Dan Ariely uses behavioral economics to explain how human irrationality affects life, business, and public policy. In The Upside of Irrationality, he describes such idiosyncrasies as the IKEA effect and the Baby Jessica effect, and talks about what behavioral patterns can improve how we love, live, work, innovate, manage, and govern. 

Megan Prelinger discusses aerospace industry ads from the golden age of science fiction—the 1950s and early 1960s—when the farthest reaches of imagination were fed by the technological breakthroughs of the postwar years. Her book Another Science Fiction presents nearly 200 entertaining, intriguing, and inspiring pieces of space-age eye candy.

Filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen talks about her documentary War Don Don. It tells the story of the sensational trial of Issa Sesay, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone. 

Summer brings barbeques, potato salads, and lots of leafy green salads—and the potential for food-borne illness. On this Please Explain, we’ll find out where these bugs come from and how can we avoid getting sick from the foods we eat.