Following the success of his previous novel All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr's latest book is an ambitious epic about the power and immortality of stories. He discusses it all with NPR's Scott Simon here. If you're in the market for a novel written by someone who genuinely loves books, this is the pick for you.
Amanda Holmes reads Saadi Youssef’s poem “Abduction,” translated by Khaled Mattawa. Have a suggestion for a poem by a (dead) writer? Email us: podcast@theamericanscholar.org. If we select your entry, you’ll win a copy of a poetry collection edited by David Lehman.
This episode was produced by Stephanie Bastek and features the song “Canvasback” by Chad Crouch.
Navigation on the open ocean is extremely difficult. It is a skill that takes years to master.
Even with years of skill, an experienced mariner was still able to ground their ship on an unseen reef, underwater rocks, or a sandbar, because they didn’t know their precise location.
The main problem, which was unsolved for centuries, was determining your longitude.
Learn more about the longitude problem, and how it was eventually solved, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
It can be hard enough to answer the question, "what kind of music do you like?" But how about "why do you like it?" That's one of the many questions about the human brain and sound that neuroscientist Nina Kraus set out to answer in her book Of Sound Mind. In this interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro, she breaks down the science behind what our brains do when they process sound, and how it differs for each of us.
Learning from Lily the owl – could she help small aircraft cope with turbulence? Scientists hope what they’ve learnt about barn owls might help with the design of drones.
Let us know what you think.
#30 Animals
www. bbcworldservice.com/30animals
As I have mentioned in many episodes of this podcast, there are a great many things that were originally invented in Ancient China. There are literally hundreds of inventions that were developed in China before they were introduced anywhere else.
However, there are four inventions in particular which stand out as having revolutionized not just Chinese civilization, but the entire world.
In the early 1950s, war ravaged the Korean peninsula. However, the fighting ceased on July 27, 1953. Both sides of the conflict pulled back from the front and created a buffer zone 4 kilometers or 2.5 miles wide.
That buffer zone still exists today.
Learn more about the Korean Demilitarized Zone, its past and present, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
