites, people spent an estimated 2.9 billion hours reading English Wikipedia in 2024. I wondered: What does it take to be a trustworthy repository for all that curiosity? Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight has been a Wikipedia editor since 2007, and an administrator since 2009. With 100,000+ edits to her credit, she has created more than 4,000 new articles, with concentrations in geography, architecture, and women’s biographies. In 2015, she co-founded a volunteer project intended to address the current gender bias in Wikipedia content and in 2021 she was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. Who better to talk with? Wikimedia Foundation: https://wikimediafoundation.org Theme music by Sean Balick; "Great Is the Contessa" by Contessa, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Deanne Fitzpatrick is a virtuous rug hooker. Her art looks like the love child of wool and Vincent Van Gogh. She looks for--and sees--fresh and beautiful things in the world around her, and she supports others in doing the same.  Deanne encourages the rest of us to lean into creating--beauty, community, and time for ourselves. And she has thoughts about how curiosity can help. Find Deanne Fitzpatrick at: http://www.hookingrugs.com Theme music by Sean Balick; “Discovery Harbor” by CloudHarbor via Blue Dot Sessions.

Psychologist Kimberley Wilson says we habitually consume a diet that is depriving our brains of nutrients -- and that has all sorts of consequences for our health and well-being. She focuses on "psychology, mental health, food, and everything in between" and I wanted to know how curiosity might fit into that mix. Find Kimberley Wilson: https://www.kimberleywilson.co Theme music by Sean Balick; “Mind Body Mind" by Bodytonic, via Blue Dot Sessions.

An experienced multi-lingual education specialist and organization leader, Loretta Goodwin is passionate about creating innovative, “anywhere/anytime” learning environments for young people, especially underserved youth.  She's also very curious about what AI offers her field -- and what it implies for all of us. So she undertook a 100-day learning journey. Lucky for us, she's got wonderful insights to share. It's a fascinating conversation about curiosity, productive struggle, creativity, bias, agency, inequity, and the joy of being a newbie. Find Loretta Goodwin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loretta-goodwin/ Theme music by Sean Balick; “Setting Up” by Studio J, via Blue Dot Sessions.

If you came across something that promises to offer students "evidence-driven, rigorously tested ideas that consider alternative perspectives" wouldn't you be interested? Research shows that high school policy debate teaches students how to analyze, explore and understand the world around them, while it hones additional skills like research, critical thinking, and communication. Sounds like a curiosity enterprise to me! Delighted to have David Trigaux of Washington Urban Debate League join me to discuss. Washington Urban Debate League: http://wudl.org Theme music by Sean Balick; “Turning on the Lights" by Speakeasy, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Six years ago I sat down with Jacqueline Gottlieb, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience and Principal Investigator at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute, the very first neuroscientist I’d ever interviewed.  It was a delightful and far-ranging conversation. At some point she made a bold and quite tantalizing statement. “Curiosity," she said, "is going to take neuroscience to the next frontier.”  Today we check in on that assertion. We talked about visual systems, value systems, motivation, cognition, personality psychology, stress tolerance, introversion, extroversion and why it's a good idea for scientists to talk to one another. Jacqueline Gottlieb: https://zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/jacqueline-gottlieb-phd Theme music by Sean Balick; “Cicle Veroni” by Cicle Kadde, via Blue Dot Sessions.

How do you like to learn? We all do it differently. Argha Manna uses comics. Argha is a cancer researcher turned comics artist. He specializes in documenting the history of science and explores how knowledge is generated. Find Argha Manna here: https://drawinghistoryofscience.wordpress.com Theme music by Sean Balick; “Purple Light", Marble Run via Blue Dot Sessions.

How does choosing to be curious about the people and places around us help us discover, elevate and amplify history that's perhaps less well-known? In this third episode of the "Mile in Their Shoes" series, we use the Mount Vernon Trail as a vehicle for tracing our shared history, with the help of a local museum, a local government, and an independent journalist. Photo: "On the Point – ‘Buddies,’ May 30, 1897” Alexandria Black History Museum, used with permission. Visit Black Heritage Museum of Arlington: https://arlingtonblackheritage.org Visit Alexandria African American Heritage Trails: https://www.alexandriava.gov/historic-sites/african-american-heritage-trails Check out Kim O'Connell's work: https://www.kimaoconnell.com Theme music by Sean Balick; music by Onesuch Village, via Blue Dot Sessions.

Jason Logan is an artist and ink maker. But he doesn’t just make ink. He concocts magical potions from found ingredients. He forages, often in urban environments, everything from the berries you might expect, to scrap metal, cigarette butts and dry wall. It’s as if he looks at the world with one big “What if…?” Check out Jason Logan at: http://www.jasonslogan.com and https://torontoinkcompany.com Photo of Jason Logan credit to Sian Richards, used with permission. Theme music by Sean Balick; “Come As you Are” by Cauldron, via Blue Dot Sessions.