Wonder Cabinet

We explore our obsession with time travel and what it can teach us about ourselves. Why Are We So Obsessed with Time Travel?; Going Back in Time to Prevent a Tragedy; Reliving Groundhog Day; A Radical New View of Time ; A Novel Based on a Real-Life Time Capsule.

Most of us will never know what really happens behind bars. Prisons are generally off limits to the public and press, but a national prisoner strike on the 45th anniversary of the Attica Prison riot is drawing new attention to the conditions in many of our nation's jails. This hour, what should a prison be? How The Attica Prison Riot Fueled Mass Incarceration in America; Working Undercover As A Private Prison Guard; In Defense of Flogging; Norway's Unusual Approach to Imprisonment; How To Reduce Mass Incarceration; Exploring the Emotional Roots of Justice.

There’s a powerful new voting bloc in America. They’re white, working class, and they live in places that have been left behind. We'll talk with "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance, and country music star Brandy Clark joins us in the studio to play some music and talk about her hometown. Hillbilly Elegy; Big Day in a Small Town; In the Century of Rust; Smart Decline; The Future of Whiteness.

Three journalists join us to talk about an assignment in which they tried to tell the story of someone who was, in some crucial way, unknowable. Getting to Know Your Father As a Woman; Getting Inside the Mind of Patty Hearst; Rodney Ascher Recommends "Patty Hearst"; Did Joe Gould Really Write "The Oral History of Our Time"?.

Scaling El Cap, where Alex Honnold and Tommy Caldwell stunned the world with their dazzling climbs. The Audacity of the World's Most Daring Climber; Hanging Out On Top of Cliffs Is My Happy Place ; Alex Honnold’s Most Dangerous Adventure; The Science of Peak Performance; The Myth of the “Dumb Jock”; The Ultimate Long-Distance Race.

We’ve all had them—the big, significant, transformations that take your life in a new direction. And even though those gateway moments present new and exciting opportunities, they are almost always by definition uncomfortable.    This hour, in partnership with St. Louis Public Radio, To The Best Of Our Knowledge explores various examples of crossing over, to racial understanding, to recovery and to greater unity and love. A City of Gates That Do Not Swing Wide; Adventures on the Woke Spectrum; Shadowball; The Last Game I Make Before I Die; Beatboxing With My Dad; Black At Home, White At Work.

Can we ever get inside the mind of an animal? Can we really know how a chimp or a parrot thinks and experiences the world? We'll talk with some naturalists and scientists who're trying, including Helen Macdonald and Frans de Waal. And the fascinating story of Charles Foster's attempt to live like a badger, when he lived in a hole in the ground and ate worms. Living Like A Beast; Helen Macdonald and "Birdle" the Parrot; Inside Animal Minds; Douglas Adams' Survival Guilt; Searching for the Last Unicorn.

Low-fi artist Syna So Pro loops with love.

The virtues of transgressive, subversive, rule-breaking art, both as an aesthetic and as a way of life. A Matter of (Bad) Taste; Two Tape Recorders and Twenty Knives; Classical Doesn't Have To Mean Dead; Hiding Yourself Behind Characters.

Hollywood is finally getting ready to give women superpowers. For decades, moviegoers only saw the likes of Batman, Spider Man, and Iron Man, but in recent years there's been a slate of strong female characters on screen. And there's more to come, including The Black Widow, Captain Marvel and the iconic Wonder Woman. This hour, we're talking about superheroines, in film and in real life. Wonder Woman's Fascinating Origin Story; What It's Like To Be A Real Life Spy Girl; What Does A Strong Female Character Look Like?; Let's Put An End To Sexist Language; How Pop Music Marginalizes and Excludes Women.