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Wonder Cabinet

Wonder Cabinet Productions

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, and artists who are re-imagining our relationship with the planet. Some study black holes or quantum entanglement; others map mycelial networks or count ancient tree rings. And some explore dream worlds, myths, and fairy tales to revive ways of knowing that challenge what we think we understand about the nature of reality.

The name references Enlightenment-era cabinets of curiosities—private collections of shells, fossils, astronomical instruments, and saints' relics that existed at a moment when the scientific revolution was still in conversation with older ways of knowing the world. Today, another shift is taking place, as mechanistic models give way to more holistic, relational understandings of life on a sentient planet. Wonder Cabinet lives at that threshold.

About the hosts

Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson co-founded To The Best Of Our Knowledge. Steve hosts Luminous, a podcast about the science and philosophy of psychedelics, and is the author of Atoms and Eden.

Learn more at wondercabinetproductions.com.

Copyright 2026 by Wonder Cabinet Productions

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, and artists who are re-imagining our relationship with the planet. Some study black holes or quantum entanglement; others map mycelial networks or count ancient tree rings. And some explore dream worlds, myths, and fairy tales to revive ways of knowing that challenge what we think we understand about the nature of reality.

The name references Enlightenment-era cabinets of curiosities—private collections of shells, fossils, astronomical instruments, and saints' relics that existed at a moment when the scientific revolution was still in conversation with older ways of knowing the world. Today, another shift is taking place, as mechanistic models give way to more holistic, relational understandings of life on a sentient planet. Wonder Cabinet lives at that threshold.

About the hosts

Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson co-founded To The Best Of Our Knowledge. Steve hosts Luminous, a podcast about the science and philosophy of psychedelics, and is the author of Atoms and Eden.

Learn more at wondercabinetproductions.com.

Copyright 2026 by Wonder Cabinet Productions
4hr 41min
Thumbnail for "Introducing 'Wonder Cabinet'".
From the creators of "To the Best of Our Knowledge" comes a new podcast about the mystery of the cosmos and the deep intelligence of the Earth.
Thumbnail for "David George Haskell: Flowers and the Revolutionary Power of Beauty".
What can flowers teach us about survival? Celebrated biologist and writer David George Haskell reframes flowers as agents of transformation—creatures that turned conflict into collaboration and remade the living world.
Thumbnail for "Robert Macfarlane: The Soul of Rivers and the Rights of Nature".
What if a river is alive–and we’ve forgotten how to recognize it? Robert Macfarlane explores animism and the global “rights of nature” movement.
Thumbnail for "Renee Bergland: The Enchanted Science of Emily Dickinson and Charles Darwin".
Emily Dickinson and Charles Darwin shared an enchanted view of nature. Could “natural magic” restore wonder to science?
Thumbnail for "George Saunders: Angels, Ghosts and the Moral Imagination".
Novelist George Saunders talks about creative inspiration, his fascination with ghost stories, and why dying may be the ultimate experience of wonder.
Thumbnail for "Rebecca Solnit: Hope After the End".
As institutions unravel, Rebecca Solnit argues despair is a mistake—and that a more compassionate, just world is already being born.
Thumbnail for "Carlo Rovelli: Cosmic Mysteries and the Politics of Wonder".
Carlo Rovelli’s quest to know the nature of reality began not in a physics lab, but in youthful experiments with consciousness and political protest.
Thumbnail for "Sophie Strand: Ecological Storytelling and Mythic Imagination".
A conversation with writer Sophie Strand on illness, ecology, myth, and why wonder begins in soil, decay, and our kinship with all living things.

Introducing 'Wonder Cabinet'

Thumbnail for "Introducing 'Wonder Cabinet'".
January 24, 20262min 40sec

You know that moment of amazed surprise when you encounter something so unexpected that it feels almost magical? Welcome to “Wonder Cabinet,” the new podcast from the creators of the Peabody Award-winning public radio show“To the Best of Our Knowledge.” 

Each week, Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson host intimate conversations with leading scientists, poets and philosophers about the mystery of the cosmos, the deep intelligence of the Earth, and ideas to re-enchant everyday life. These are expansive interviews about experiences of wonder and transcendence – and ideas that open new doors. 

We’re living through a period of turbulent change, so there's a question we’re asking: what would happen if we let wonder be our guide -- not as an escape from reality, but as a way to inhabit it more deeply? 

The first two episodes of “Wonder Cabinet” premiere on January 31, and new editions will be released weekly on Saturdays. 


Visit https://wondercabinetproductions.com

Wonder Cabinet is hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve Paulson. Find out more about the show at https://wondercabinetproductions.com, where you can subscribe to the podcast and our newsletter.

Transcript

Thumbnail for "Introducing 'Wonder Cabinet'".
Introducing 'Wonder Cabinet'
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02:40