{"podcast":{"title":"Wonder Cabinet","slug":"wonder-cabinet-7409328","podcast_index_feed_id":7409328,"rss_url":"https://publicfeeds.net/f/120/wondercabinet","website_url":"https://www.wondercabinetproductions.com","image_url":"https://f.prxu.org/120/images/68baf269-f9b6-40c1-be6c-30911ff8037b/Show_Cover-Wonder-Cabinet.png","author":"Wonder Cabinet Productions (hello@wondercabinetproductions.com)","episode_count":19,"summary":"Wonder Cabinet is an independent podcast from Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson, Peabody Award-winning creators of public radio's To The Best Of Our Knowledge. For 35 years, that show brought long-form conversations to 200+ stations nationwide; its interviews are now archived in the Library of Congress . Episodes feature intimate, long-form conversations with scientists, philosophers, writers, and artists who are re-imagining our relationship with the planet. Some study black holes or quantum entanglement; others map mycelial networks or count ancient tree rings. And some explore dream worlds, myths, and fairy tales to revive ways of knowing that challenge what we think we understand about the nature of reality. The name references Enlightenment-era cabinets of curiosities—private collections of shells, fossils, astronomical instruments, and saints' relics that existed at a moment when the scientific revolution was still in conversation with older ways of knowing the world. Today, another shift is taking place, as mechanistic models give way to more holistic, relational understandings of life on a sentient planet. Wonder Cabinet lives at that threshold. About the hosts Anne Stra…","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T10:21:12.700956+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328"},"episode":{"title":"An Evening of Wonder with Alan Lightman","slug":"an-evening-of-wonder-with-alan-lightman","published_at":"2026-06-13T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328/an-evening-of-wonder-with-alan-lightman","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328","url":"https://wonder-cabinet.ghost.io/an-evening-of-wonder-with-alan-lightman/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/e/48/dovetail.prxu.org/120/c22d2e4c-d951-4506-9c50-fff3bd6f3d7e/Lightman_mix_01.mp3","summary":"What happens when a physicist experiences a moment of transcendence that science cannot explain? Alan Lightman has spent much of his life exploring the mysteries of the universe—from black holes and the nature of time to the fundamental laws that govern reality. A physicist, novelist and longtime professor at MIT, he's fascinated by the transformative power of awe and wonder. In this live conversation recorded at New York's Morgan Library, Lightman reflects on extraordinary encounters in nature—from a startling moment with two ospreys to a solitary night beneath the stars—that shook him to the core and left him feeling as though he had somehow \"fallen into infinity.\" Calling himself a \"spiritual materialist,\" he seeks to bridge the divide between science and religion, between mathematics and art. Can a scientific worldview make room for awe, transcendence, and mystical experience? Lightman says these fleeting moments reveal something essential about being human: our longing to connect with something larger than ourselves. This event at the Morgan Library was co-sponsored by the Nour Foundation as part of our series “ Spirituality in the Age of Science: Conversations on God, Transcendence and Mortality .” — Video of Steve’s complete conversation with Alan Lightman at Morgan Library : MIT website Books PBS series: \" Searching: Our Quest For Meaning in the Age of Science \" — 0:00 Introduction 2:40 The Osprey Encounter 9:40 Science And Religion 13:30 Scientist And Novelist 28:50 The Religious Impulse 36:50 Evolution And Consciousness Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter.","meta_description":"What happens when a physicist experiences a moment of transcendence that science cannot explain? Alan Lightman has spent much of his life exploring the my…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2823,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wonder-cabinet-7409328/episodes/an-evening-of-wonder-with-alan-lightman/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/wonder-cabinet-7409328/an-evening-of-wonder-with-alan-lightman.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}