On Being with Krista Tippett

A mission scientist with NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, Natalie Batalha hunts for exoplanets -- Earth-sized planets beyond our solar system that might harbor life. She speaks about unexpected connections between things like love and dark energy, science and gratitude, and how 'exploring the heavens' brings the beauty of the cosmos and the exuberance of scientific discovery closer to us all.

Natalie Batalha is a research astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center and a mission scientist with the Kepler Space Telescope. Krista Tippett spoke with her on December 13, 2012 via ISDN. This interview is included in our show "On Exoplanets and Love: Natalie Batalha on Science That Connects Us to One Another." Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.

Vincent Harding wrote speeches for Martin Luther King Jr. and was one of his closest friends. The civil rights leader is teaching new generations about the lessons of that time -- and how those lessons can repair divisions in America today. He finds hope in young people today and says they are his answer to the question that drives him: 'Is America possible?'

Vincent Harding is co-founder and chairperson of the Veterans of Hope Project at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. Krista Tippett spoke with him on January 25, 2011 via ISDN. This interview is included in our show "Civility, History, and Hope." Download the mp3 of the produced show at onbeing.org.

A globally admired voice of an emerging Muslim American dream. Rami Nashashibi uses graffiti, calligraphy, and hip hop in his work as a healing force on the South Side of Chicago. He's an activist who converges religious virtues, social action, and the arts. His life is a creative response to ethical confusion in a world of disparity.

Rami Nashashibi is founder and executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Chicago. Krista Tippett spoke with him on July 12, 2012 at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. This interview is included in our show "Rami Nashashibi's American Dream." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Internet thought leader and entrepreneur Seth Godin. He joins Krista Tippett for a rare, in-depth personal interview on the art, the work, and the human possibility of our post-industrial, post-geography 'connection economy.'

Seth Godin is an Internet thought leader and entrepreneur who founded Squidoo.com. Krista Tippett spoke with him on November 30, 2012. This interview is included in our show "The Art of Noticing, and Then Creating." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Poetry is something many of us seem to be hungry for these days. We're hungry for fresh ways to tell hard truths and redemptive stories, for language that would elevate and embolden rather than demean and alienate. Elizabeth Alexander shares her sense of what poetry works in us -- and in our children -- and why it may become more relevant, not less so, in hard and complicated times.

Elizabeth Alexander is a poet and Professor of African American Studies at Yale University. Krista Tippett spoke with her on December 1, 2012. This interview is included in our show "Words That Shimmer." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

It's hard not to feel overwhelmed by all the bad news and horrific pictures in the world. This is a form of empathy, Joan Halifax says, that works against us. The Zen abbott and medical anthropologist has bracing, nourishing thoughts on finding buoyancy rather than burnout in how we work, live, and care.

Roshi Joan Halifax is the founding abbot of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Krista Tippett spoke with her on July 11, 2012 at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. This interview is included in our show "Compassion's Edge States: Joan Halifax on Caring Better." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Linguistics pioneer Jean Berko Gleason unlocks the way we learn an amazing and crucial human skill, learning to talk. She studies how language emerges from childhood on, and says it reveals unexpected truths about our human relationships with our world, and our consciousness of ourselves.

Jean Berko Gleason is a linguistics pioneer exploring connections between language, relationships, and consciousness. Krista Tippett spoke with her on September 27, 2011 from the studios of APM in Saint Paul, Minnesota; Jean Berko Gleason was in the studios of WGBH in Boston. This interview is included in our show "Unfolding Language, Unfolding Life." Download the mp3 of the produced show at on-being-dot-org.

Jon Kabat-Zinn has learned, through science and experience, about mindfulness as a way of life. This is wisdom with immediate relevance to the ordinary and extreme stresses of our time -- from economic peril, to parenting, to life in a digital age.