Secrets of Alchemy

Secrets of Alchemy

Author: Wisconsin Public Radio June 5, 2021 Duration: 51:42
Once upon a time, science and magic were two sides of the same coin. Today, we learn science in school and save magic for children’s books. What if it were different? What would it be like to see the world as an alchemist? Original Air Date: September 19, 2020 Guests: Sarah Durn — Pamela Smith — William Newman — Charles Monroe-Kane — Jason Pine Interviews In This Hour: Transmutation Of The Spirit — The Historical Lessons Embedded in Alchemical Recipes — Was Sir Isaac Newton 'The Last of the Magicians'? — The Buried Secrets of Czech Alchemy — Drug Store Alchemy in the Ozarks Further Reading: Maier: Atalanta Fugiens

There’s a certain kind of conversation that doesn’t just skim the surface of a topic but wades into its complexities and contradictions. That’s the space where you’ll find To The Best Of Our Knowledge, a Peabody award-winning production from Wisconsin Public Radio. This isn’t a lecture or a simple interview series; it’s a curated exploration of the ideas shaping our world, hosted through thoughtful dialogue. Each episode brings you voices you might not otherwise encounter in the same room: a poet might illuminate a scientific concept, while a historian’s perspective could reframe a current event. You’ll hear from novelists, software engineers, activists, and philosophers-people united not by their field, but by the depth and passion they bring to their work. Listening to this podcast feels like being part of a nuanced, ongoing discussion that challenges assumptions and invites curiosity. It’s for anyone who believes that understanding culture, society, and the human condition requires looking at them from multiple, sometimes surprising, angles. The result is a consistently engaging audio experience that treats ideas as living, evolving things to be examined with care and genuine interest.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Podcast Episodes
When Mountains Are Gods [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:56
If you look at a mountain, you might see a skiing destination, a climbing challenge, or even a source of timber to be logged or ore to be mined. But there was a time when mountains were sacred. In some places, they still…
How Africans Are Building The Cities Of The Future [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:45
Africans are moving into cities in unprecedented numbers. Lagos, Nigeria, is growing by 77 people an hour — it's on track to become a city of 100 million. In 30 years, the continent is projected to have 14 mega-cities of…
Everything is Exhausting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:39
Why don’t we all just take moment to acknowledge that we are collectively exhausted? The pandemic, the protests, the President’s Twitter feed — everything is exhausting. But maybe it doesn’t have to be? Original Air Date…
As Read By The Author [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:03
As audio producers, one of the most fun things we get to do is bring the soundscape of a novel to life — cue the monsters, the storms, the footsteps of a creature emerging slowly from the ocean. So that’s what we’re brin…
Eye-To-Eye Animal Encounters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:51
There's a certain a kind of visual encounter that can be life changing: A cross-species gaze. The experience of looking directly into the eyes of an animal in the wild, and seeing it look back. It happens more often than…
Our Time of Mourning [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:01
Is there a better way to talk about death? And to grieve? So many people have died during the pandemic — 4.8 million and counting — that we're living through a period of global mourning. And some people — and certain cul…
The Resilient Brain [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:45
New experiences actually rewire the brain. So after all we’ve been through this year, you have to wonder — are we different? We consider the "COVID brain" from the perspective of both neuroscience and the arts. Also, we…
Why Do We Have So Much Stuff? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:47
If you wrote a list of all the things you own in your house, how long would it be? We surround ourselves with possessions, but at what point do they start to possess us? Original Air Date: September 05, 2020 Guests: Ange…
A Parenting Revolution [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:46
The pandemic has made it clear that parents are walking a tightrope with no safety net. We talk to parents about how they want to change the system, what it's like to raise black boys in a time of racial injustice, and h…
Growing Justice [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:48
A new generation of Black farmers are working to reclaim land, hoping to grow justice along with vegetables and plants. Original Air Date: August 22, 2020 Guests: Leah Penniman — Savi Horne — Venice Williams — Marcia Cha…