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Wonder Cabinet is an independent podcast from Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson, Peabody Award-winning creators of public radio's To The Best Of Our Knowledge. For 35 years, that show brought long-form conversations to 200+ stations nationwide; its interviews are now archived in the Library of Congress.

Episodes feature intimate, long-form conversations with scientists, philosophers, writers, a... more

PublishesWeeklyEpisodes708Founded15 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
PhilosophySociety & Culture

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Artwork for Wonder Cabinet

Latest Episodes

Can you imagine being a tree? Robert Moor has spent years trying—climbing into their canopies, studying their biology and learning to see trees in ways most of us don’t. He considers himself a “tree person.”

Moor believes that when you spend a lot o... more

Rev. Dr. Melanie Harris is a professor of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies at Wake Forest University, an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and one of the founders of ecowomanism — a theology and environmental philosoph... more

How do you find joy in suffering? That’s one of the questions Christian Wiman explores in his poetry and his life.

The former editor of Poetry magazine, Wiman is the author of seven books of poetry, including his latest, The Dance. He also teaches a... more

For thousands of years, people have dreamed of walking off the map — lighting out for the remote unknown, into landscapes untouched and untamed. The classic wilderness quest is as old as literature itself: you go into the wild, and you come out chang... more

Key Facts

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Recent Guests

Robert Moor
Essayist and author, In Trees
Author, In Trees
Episode: Tree Thinking with Robert Moor
Reverend Dr. Melanie L. Harris
Professor of Black Feminist and Womanist Theologies, founder of Ecowomanism
Wake Forest University; Ecowomanism
Episode: The Ecowomanist Theology of Rev. Dr. Melanie L. Harris
Christian Wiman
Poet, editor, author of The Dance; teaches at Yale Divinity School
Yale Divinity School
Episode: Poetry Against Despair with Christian Wiman
Cal Flyn
Journalist, writer and explorer; author of The Savage Landscape, How We Made the Wilderness
Author, The Savage Landscape
Episode: Chasing Wilderness with Cal Flyn (and Gary Snyder)
Philip Goff
Philosophy professor at Durham University
Durham University
Episode: The Conscious Universe: Panpsychism with Philip Goff
Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
Founder of Emergence Magazine, filmmaker, Sufi teacher
Emergence Magazine
Episode: The Spiritual Ecology of Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
Alan Lightman
Physicist and novelist
Harvard University; MIT (gravitation theory, black holes, cosmology)
Episode: An Evening of Wonder with Alan Lightman
D. Graham Burnett
Historian of science at Princeton; co-founder of The Friends of Attention; co-author of Attensity and founder of the Strother School of Radical Attention
Princeton University; Friends of Attention; Strother School of Radical Attention
Episode: Rewilding Attention with D. Graham Burnett
Christof Koch
Neuroscientist; former president of the Allen Institute for Brain Science; chief scientist at Tiny Blue Dot Foundation
Tiny Blue Dot Foundation; Allen Institute for Brain Science
Episode: Christof Koch on the Cosmic Toad

Hosts

Anne Strainchamps
Co-host and interviewer; long-form conversationalist with a focus on philosophy, science, and culture
Steve Paulson
Co-host and interviewer; explores science, philosophy, and culture with a calm, curiosity-driven approach

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 1.4k ratings
  • Gentle, awe-inspiring, soothing

    I am so thankful for Wonder Cabinet! TTBOOK was previously my favorite npr show/podcast and I was devastated when I heard it was going off air. I love Wonder Cabinet though and it has become one of the best tools in my “regulate my nervous system” toolbox. I love to listen while I do simple chores or meal prep on Sundays. It is so gentle, interesting, awe-inspiring, and I learn something new every episode. Thank you for bringing us such engaging and peaceful content in these trying times!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Highlight hi
    United States2 months ago
  • Appreciated

    I get some comfort and stimulation from the often edgey topics , including where animism, science and consciousness intersect.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Rowan Sweetwater
    United States2 months ago
  • On my Must Listen List

    I never miss an episode. I felt such loss when “To the Best of Our Knowledge” ended, but “Wonder Cabinet” has surpassed even that excellent podcast!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Tulsa Cat
    United States3 months ago
  • Resonates with my searching

    As a modern urban human, I really appreciate how you are expressing your own groping in the dark and how to connect with the land and our spiritual selves when we have been so severed from traditions that show us the path

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    tiniwiniseattle
    United States3 months ago
  • So good to be back

    ….in the good company of the ttbook team. As curious, engaged, fascinated by the world around us as ever. Great conversation, deep but accessible, wide range of subject matter. Love it.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ICE2007
    United Kingdom3 months ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Listeners appreciate the calm, insightful, wide-ranging inquiries and the focus on wonder and ecological thinking
Thoughtful, human and necessary: deep conversations that create community
Wonder Cabinet is a thoughtful evolution of a long-form interview tradition

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Tree Thinking with Robert Moor
Q: What makes tree thinking a powerful way to understand evolution, beyond a linear narrative?
Tree thinking reveals that evolution is a branching, non-linear process where our lineage emerged from a web of relationships, allowing us to see our ancestors as part of a broader, interconnected ecological story instead of a straight line toward modern humans.
Tree Thinking with Robert Moor
Q: Why did you decide to sleep in a chimpanzee nest, and what did you learn from that experience?
The sleep experiment shed light on how nest-based sleeping among early humans could have influenced cognitive development and emotional regulation, showing that elevated treetop living reduces mosquito bites and increases safety, which may have shaped human evolution.
The Ecowomanist Theology of Rev. Dr. Melanie L. Harris
Q: Last question, what has come to your mind while you've been here at the springs and desert?
The desert reveals the Divine Feminine differently than the lush East, and the landscape teaches through the curves of mountains and colors of mesas, suggesting that transformation comes from a change in perception as much as in space.
Poetry Against Despair with Christian Wiman
Q: Is that anything like what actually happens for you?
He explains that the experience often comes in recollection and through language; moments of awe are felt deeply and then unearthed by writing, rather than being grasped as a clear, standalone event in the moment.
Why We Need Fairy Tales Now — with Sharon Blackie
Q: What distinguishes your approach from traditional Jungian analyses of fairy tales?
I prioritize the idea that archetypes and images can exist outside the individual psyche, tapping into an imaginal world, and I argue for listening to the image as a living, morally meaningful presence rather than simply projecting inner psychology onto it.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Wonder Cabinet

What is Wonder Cabinet about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The conversations center on big ideas at the intersection of science, philosophy, and ecology, with a strong emphasis on wonder, awe, and humane approaches to living with the non-human world. Guests range from philosophers and theologians to scientists, writers, and activists, exploring topics such as consciousness, panpsychism, spirituality, the ethics of environmental stewardship, the role of myth and folklore, and the politics of how we relate to landscapes, animals, and ecosystems. The show often blends deep-dive interviews with reflective storytelling, inviting listeners to reframe questions about reality, time, and our place within a living planet. A notable through-line is the attempt to harmonize rigorous inquiry with wonder, offeri... more

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How many listeners does Wonder Cabinet get?

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How many subscribers and views does Wonder Cabinet have?

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Which podcasts are similar to Wonder Cabinet?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Wonder Cabinet:

1. Emergence Magazine Podcast
2. Radiolab
3. Hidden Brain
4. This American Life
5. Poetry Unbound

How many episodes of Wonder Cabinet are there?

Wonder Cabinet launched 15 years ago and published 708 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Wonder Cabinet?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

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What guests have appeared on Wonder Cabinet?

Recent guests on Wonder Cabinet include:

1. Robert Moor
2. Reverend Dr. Melanie L. Harris
3. Christian Wiman
4. Cal Flyn
5. Philip Goff
6. Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee
7. Alan Lightman
8. D. Graham Burnett

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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