Origin Stories

Origin Stories

Up next

Math Vs Machine

In less than four years, mathematician Steve Strogatz watched AI go from flailing at basic arithmetic to solving problems that baffle the world’s best mathematicians. In September of 2026, Open AI announced it had solved a Millennium Prize Problem, one of math’s highest achieveme ...  Show more

A 4-Track Mind

In this short episode, first aired in 2011, a neurologist issues a dare to a ragtime piano player and a famous conductor. When the two men face off in an fMRI machine, the challenge is so unimaginably difficult that one man instantly gives up. But the other achieves a musical fea ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

StoryCorps Then and Now: StoryCorps is Born
StoryCorps

In this episode, we go back 20 years to the origins of StoryCorps–the challenges of building a recording booth in Grand Central Terminal– and we catch up with the participants from the first ever radio story we broadcast on NPR.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collec ...  Show more

EXTRA: Why I'm On This Earth
StoryCorps

As StoryCorps' 20th anniversary approaches, we'll be looking back at important moments both in our history and the country's. This week — one more short story from our Military Voices Initiative. Sergeant Ocean Subiono tells his father, Russell Subiono, about what happened when h ...  Show more

StoryCorps Then and Now: Beyond the Booth
StoryCorps

For most of StoryCorps' existence, we've recorded people in person at our storybooths. But on this episode of our special series celebrating 20 years of StoryCorps, we're looking back to when we stepped outside the recording booth to capture stories. Sometimes because we wanted t ...  Show more

StoryCorps Then and Now: Love Letters
StoryCorps

As we continue celebrating StoryCorps' 20th anniversary, we bring you two of our favorite stories that made a strong impression on our listeners, and we share updates with the participants from the last two decades.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use ...  Show more