Glowing balls of energy appear out of nowhere only to vanish a few seconds later. Ball lightning is strange, rare, and unexplained. In this episode, we explore the mystery, prod at the boundary between folklore and science and ask how, when evidence is scarce, we can figure out what is true. Check out our YouTube …
Intro Sometimes it seems like the world would be better off without the internet. What do we do when the technologies that promised to connect us, divide us instead? What do we do when the internet spawns trolls and bullies and misinformation? What would it take to make the internet … kind? In today’s episode: …
Vlogbrothers: How Nerds Brought Kindness to the Internet Read More »
Intro Language is impossibly complicated. And yet, nearly everyone uses it with ease. Where does it come from? In this episode we look for clues to answer this question in the story of the world’s newest language, how it arose, and what it tells us about what it means to be human. I’m Ben Lord. …
Nicaraguan Sign: How Schoolchildren Invented the World’s Newest Language Read More »
Tourists are obnoxious…unless you’re one of them. We all want adventure, but every adventure happens in someone else’s backyard. Hawai’i knows this better than anyplace. This episode is part two (of a two-part series) about what I learned from my travels in Hawai’i. In it, I ponder, “How can we visit paradise without paving it?” …
Death by Aloha: Travel, Tourism, and The Hawaiian Islands (Part 2) Read More »
Tourists are obnoxious…unless you’re one of them. We all want adventure, but every adventure happens in someone else’s backyard. Hawai’i knows this better than anyplace. In this episode what I learned from my travels in Hawai’i about “How can we visit paradise without paving it?” and “What do we owe the places we visit?”
References Ali Maow Maalin. (2025). Wikipedia; Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Maow_Maalin BBC. (2008, March 25). War-torn Somalia eradicates polio. Bbc.co.uk; BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7312603.stm Berche, P. (2022). Life and Death of Smallpox. La Presse Médicale, 51(3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lpm.2022.104117 Breman, J. (2017). Donald Ainslie (D. A.) Henderson, MD, MPH (1928–2016) smallpox eradication: Leadership and legacy. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 215(5), …
Smallpox Eradication: That Time We Decided to Save Everyone Read More »
Today I’m delighted to talk to poet and artist, Bianca Stone. Stone is the author of a number of poetry collections including She is also a poetry comic artist who uses illustration to illuminate her own poetry and the poetry of others. Stone is
Poems are just arrangements of sounds, marks on a page. But the right one can change history, outlast civilizations, and turn a respectable men into wandering vagabonds. In this episode: poetry, why we need it, and how a 13th century love affair changed it forever. Ten Life-changing Poems (For People Who Don’t Read Poetry)
What makes a successful life? Whether we think about it or not, every day, we live out our answer to that question. Our choices become a story about what we value. Together, they make us who we are. In today’s episode, one poet’s iconoclastic answer to that question, and what you and I might learn …
