Gordon Parks/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Glenn Gould In Rapture

by Robert Krulwich

September 4, 2014 • You don't get to see this too often: a man (in this case, a very talented man) totally possessed by his muse. Watch pianist Glenn Gould deep in what psychologists call "a flow state."

Courtesy of Marco Cianfanelli

A Giant Appears At The Edge Of An African Roadway

by Robert Krulwich

September 3, 2014 • If the task is to think backward, to an important moment in history, here's a stunning way to do it: It's a jewel of a monument alongside a road in South Africa.

Courtesy of Erik Johansson

Weekend Special

Roadways You Can Install Like Throw Rugs

by Robert Krulwich

August 24, 2014 • You look. You gape. You can't believe your eyes. Well, take a peek at this image and ask yourself, 'How did they do this?'

Robert Krulwich/NPR

When Venus Was Filled With Venusians — 50 Billion Of Them

by Robert Krulwich

August 21, 2014 • Look up at the night sky and ask, "Anybody there?" Then consider this answer (from the 1830s): There are 22 trillion individuals in our solar system.

Robert Krulwich/NPR

If You're Born In The Sky, What's Your Nationality? An Airplane Puzzler

by Robert Krulwich

August 20, 2014 • Suppose two Chinese parents get on an Australian airplane and, while flying over U.S. territory, they have a baby on the plane. Can that baby be an American citizen?

Vi Hart/YouTube

When Snails Lose Their Way

by Robert Krulwich

August 15, 2014 • There are happy snails. There are lonely snails. And there are lost snails. This one is lost. Totally. But it sings.

Focus Features/YouTube

Stephen Hawking's Dazzling Life Becomes A Movie, But What Sort Of Movie?

by Robert Krulwich

August 14, 2014 • A new movie turns the physicist into a romantic lead. But how will it handle the not-so-wonderful parts of his marriage? Truthaholics want to know.

Courtesy of Thomas Doyle

Elemental Storytelling

by Robert Krulwich

August 12, 2014 • Thomas Doyle tells stories with teeny frozen people. They aren't cold. They are frozen in time, but he freezes them with exquisitely suspenseful, Sherlock Holmes-like care.

SmarterEveryDay/YouTube

What A Balloon Shouldn't Do, But For Some Reason Does

by Robert Krulwich

August 7, 2014 • Tether a balloon to the floor of a car, step on the gas, and watch the balloon do something it shouldn't. Ask why. Then discover the answer. Then feel smart.

Robert Krulwich/NPR

How To Cross 5 International Borders In 1 Minute Without Sweating

by Robert Krulwich

August 5, 2014 • Nations need borders for security, for revenue, for defense, for identity. But for fun? Introducing borders that giggle.

Tanaka/Flickr

Weekend Special

Guess Who's Been Waiting In The Lobby For A Hundred Million Years?

by Robert Krulwich

August 2, 2014 • The M-Thing. It's patient. It's modest. It's relentless. It stays.

Robert Krulwich/NPR

Where The Birds Are Is Not Where You'd Think

by Robert Krulwich

July 28, 2014 • Birds are everywhere, but the greatest concentration of different birds — the "bird mecca" of America — is not in our great parks, not in our forests, not where you'd suppose. Not at all.

Courtesy of I.M. Chait

An Animal Makes A $10,000 Deposit, But Not At The Bank

by Robert Krulwich

July 23, 2014 • A Beverly Hills auction house has an unusual fossil for sale. It's not an ancient animal. It's something an ancient animal left behind — and it's very, very long.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

What's Better Than A Total Eclipse Of The Sun? Check This

by Robert Krulwich

July 22, 2014 • This may be the most heart-rending, most beautiful eclipse in our solar system. But you can't travel to see it. Not yet.

Robert Krulwich/NPR

Neil Whosis? What You Don't Know About The 1969 Moon Landing

by Robert Krulwich

July 16, 2014 • The year he landed on the moon, astronaut Neil Armstrong was famous, iconic, an American hero. One year later he wasn't. In 1970, how many people remembered his name? This will surprise you.

Claude Monet /The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Most Astonishing Wave-Tracking Experiment Ever

by Robert Krulwich

July 13, 2014 • What if I told you that an ordinary-looking wave hitting your beach had traveled, intact, halfway across the planet? Would you believe me? Well, believe this.

Zach Heller/Flickr

A Tough Little Droplet Fights To Stick Around

by Robert Krulwich

July 9, 2014 • It's just a drop of water. It's about to fall. And when it does, a story begins. What happens next may feel oddly familiar. Maybe it's telling you — about you.

Robert Krulwich/NPR

Weekend Special

Tell Me, Wave, Where Did You Come From? Who Made You?

by Robert Krulwich

July 6, 2014 • Richard Feynman, one of the greatest science teachers ever, asks a wave to tell him a story.

deniscimafinc/YouTube

Watch It Swallow An Entire Tree In Seconds

by Robert Krulwich

July 2, 2014 • It's got big iron teeth and a powerful jaw. When it finds a 30-foot tree it goes to the top, opens its mouth and — watch this.

Courtesy of Lauren R. Weinstein/Nautilus

Weekend Special

Her Baby Is At Risk: Lauren's Story

by Robert Krulwich

June 29, 2014 • They were having a baby. Both she and her husband carry a gene that might cause problems, "might" being a 25 percent chance. Is that high? Low? What to do? Here's the story, nicely drawn, deeply felt.

Robert Krulwich/NPR

What Not To Serve Buzzards For Lunch, A Glorious Science Experiment

by Robert Krulwich

June 26, 2014 • This bird likes livers, kidneys, entrails — anything it can pluck that's freshly dead. But what if you served it ... a painting?