This week, we have three stories about the life-changing, transformative power of sound. First, in "Silence Speaks Volumes," Angela Castellanos looks at brain activity during moments of silence in music. Then, in "Healing Sounds," Trent Walker investigates the healing powers of traditional Cambodian chants. Finally, in "People Find the Drum Who Need to Find the Drum," a class of Stanford students led by John-Carlos Perea find a new community while learning the art of the powwow drum.

What drives people to stand up in front of an audience, to perform without a safety net and put themselves on the line? In today's data-driven world, where everything can be recorded, stored, and recalled at any time, what role does live performance play? This episode begins with the harrowing experience of our host subjecting himself to the most extreme form of live performance of all: stand-up comedy. We continue with a story from playwright Amy Freed and Stanford professor of drama Kay Kostopoulos. And finally, we follow a production of the Stanford Spoken Word Collective, and get a behind-the-scenes peek at what goes on behind the curtain.

The theme of this week's show is self-preservation -- that is, the preserving of whatever it is that makes you you, be it letters, journal entries, or a digital measurement of your heart rate and blood sugar for every hour of the day. We bring you stories of cybernetic "lifeloggers," a crafty, image-tweaking Founding Father, and the most astoundingly comprehensive diary ever to find its way into Stanford's Special Collections. We also have poems from one of Stanford's poets in residence, Kirsten Andersen.

What's at stake when we try to tell another person's story? We explore this question in two parts. First, "Doing Justice for Shake Girl" profiles one class as it worked to tell a real woman's tragic life story in graphic novel form, discovering huge challenges collaborating as a group and getting the story right. Second, in "A Portrait of War" Emily Prince takes on the overwhelming and somber task of drawing a portrait of every American soldier who has died.

Where does science end and the supernatural begin? This week's show is about the relationship between science and the investigation of psychic phenomena. We start in Special Collections of the Stanford Libraries, with a brief history of para-psychology and spiritualism at Stanford, and continue with the story of three contemporary researchers who study psychic phenomena. Today's one-hour journey reveals some of the social aspects that come into play in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

We usually think of mind control as part of the realm of fantasy, with witches and alien species as its perpetrators. But actually, mind control is all around us, in almost every area of our lives, and the consequences of ignoring its power range from failed pick-up-lines to genocide. In this episode, you'll hear stories about different kinds of mind control. You hear stories of Stanford students who tried to out the calculated techniques of a famous pickup artist at a campus party, and poet Elizabeth Bradfield discuss how being a tour guide in Alaska involves mind control, and some of her and Emily Dickinson,s exquisite poetry. You'll also hear about mind control taken to its most extreme, from controlling the minds of whole cultures through fairy tales, to controlling only your own mind through lucid dreaming.

Sometimes time moves like molasses. Today's show is about the different ways we experience the time of our lives. In our first story, Aaron Zarraga and Hanna Michelsen explore the evolution of nostalgia and how it has become a way for us to cope with our rapidly changing lives. Then, Rachel Dowling, Daniel MacDougall, and Tom Wiltzius interview families about how one particular kind of time 'the time of grievin' has been changed radically by advances in medicine. Finally, we hear the story of how two people decided to make the time of their own personal lives synchronize with major historical events.

Why is there so much negativity in most campaigns? And last, Melissa Leavitt tells the story of what happens when you go door to door to campaign and the people that answer either don't vote, or won't vote, for your candidate.

Remakes are all around us. From the turntable to the coffee table, scratching, sampling, and Ikea "hacking" are just a few of the ways we remake the world we live in. This week's show is made up of stories of remaking sound-- through instruments, living organisms, and other means. First, experimental instrument designer Bart Hopkin brings joy to our ears with some of his wackier creations. Then, Noah Burbank speaks with some innovative inhabitants of Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, who have turned old junk into something truly exquisite. And, if you stay tuned, you might even get to hear tomatoes sing...

As a special for Valentine's Day, we bring you a special edition of the Stanford Storytelling Project. The unlikely story of Saint Valentine opens the show, but as it turns out, most good love stories seem just as improbable. We set up a booth in Stanford's White Plaza and recorded passersby talking about just who - or what - they love. You'll hear their strange stories, followed by a story about the risky and rewarding world of online dating. But that's not all: four splendid love poems are also dispersed throughout the episode.

Stories of the education system struggling, and sometimes failing, to adjust. First, in "From the schools to the street," Molly Roberts looks at how some high schools are responding to the increasing presence of gangs, and how their policies are often backfiring. Second, in "A Closed GATE," Britton Cailloutte and Richard Norte assess the progress of schools in fulfilling their educational mission while facing increasing numbers of minority students. And third, English lecturer Adam Johnson tells Lee Konstantinou a true story involving a bloody murder, police detectives, and a fiction writing class.

Stories about the faithful in conflict with society, their families, and themselves. First, two Stanford students, one gay and one a conservative Christian, map out the battlefield between gay marriage and Christianity. Second, Drew Jacoby-Senghor tells a story about how the divine divide in America entered into his relationships with his parents and his girlfriend. And third, Will Rogers faces the same divine divide in himself and is able to bridge part of it by posting videos online and going to Quaker services.

Inspired by a 200 year old design for a more efficient prison called the panopticon, this show explores just a few of the ways we experience surveillance in society today, and how we respond to it. A story by Andrew Altschul about phones and loss, an interview with the founder of a site that uses cell phones to fight street harassment, and a speech about the joys of Facebook.

Sometimes the normal words just don't work. A story on Esperanto, the international language and a short story by Suzanne Rivecca on a woman who finds the standardized language of mental health counseling does not suffice. Lee Konstantinou interviews Suzanne Rivecca.

This special episode features three documentary stories about the ways in which, as the old saying goes, "you are what you eat." The modern industry of food, the ritual of eating, and the politics of agricultural production.

How do different groups approach Africa? Stories about media coverage of Africa, a student who taught poetry at a Zambian refugee camp, and how Ghana influenced Martin Luther King Jr.

More stories about the ways that animals shape our lives. A tour of Stanford's Animal Research Facility, and a short story about one father's strange relationship with the family dog.

Stories about the strange and unusual roles that animals play in our lives. A trip to Stanford's Lake Lagunita, a plan to "Re-wild" North America, Cats, Dogs and Couples, Elephants, and Fireflies.