Health & Science

In about 30 years there will be 10 billion people on the planet. Most of them will probably be middle class and want things like cars, homes, and Toblerone bars. How do you provide for that many people? Well, there are basically two answers.

Wednesday, we’re asking this question: Is it true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger? Investigative journalist and anthropologist Scott Carney went looking for answers. He joins us to talk about pushing past perceived limitations. (Rebroadcast)

Where do babies come from? It took us a surprisingly long time to figure it out. Science writer Edward Dolnick joins us Friday to tell the story of theories, searching and scientific discovery.

Rachel Herz is a neuroscientist who studies the psychology of eating. Which is to say, she explores what influences the things you eat and the things you don’t, how food affects us mentally, emotionally, and how it can change your behavior.

Serious researchers long shied away from so-called anthropomorphism. But biologist John Shivik says animal personalities and emotion are key to understanding how species evolved. So why are some animals shy and others ornery?

Tuesday, we’re talking about some of the weirdest ways we’ve tried to cure our bodies and minds through the ages. Doctor and author Lydia Kang is our guide and she says we still need to be saved from quacks.

Neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli became interested in Alzheimer’s disease as he watched his own grandfather go through it. There’s a good chance it’s touched someone in your life too; Jebelli calls it the next global pandemic.

The reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone was controversial when it happened in 1995, and it added more fuel to the blazing feud between conservationists and the ranchers and hunters who wish wolves had never returned to the Rockies.

For centuries, poets and philosophers extolled the benefits of a walk in the woods. The writer Florence Williams set out to learn if they were right. She discovered that time in nature is not just a luxury; it's actually essential to our humanity.

Since first evolved on earth more than four billion years ago, it has passed in and out of existence five times. Make that six. An extinction event is happening right now. So what can we learn about the previous ones?