Interview | Babak Tafreshi on the Magic of th...

In this episode, Leyla sits down with Ali Banisadr, the Tehran-born, New York–based painter whose work hangs in museum collections around the world. His exhibition Temple of the Mind at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum (on view through November 8, 2026) is the museum's first-ever artis ...  Show more

In the fifth and final part of our discussion of Attar's Conference of the Birds, Leyla is joined by Omid Arabian of the YOUniversal Center for the poem's climax, as the thirty surviving birds finally reach the Simorgh and discover, through Attar's wordplay on see morgh and seemo ...  Show more

How do you take an incredible photo of the cosmos? In this extended conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice learn about how to start taking photos of space with astrophotographer and National Geographic Explorer, Babak Tafreshi. 

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Where are the darkest skies in the US? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice learn about dark sky efforts, light pollution, and cool places to stargaze with guests astrophysicist Matt O’Dowd, photographer Babak Tafreshi, and national park ranger Bradley Mills. 

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Not everyone celebrates the New Year in the middle of winter; for 300 million people around the world, their New Year begins at the moment of the vernal equinox. The holiday of Nowruz celebrates that “new day” by encouraging us to make poetic connections between life and death, a ...  Show more