At Length

Cancer has been part of life since the origins of evolution.

Baseball inspires poets and scribes to wax on about some essential baseball-ness that reflects larger values. Maybe baseball is not simply a game, but something grander.

We think of the astronauts, those brave people who took a ride on a giant rocket ship into the unknown on their way to the moon. Charles Fishman got to thinking about the more than four hundred thousand working on it.

What will the digital world of the future be like? Will humans, or our eternally humming digital simulacra, live in heaven or hell?

Journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has looked at domestic violence around the world in her new book “ No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us.”

health, according to Dr. Sandro Galea, isn’t going to actually occur, for individuals or societies, if we stay focused at that level of attention and care. Health should be considered how everyone lives in their neighborhoods.

After a career of carefully editing so many accomplished writers, language and punctuation remain a joy to Marry Norris, renowned New Yorker Copy Editor.

A broken democracy, perhaps like a broken clock, can be right sometimes. Journalist Hedrick Smith’s new film, “Winning Back Our Democracy,” profiles citizen activists around the United States who are making a difference.

Siri Hustvedt talks about scholarship, teaching story to psychiatry residents and her new book about memory and time in her new novel, “Memories of the Future.”

“Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell us About Ourselves” by Frans De Waal raises a troubling question that challenges humans place in the world.

Arne Duncan served as President Obama’s Secretary of Education. He talks about the nation’s efforts to educate children and his own tenure in federal office.

Octavio Solis is an award-winning working playwright immersed in the culture and politics of our time. His plays tell the stories of rural America, of Latino America, of border America.

An extended walk through Seattle’s Chinatown/International District with scholar Marie Wong. “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels.”

An extended walk through Seattle’s Chinatown/International District with scholar Marie Wong. “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels.”

Through their wealth, philanthropists influence society. Is that fair? As it is currently set-up, Rob Reich says it isn’t.

Uber has disrupted the taxi industry around the world. But its way of doing business may be reshaping other industries.

Peter Sagal, the very funny host of NPR’s News quiz “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” has written a serious and funny book about his attraction to the physical and psychological benefits he gets from running.

Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Truthdig columnist and RT TV talk show host Chris Hedges reports on what he sees as a declining empire, where oligarchs rule and disenfranchised people are poorly served by their media.

The origins of humanity have become less uncertain as scientists like David Reich and his colleagues extract ancient DNA from the bones of our distant ancestors.

People need bees. Since the first wasp got a taste for pollen 125 million years ago, bees and flowers have co-evolved in a way that brings almonds and apricots to our tables.

Award winning science writer David Quammen“The Tangled tree: A Radical New History of Life,” looks at new scientific understanding that tangles up human understanding of the tree of life.

Ray WIliams and Allison Rinard are urban farmers. Their goal is to bring communities together around flowers and food.

An antidote to our toxic national politics. Local initiatives from citizens living in small cities across America aimed at creating jobs, hope and community.

It is very hard to stamp out a weed.

Next time you're contemplating the fate of the world over a pint of ale, take a few moments to consider that amber nectar's own role in shaping society.

Will we innovate our way out of looming crises in climate, water, food and energy? Will cutting back and living within our means save us? Or are we like most species, devouring our resources until it is too late?

From the 1920’s until television permanently settled into our living rooms in the late 1950’s, radio blasted out comedies, variety shows, adventures and dramas to waiting listeners.

Behavioral Economist Dan Ariely explores human misperceptions about saving and spending, opportunity costs and the subtle attraction of deviant behaviors.

M. Gessen is a Russian-American journalist.

Nancy Pearl discusses her new novel.

What don't ask don't tell meant to serving members of the armed forces.

Professor Marieka Klawitter Rethinking Gender Scher Over the last few years, the debate in America over the rights of people of different gender identities has become a key civil rights issue.

The writer Toure of power, race and and claiming your own identity.

Scholar Charles M. Payne argues that the realities of race should return to the forefront of this discussion- not to be seen as a problem to overcome, but as a dynamic for empowerment.

What does U.S. citizenship mean to Native Americans? What does American Indian citizenship mean to the U.S. government? It’s a complex set of questions we take up with UW guest scholar Tsianina Lomawaima.

Sr. Mehnaz Afridi explores the Holocaust through an Islamic lens.

Ralina Joseph explore race and difference.

Steve Scher talks to producer, actor and activist Kathy Najimy about women and body image .

Tony Angell brings the wild world alive. His latest book is The House of Owls. For more than two decades, he and his family have had the remarkable fortune to observe the lives of owls up close. In late 1969, a pair of Western Screech Owls set up housekeeping in a nest box he built for them, in a cedar just off his back porch. He kept notes on the owls' activities and drew them in flight, at rest, eating, and just watching. Recorded in 2015.

We swim in a sea of chemicals. Some of them are harming our environment, some are harming us . Bruce Blumberg Obesogens Part 2

Steve Scher talks with Professor Bruce Blumberg about obesogens , hormone disrupting chemicals that seem to change human metabolism. Bruce Blumberg on Obesogens, Pt. 1.

Dr. Ellen Schur talks to Steve Scher about our bodies internal regulatory systems and how they change as we gain weight.

Sonia Nazario on a train in Mexico Sonia Nazario, author of “Enrique’s Journey: the story of a boy’s dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. ”

Dr. Regina Benjamin, 18th Surgeon General of the United States, talks with Steve Scher about bringing joy to efforts at losing weight and staying healthy.

Steve Scher talks with Dr. Adam Drewnowsk i about the links between obesity and poverty. Simply put, people with more money can pay for better food.

Steve Scher talks with obesity epidemic scholar Shiriki Kumanyika about giving people the tools to understand the health implications of their personal choices.

There are problems with Bell Street in downtown Seattle. It isn't signed clearly at all, and it has inadvertently become a ticket trap. The redesigned street is called a woonerf, a Dutch idea defined as a living yard, or a park-like street where bikers and walkers take precedence over cars. Steve Scher and urban design writer Chuck Wolfe walked the neighborhood to get a sense of what is and is not working. Recorded in 2015.

Michael Pollan talks with Steve Scher about our national eating disorder. Michael Pollan Steve Scher Michael Pollan has helped move food issues toward the center of American politics.

Steve Scher has an in-depth, wide-ranging conversation with David J. Morris about his well-received book, The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Recorded in 2015.

Steve Scher talks with renowned choreographer Mark Morris, who was raised in Seattle and returns in March presenting a performance with his dance group and a talk at the UW.

Steve Scher talks to former SETI Director Jill Tarter about the search for life in the universe.

Steve Scher talks to Christoph Bode about the future of narratives.

If you mention 1125 Harvard East to politicians, musicians, poets, and activists, you will get a knowing nod and probably a smile. In Seattle, the house on Harvard has been a locus of activism for decades. Longtime journalist Sam Sperry has written 1125 Harvard East: Kay Bullitt's Gathering Place. Steve Scher talked with Sperry about Kay Bullitt, the Bullitt family, and the role a welcoming place can play in shaping the history of a region. Recorded in 2015.

What do Disneyland, LA Freeways and Film Noir have in common? According to historian Eric Avila, they all represent aspects of America’s racial divide.

Populations of a great variety of birds are finding homes in our suburbs by adapting to the changes we are bringing to the world. Our actions shape bird success and failure. Steve Scher talks with John Marzluff, wildlife scientist, about his new book, Welcome to Subirdia: Sharing Our Neighborhoods with Wrens, Robins, Woodpeckers, and Other Wildlife. Recorded in 2015.

50 years ago, American citizens were being killed in the fight for the right to vote.

2013 Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry Michael Levitt talks about biological structures, the future of molecular modeling and why it helps the research when scientists are kind and good.

Turns out on-call car service Uber compiles a lot of data about its customers. They can get a pretty good idea of what you are up to just by the way you use their service.

Dolores Huerta still fights for farmworker families. Well into her 8th decade, she is training the next generation of leaders to carry the cause forward.

Former Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe says procedural reforms restore respect for elected officials.

Garth Stein had a runaway hit with "The Art of Racing in the Rain." His new novel is "A Sudden Light." It is a character about a young boy, his father and a wooden house in the Northwest that is haunted by spirits.

Historian Junius Rochester writes histories at a very small scale, telling stories of neighborhoods, institutions, and individuals. He was president of the Pioneer Association of the State of Washington. He took Steve Scher on a tour of the association's 104-year-old headquarters, Pioneer Hall, in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle. Recorded in 2014.