David Sloan Wilson believes that evolution is not just a description of how we got here. He says it can also be a tool kit for improving how we live together. He’s taken what he’s learned in studying evolution in animals and is now applying it to the behavior of groups in his hometown of Binghamton, New York. His goal is to help people behave pro-socially — at their best, and for the good of the whole. This is Krista Tippett’s complete, unabridged conversation with David Sloan Wilson that’s included in the show “Evolving a City.” See more at onbeing.org/program/evolving-city/4720

Keith Devlin is a mathematician and executive director of H-STAR at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Krista Tippett spoke with him on July 11, 2013. This interview is included in our show “The Joy of Math.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.

Mathematical equations are like sonnets says Keith Devlin. What most of us learn in school, he says, doesn’t begin to convey what mathematics is. And technology may free more of us to discover the wonder of mathematical thinking — as a reflection of the inner world of our minds.

What happens when you bring together science and poetry on something like color or light? Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative. And he says we can all investigate life as vigorously from the inside as from the outside. This is Krista Tippett’s unabridged conversation with Arthur Zajonc. See more at onbeing.org/program/arthur-za…e-consciously/109

What happens when you bring together science and poetry on something like color or light? Arthur Zajonc is a physicist and contemplative. And he says we can all investigate life as vigorously from the inside as from the outside.

Natalie Batalha is a research astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center and a mission scientist with the Kepler Space Telescope. Krista Tippett spoke with her on December 13, 2012 via ISDN. This interview is included in our show “On Exoplanets and Love: Natalie Batalha on Science That Connects Us to One Another.” Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.

A mission scientist with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, Natalie Batalha hunts for exoplanets — Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system that might harbor life. She speaks about unexpected connections between things like love and dark energy, science and gratitude, and how “exploring the heavens” brings the beauty of the cosmos and the exuberance of scientific discovery closer to us all.

How can unimaginable social change happen in a world of strangers? Kwame Anthony Appiah is a philosopher who studies ethics and his parents’ marriage helped inspire the movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” In a tense moment in American life, he has refreshing advice on simply living with difference.

Krista Tippett’s unedited interview with Kwame Anthony Appiah was recorded in 2011 and is included in our show, “Kwame Anthony Appiah — Sidling Up to Difference.” See more at http://onbeing.org/program/sidling-difference/175