To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Hosted by Anne Strainchamps and Steve and Steve Paulson · Wonder Cabinet Productions
4.6from 1,230 ratings
- 528
- Episodes
- 50
- Transcribed
- 1,230
- Ratings
- Daily
- Cadence
- 2014
- First episode
- 264K
- YouTube views
About To The Best Of Our Knowledge
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 (https://americanarchive.org/special_collections/ttbook).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 hostsAnne 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 (https://global.oup.com/academic/product/atoms-and-eden-9780199743162?cc=us&lang=en&).Learn more at wondercabinetproductions.com (http://wondercabinetproductions.com).
- Publisher
- Wonder Cabinet Productions
- Category
- society & culture
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 30 Mar 2014
- Latest episode
- 29 Aug 2026
Latest episodes
50 of 528 episodes have a transcript.
29 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Tree Thinking with Robert Moor
22 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Ecowomanist Theology of Rev. Dr. Melanie L. Harris
15 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Poetry Against Despair with Christian Wiman
Inside a recent episode
Tree Thinking with Robert Moor
Published 29 Aug 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] And one of my tree professors, my tree biology professors, Patrick von Otterkos, told me a tree is really just a growth form. That was his phrase, a growth form. Does that mean it's just a tall plant? Well, it's just a way a plant grows, really. It's a way of being. And so once I started thinking of a tree as a process rather than as a type of thing, suddenly I started seeing them in new ways. I thought, well, what is a tree? If it's a way of being, if it's a way that a thing grows, how does it grow? Well, it branches out. it prunes back what doesn't work and gnaurls around what does work. And then by the end of the book, I discovered the sort of missing piece to all that, which is it sends down deep roots, that it's deeply rooted to its local ecology and to the community of life in that place. […]
Read the full transcript with a Pod Engine plan.
See plansWho has been a guest on To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
- Robert Moor
- Melanie L Harris
- Christian Wiman
- Cal Flyn
- Gary Snyder
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
- YouTube views
- 263,610
- Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
- Apple Podcasts (US)
- 4.6 / 5
- 1,056 ratings
- Spotify
- 4.8 / 5
- 174 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 84 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
- Quality
- 94
- Social presence
- 0
- YouTube
- 86
- Engagement
- 99
Pitching To The Best Of Our Knowledge
- Guest appearances
- Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting pitches.
Shows with a similar audience
Questions about To The Best Of Our Knowledge
Who hosts To The Best Of Our Knowledge?
Anne Strainchamps and Steve and Steve Paulson host the show. Published by Wonder Cabinet Productions.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes daily, based on its RSS feed.
Does To The Best Of Our Knowledge take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
Where can I read transcripts?
50 of 528 episodes have a transcript on Pod Engine. Full transcripts are available with a Pod Engine plan.
Host of To The Best Of Our Knowledge?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show
Podcast research with Pod Engine