Soren Wheeler

Long was it that quicksand gripped our hearts and imagination with fear. But these days, quicksand can't even scare an eight-year-old. Why?

Kenyans have long-dominated long-distance running; breaking records, winning Olympic medals, and stupefying sports gurus along the way. So what is it that makes Kenyans so darn fast?

Learn a new language faster than ever! Leave doubt in the dust! Could you do all that and more with just a zap to the noggin? Maybe.

Cut and run

Producer Soren Wheeler introduces us to Dan Engber, writer and columnist for Slate, who ran across a strange fact: kids are no longer afraid of quicksand.

Few things have such power over us as blood.

World Series of Poker Champion Annie Duke has made millions playing poker.

In movies and daydreams, winning changes everything. But in real life, it's not always so easy to pin down which ending is the happiest, or who deserves the glory.

What is it about being a fan that causes such intense reactions?

In 1999, Freedom Baird was in grad school, and Furbies--those furry little robot toys that talk to you and tell you to play with them--were all the rage.

Jad and Robert meet humans and robots who are trying to connect, and blur the line.

When Lulu Miller first heard the call of coyotes as a teenager at her family’s cabin in Cape Cod, she loved the sound—it was a thrilling taste of a world that hadn’t been tamed.

In today's podcast, we get a tantalizing taste of words in the wild, from the jungles to the prairie.

Soren Wheeler takes us to Butte Montana--where an open pit copper mine’s demise leads to a toxic lake filled with corrosive runoff.

Though the Lucy experiment would largely be called a failure, could there be a way to re-do it... but better?

Producer Soren Wheeler brings us a story about a friendship between Steve Strogatz and his high school math teacher, Don Joffray.