December 11, 2023

James W. Cortada in Conversation with Robyn Massey About Inside IBM

James W. Cortada―a business historian who worked at IBM for many years―pinpoints the crucial role of corporate culture in IBM’s success. He provides an inside look at how this culture emerged and evolved over the course of nearly a century,...

July 7, 2023

Sergio Almécija in Conversation with Robyn Massey About Humans

In a career that has spanned more than twenty years, Dr. Sergio Almécija has dug up fossils in Europe, visited museum collections all over the world, and, more recently, studied living apes in their natural environments in Africa and Asia....

January 10, 2023

Resolving to Downsize

Robyn Massey

As one of the many readers or viewers who has engaged with Marie Kondo’s advice on how to think about, purge, and organize possessions, I was attracted to a recent work, Downsizing: Confronting Our Possessions in Later Life, by David...

December 9, 2022

Q&A: Kenneth D. Frank in Conversation with Robyn Massey about Sex in City Plants, Animals, Fungi, and More

From the garden in the back of his downtown rowhouse, Kenneth D. Frank observed the cornucopia of organisms that interacted and mated before his eyes. These observations made him wonder: how does the city interfere with these organismal orgies? In...

March 4, 2022

Stephanie D. Preston in Conversation with Robyn Massey About The Altruistic Urge

From the Good Samaritan to Wesley Autry, who jumped in front of a train to save another, stories of altruism fascinate people for many reasons. We are struck by these self-sacrificing acts, and moved by such heroism. Why do ordinary...

February 25, 2022

Andy Secher in Conversation with Robyn Massey about Travels with Trilobites

For thirty years before delving more fully into the Paleozoic world of trilobites, Andy Secher was a key behind-the-scenes figure in the rock and roll industry. He was not only the long-time editor of the popular and influential hard rock...

February 18, 2022

Anne Skomorowsky in Conversation with Robyn Massey about The Carriers

A tiny mutation on the X chromosome is a relatively common but still little-known genetic condition that can shape a family’s history. Passed down from a “carrier” parent to a child, fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited cause...

February 14, 2022

Richard Ambron in Conversation with Robyn Massey About The Brain and Pain

For forty years, Richard Ambron directed a neuroscience lab at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. This experience makes him uniquely qualified to explain not only how pain happens, but also how to think about and...

February 4, 2022

Stephen Ross in Conversation with Robyn Massey on Chimpanzee Memoirs

Chimpanzees fascinate people for many reasons. The apes’ resemblance to humanity, as seen in their use of tools and their complex social lives, can awe us. But what moves someone to dedicate their lives to chimpanzees? In this conversation, Stephen...