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Subscribe to RSS FeedHow to Be a Productive Procrastinator
Why do today what you can do the day after tomorrow?
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Tags: NPR, Procrastination
Vivid ‘Encounters’ at Earth’s (and Life’s) Extremes
“We flew into the unknown, a seemingly endless void,” says director Werner Herzog at the start of his latest wonderful and peculiar documentary.
He’s headed to Antarctica — to the McMurdo research station, to be precise — and he’s looking for answers. Sort of. Being Werner Herzog, he’s posing questions that resist actual resolutions.
Tags: Antarctica, Interview, NPR, Werner Herzog
Sedaris Bares Body and Soul in ‘Engulfed’ : NPR
Whether he’s lancing boils, getting crabs from thrift store pants or sitting in a hospital waiting room dressed only in his underwear, one thing is clear: David Sedaris is not shy about sharing those embarrassing, cringe-worthy incidents that members of the general population tend to save for diaries or therapists.
Tags: Book, David Sedaris, NPR
Scientists Changing Theories About Memory : NPR
Everyone knows that frustrating feeling when something is just “on the tip of your tongue.” Like when you run into an old acquaintance on the street — you know you know the person’s name, but it just seems slightly out of your grasp.
Neuroscientists are now studying that phenomenon with brain scanners, and their research is completely changing their view of how human memory works, explains Jonah Lehrer, editor-at-large at Seed magazine and author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist.
Tags: Brain, Memory, NPR, Science
Will We Recognize the Future? : NPR
Technology is ever-changing — and changing ever faster. But what happens when the rate of technological change becomes so fast that the fundamental nature of what it means to be human changes, too?
Inventor, technologist and futurist Ray Kurzweil talks with host Ira Flatow about the idea of the “singularity” — what happens when technology advances so much that it’s impossible to predict what happens next. Will artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and biotechnology be able to completely reshape what it means to be human?
Tags: NPR, Ray Kurzweil
Building a Baby Earth to Test Its Magnetic Field : NPR
The compass has been around since at least the 12th century, but scientists still don’t know exactly how the Earth generates the magnetic field that keeps a compass needle pointing north.
But geophysicist Dan Lathrop is trying to find out — by building his own planet.
His latest effort at the University of Maryland towers over him, a massive stainless steel sphere that looks like a prop from some old science fiction movie. Later this year he plans to fill it with molten metal and set the whole 26-ton ball spinning. At top speed the equator will whirl by at 80 miles an hour.
“It was a little scary the first time we spun it up,” he says.
If all goes well, the planet will generate its own magnetic field.
Tags: Compass, Earth, Geophysics, NPR, Planet, Science
Jenna Fischer, Keeping it Real at ‘The Office’ : NPR
Jenna Fischer is probably best known for her role on NBC’s comedy series The Office. She plays Pam, the receptionist — one of the show’s most recognizably real characters.
If you’ve ever worked in a clerical position in an alienating office, you’ll relate to what Pam goes through. In this interview, Fischer tells Terry Gross about creating all those pained looks and knowing smiles — and about how her five years as an office temp helped to prepare her for the role.
Tags: Fresh Air, Jenna Fischer, NPR, The Office