A semi up-to-date archive of my radio essays for BBC’s The World
The Putinization of Donald Trump
June 13, 2017
Is this remote Siberian language an ancestor to Navajo?
May 24, 2017
The strange history of ransomware
May 17, 2017
Dreaming of a DIY mission to Mars
May 12, 2017
Japan’s ‘evaporated people’ have become an obsession for this French couple
April 25, 2017
‘What a total God shot!’ Understand that? Then you speak Christianese.
March 29, 2017
Arabic has a Jewish dialect, and these women speak it
March 16, 2017
The next K-Pop sensation could come out of New York City
February 17, 2017
In New York’s Lunar New Year parade, women are breaking barriers as lion dancers
January 27, 2017
Victims of online romance scams, there’s a place you can go for help
January 12, 2017
Celine Dion is an unlikely savior of Montreal’s classic Jewish deli
December 28, 2016
At this school in upstate New York, students are free to speak Mohawk
November 28, 2016
Born in Canada, they sing in the Russian dialect of their grandparents
October 28, 2016
Siberia’s coffee king is setting up shop back home in California
October 16, 2016
A new generation of Canadians are learning this language, and not all of them are tribal members
August 18, 2016
Diamond labs say theirs are forever too — even if they were made yesterday
August 9, 2016
Victor Kruglov tells his Russian clients to succeed in Hollywood, there’s one key — lose the accent
July 20, 2016
There’s one thing that Russia and Ukraine agree on — their favorite TV shows
July 13, 2016
There’s a Tibetan dialect called ‘Mustang,’ and it’s staying alive in the US
June 30, 2016
Some Canadians really want to sponsor Syrian refugees. Turns out it’s harder than they thought.
June 9, 2016
A tussle between Russia and Norway at an exclusive resort at the top of the world
June 7, 2016
Here’s how American Bandstand led a guy from Philly to the Communist Party
May 10, 2016
Where did the Etruscans come from? The linguistic and genetic clues are piling up.
April 18, 2016
A 1915 novel is now the blueprint for a real-life feminist utopia
April 14, 2016
Is the pressure to set new records turning polar adventure into a lying game?
March 28, 2016
There are more than 20 towns in America called Moscow. Why is that?
March 10, 2016
This Native American tribe on Long Island is trying to raise its language from the dead
January 14, 2016
This woman demonstrated that even in Russia all politics is local
October 13, 2015
The guy who supplied the soundtrack for Boris Yeltsin’s Rock the Vote
October 6, 2015
A man who travels the world not to see things, but hear them
September 28, 2015
This bike race attracts official sponsors, but technically it’s not legal
September 15, 2015
A Norwegian artist wants to raise a storied ship using some really big balloons
August 24, 2015
Bootstrapping their own K-pop band — in New York City
How this Russian rapper found his groove — in New York
August 10, 2015
Launching an art magazine by people and for people who know nothing about art
July 31, 2015
When you think Kazakhstan think Timur, not Borat
July 23, 2015
When Belarus closed its last liberal arts school, the university went into exile
July 14, 2015
What does a 20th century Russian poet have to do with Johnny Cash?
July 13, 2015
On the Danube, the world’s newest micro-nation. But Liberland has a problem.
June 29, 2015
Bagels disappeared from Lithuania after WWII … but now they’re back
June 16, 2015
How a Texas legal aid lawyer is bringing kidnapped children home from Mexico
June 3, 2015
All those musicians you see playing in the New York subway? Some of them auditioned for the spot
June 1, 2015
Self-published photo books go from last resorts to museum treasures
May 22, 2015
Meet the ice swimmers who put the Polar Bear Club to shame
May 18, 2015
A Russian DJ breathes life back into Russian and American legends alike
May 11, 2015
Independent perfumers are making a big splash in the fragrance world
May 6, 2015
The grandson of ‘Old Blood and Guts’ makes film, not war
April 29, 2015
The Chinese went wild for American pecans — which may be bad news for wild pecan trees
April 17, 2015
A custom three-bedroom house for $69,000? Welcome to the new model for disaster relief.
April 10, 2015
On the Texas border, they’re fighting for the right to have street lamps
April 3, 2015
1,200 years later, is Chinese poetry entering a new golden age?
March 24, 2015
The conflict in Ukraine has led to a Golden Age for Jews — though some are still leaving
March 18, 2015
Here’s how you can find a bathroom, or a living room, on the streets of New York
March 9, 2015
Here’s what you can do with a whimsical idea and a whole lot of leg power
February 27, 2015
Is your family member buried on Hart Island, off the coast of New York? Sorry, you can’t visit
February 17, 2015
This museum is devoted only to animals mentioned in the Bible
February 05, 2015
For a group of Siberians, Hawaii was far from a tropical paradise
January 28, 2015
How I fell in love with the world’s greatest cookie
January 27, 2015
January 19, 2015
What I’ve learned after my Mom got hacked (and her data held for ransom)
January 05, 2015
When your experiment in outsourcing turns into an immigration adventure
December 29, 2014
Putin abolished daylight savings time and Siberians are grumbling about ‘eternal winter’
December 19, 2014
Remember the time Japan invaded the US? Yes, really
December 17, 2014
Entrepreneurs around the world love this Soviet-era storytelling game
December 4, 2014
Featherbowling is an almost unknown sport — but not at this Detroit café
November 26, 2014
The spread of mondegreens should have ended with the Internet — but it hasn’t
November 20, 2014
Some people will go to incredible lengths to find an awesome wild mushroom
November 13, 2014
This library for wizards in New York City is by appointment only
November 5, 2014
It took a ‘cranky,’ dour immigrant to make Coney Island the capital of fun
October 30, 2014
What it means when you see a Russian guy with a knife tattooed on his neck
October 23, 2014
Russian curses are inventive, widely-used — and banned
October 8, 2014
Here’s how ’96 Tears’ became a Michigan city’s official rock anthem
Sept 26, 2014
America is becoming an under-the-radar hub of sumo wrestling
September 22, 2014
Meet The Brady Bunch, Asian-American style — courtesy of photographer Michael Jang
September 15, 2014
To see life’s oddities, you have to vist an odd place — a museum in an elevator shaft
August 26,2014
The man who claimed to be a whaler, and other online dating adventures of Anya Ulinich
August 19, 2014
Want to tour a toxic beach? ‘Anti-tourism’ explores the darker, dirtier corners of the world
August 12, 2014
August 6,2014
The Russian government has banned lingerie — for your health
July 29, 2014
A Russian writer who wrote about the absurdity of life now has a street in Queens named after him
July 21, 2014
What’s the Point of Learning Russian?
July 15, 2014
Some Japanese Will Pay $4500 for an Old Missouri Prison Uniform. Me, I Collect Japanese ‘Boro’
June 26, 2014
June 6, 2014
June 3, 2014
This Chinatown Button Shop Doubles as a Modern Art Gallery
May 27, 2014
May 19, 2014
Can we choose our ethnic identities based on random obsessions?
May 14, 2014
For your next cocktail, would you prefer ‘The Bitter Taste of Calm’ or ‘Seven Days in the Grave’?
May 8, 2014
Henry Liu is a musket-carrying member of the Lexington Minute Men. He’s also Chinese American.
April 21, 2014
To get the autographs of top world leaders, you need commitment, courage and chutzpah
April 10, 2014
This photographer has found the beauty in Soviet bus stops
April 04, 2014
In search of the perfect email sign-off
April 01, 2014
Even when your dad’s a physicist, it’s hard to wrap your head around the Big Bang discovery
March 21, 2014
This Soviet-born émigré remembers working at the Kharkov zoo
March 14, 2014
Do you answer ‘How are you?’ the American or the Russian way?
March 04, 2014
Are you Ukrainian or Russian? It’s complicated…
March 03, 2014
A Russian pirate-theme restaurant in Brighton Beach gives solace to Cold War nostalgia seekers
February 27, 2014
Siberia’s not what you think it is. It’s not even that cold
February 20, 2014
Why do Russians hate ice and Americans love it?
February 14, 2014
What does Russian punk band Pussy Riot owe to Yanka Dyagileva?
February 05, 2014
A history of the modern world as told by everyday throwaway ephemera
February 04, 2014
Amateur Night in Harlem draws competitors from around the globe
December 31, 2013
Meet Krampus, the guy who really gets you if you’re naughty
December 24, 2013
When Alina Simone (not her real name) met Alina Simone (not her real name either…)
November 20, 2013
