Health & Science

The writer Michael Pollan is with us to talk about his book on psychedelics. It’s about their potential to heal mental illnesses, and to explore the subject, Pollan took a few trips himself.

Science writer Brian Switek says human bones are often a symbol of death, but they also represent deep truths about who we are. His latest book is a cultural and natural history of our bones.

Monday, we're talking about this strange mix in human nature of virtue and violence. The anthropologist Richard Wrangham is fascinated by how and why humans evolved to be both so nice and so brutal.

Wednesday, we're talking about success. The network scientist Albert-Laszlo Barabasi says he has figured out an actual, quantifiable formula that explains why some people are successful and others are not.

Friday, a harrowing look at how America cares for those suffering serious mental illness. Director Ken Rosenberg’s film Bedlam follows several mentally ill patients as they bounce in and out of healthcare, housing, homelessness and prison.

Monday, we begin our Sundance coverage with a documentary about a farm. John and Molly Chester wanted to create a place that followed the way a natural ecosystem works. But getting there, wasn’t easy.

Sociologist Robert Bullard is known as the "father of environmental justice,” and he joins us Friday to talk about how minorities and poor communities have it the worst when it comes pollution.

Monday, Howard Berkes joins us to talk about his reporting of an epidemic of black lung disease that is suffocating and killing the country's coal miners. Federal regulators and the mining industry have done little to help.

Chances are you've never given jellyfish a second thought. The science writer Juli Berwald gets it, but she loves them. She's written a book about how complicated and beautiful they are.

The writer Daniel Pink says that timing is a science. Knowing how it works can make us better at our jobs and more creative. It’s not just about doing, but knowing when to do it.