"Why do people see the Virgin Mary on cheese sandwiches or hear demonic lyrics in "Stairway to Heaven"? Using video, images and music, professional skeptic Michael Shermer explores these and other phenomena, including UFOs and alien sightings."
"What do we know and what do we not know about autism? How can parents, educators and the general public cut through the hype, the unproven and the blatantly bogus? Join renowned autism researcher Laura Schreibman and find out."
"Author Robert Wright explains "non-zero-sumness," a game- theory term describing how players with linked fortunes tend to cooperate for mutual benefit. This dynamic has guided our biological and cultural evolution, he says -- but our unwillingness to understand one another, as in the clash between the Muslim world and the West, will lead to all of us losing the "game." Once we recognize that life is a non-zero-sum game, in which we all must cooperate to succeed, it will force us to see that moral progress -- a move toward empathy -- is our only hope."
"Two fundamental theories -- quantum mechanics and relativity -- have changed forever our understanding of reality. Quantum mechanics describes the very small-scale structure of atoms and their components. Relativity describes the very large-scale structure of space and time. Today's panelists discuss why some physicists have suddenly become obsessed with using physics to explain the human mind, consciousness and how we think. Joining host Robert Kuhn are sci-fi novelist Gregory Benford; physicist James Trefil; consciousness expert David Chalmers; philosopher of mind John Searle; and theoretical physicist Fred Alan Wolf. "
"Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, journeying through her childhood and family history and into the worlds of physics and chance, looking for hints of where her own creativity comes from. It's a wild ride with a surprise ending."
"Join Stuart Lipton of The Burnham Institute and discover important anti-aging strategies, the latest drugs for degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and the potential use of human stem cells for neurological conditions."
"Susan Blackmore studies memes: ideas that replicate themselves from brain to brain like a virus. She makes a bold new argument: Humanity has spawned a new kind of meme, the teme, which spreads itself via technology -- and invents ways to keep itself alive."
"Anthropologist Wade Davis muses on the worldwide web of belief and ritual that makes us human. He shares breathtaking photos and stories of the Elder Brothers, a group of Sierra Nevada indians whose spiritual practice holds the world in balance."
