Sanaz Meshkinpour

In 2016, Peter McIndoe started a farcical conspiracy theory called Birds Aren't Real—gaining a following of Gen Z adherents. He reflects on what the fake movement reveals about belief and belonging.

We all experience it: the desire to do something mischievous just for the sake of it. Psychologist Paul Bloom invites us to see the clever, creative and beautiful side of our desire to be bad.

As a teenager, Maya Shankar planned to be a concert violinist. When an injury put her sense of self into question, Shankar began a lifelong mission to learn how the brain processes life's disruptions.

Based on her work for a CIA task force aimed at predicting civil wars, political scientist Barbara F. Walter examines the rise in extremism and threats to democracies around the globe and at home.

At 16, Jose Antonio Vargas learned he was living in the U.S. illegally. As an adult, Vargas came out as undocumented and dedicated his career to broadening the idea of who belongs in America.

Democracy is being challenged around the world. Political scientist Yascha Mounk says that to fight for democracy, we need to take a hard look at why so many nations are electing populist leaders.

Following a devastating accident, a 22-year-old Ramona Pierson spent 18 months in a coma. She awoke unsure if she'd ever recover. But she did, in an unexpected safe haven — a group home for seniors.

In five years, Uruguay transformed its grid. Now 98% of its energy comes from renewables. Former national director of energy, Ramón Méndez Galain, recounts his country's path and how to replicate it.

Writer Pico Iyer has crisscrossed the globe looking for paradise and different cultures' notions of it. Amid conflict and difficulty, he asks if it can ever be found.

Paradise is a real place, and for many, the California town was utopia--until the fire. We hear from residents and wildfire expert George Whitesides, who says a safer wildfire season is possible.