PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360

Samantha Hunt describes the turning point in Tesla's life when he began acting like a mad scientist, almost taking a page from the movies. And biologist Vincent Pieribone thinks that Hollywood's most dangerous fantasy about "mad scientists" is that scientists have any power at all.

Early in his career, Ed Belbruno was an astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, and he had a radical idea about getting to the moon. Today he's more interested in moving the people who come to see his paintings. Produced by Mike Lemonick.

Kurt sits down for our meal du jour with two eating experts: biopsychologist Marcia Pelchat, of the Monell Chemical Senses Center, and John Willoughby, the Executive Editor of Gourmet Magazine. Dr. Pelchat identifies secret ingredients of Dufresne's dishes: emotion, memory and nostalgia.

Simon Wells (the great-grandson of H.G. Wells) directed the 2002 film adaptation of his ancestor's classic novel, The Time Machine - he explains his design for the time machine. David Goldberg thinks it will actually look more like a spaceship; he and Connie Willis also debate whether a visitor to the past would be able to reshape the future.

David Goldberg teaches physics at Drexel University. In A User's Guide to the Universe, he explains how time travel might be possible. He tells Kurt why the skeptics are wrong: "It's certainly within the realm of what we know about how the universe works."

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of On The Origin of Species. Charles Darwin's great-great-granddaughter, Ruth Padel, tells her famous ancestor's life story all in verse.

Paul Bartlett was slogging through a PhD in animal behavior when he decided he would rather be painting. Bartlett finished his studies, left behind the zebra finches in his research lab, and now depicts razorbills, puffins, and other shore life in his native Scotland. Produced by Ari Daniel Shapiro.

Acclaimed novelist Lydia Millet imagines a future where a genetic engineering accident has wiped out much of the earth's plant life. When a few blades of grass appear on a remote island, a scientist goes to investigate. Martha Plimpton reads the story. With production by John Delore.

Amateur paleontologist Jon Halsey isn't afraid to turn over a few rocks. By digging in areas near his home outside of Dallas, he's been able to amass an extensive collection of fossils which he stores in his garage. He calls the collection "The American Museum of God," revering the power he believes is behind his discoveries. Lindsay Patterson went digg

Where did we come from? Evolutionary biologist Spencer Wells is pretty close to the answer. He's the National Geographic "Explorer-in-Residence" and heads an initiative called the Genographic Project. By collecting DNA samples from people around the world, he's tracing the paths of human migration, and he's uncovered some startling facts about homo sapi

In time-lapse photography, the bloom of a flower takes just seconds. Musician and computer programmer R. Luke DuBois has developed the aural equivalent: time-lapse phonography. DuBois used the technique to condense Billboard's pop charts into a single piece of music: 42 years of #1 hits compressed into 37 minutes. It's called "Billboard." Produced by Tr

What separates humans from animals? It used to be tools - and then we found out some animals are pretty handy. But what about art? There may be nothing prettier than birdsong, but each species sings pretty much the same tune. Are animals ever really creative? WBUR's Sean Cole went looking for animal artists and found a dog painter and an orchestra of el

As part of Studio 360's series on science and creativity, Sarah Lilley talks with scientists who admire the impressionist painter Claude Monet not just for his color choices, but for his ability to trick the human eye and brain.

He's officially in digital forensics, but Hany Farid is really a Photoshop detective, inventing software to catch what the eye can't. Farid gives Douglas McGray, an Irvine fellow at the New America Foundation, a glimpse at his current caseload – from fraud in cancer research to white supremacists in prison.

Remember the old Saturday Night Live skit that asked, "What if Eleanor Roosevelt Could Fly?" Sound artist Jane Philbrick asked a question just as unlikely: "What if retired Senator Jesse Helms could recite a lesbian love poem by Gertrude Stein?" Andrew Adam Newman found out how Philbrick's quixotic project took her to the cutting edge of voice-synthesis