Audiofiles!

Legions of fetal cells hang out inside a mother for decades after she gives birth — and might even help heal her when she’s sick or hurt.

In 1822, an accidental shooting left Alexis St. Martin with a hole in his gut that wouldn’t heal, but didn’t kill him either. Instead, the strange relationship that developed between the patient and his doctor opened up a one-of-a-kind window into the human body.

Two stories about heart-stopping falls: David Eagleman gets to the bottom of what goes on in our brains during those life or death moments when time seems to slow way down. Plus, the story of Sarita and Simon, who fell in, and then out, of love.

Alan Turing was the first person to conceive of the computer age. He is considered the father of artificial intelligence. But the world wasn’t kind to Turing. In 1952, he was convicted under a British law prohibiting “acts of gross indecency between men.”

Is there such thing as a good cage? The answer goes back to the ’70s, to the moment the modern zoo was born, embodied by the few tentative steps of a gorilla named Kiki.

Author and Harvard literature professor Stephen Greenblatt explores the 2,000 year-old writings of Lucretius and his “spookily modern” creation tale.

Joseph Guillotin and Henry Shrapnel became immortal by entering the English language. But when your life is reduced to a single definition, the results can be upsetting.

Is there such a thing as a purely selfless deed? Three bona fide heroes explain what went through their minds as they leapt into action. The heroes: Lora Shrake, who squared off with a 950-pound bull; Bill Pennell, who repeatedly dove into a burning car for survivors; and Wesley Autrey, who jumped in front of a subway train.

Most people have one. But why do they choose the numbers they do?

The best idea that Susan Schaller ever had came after meeting an isolated young man at a community college. He was 27. Though he had been born deaf, no one had ever taught him to sign. He had lived his entire life without language.