Everyday questions, Boston roots, wider worlds.
The Curiosity Desk treats curiosity as a civic habit, moving from Boston gardens and marathon science to abortion access, deepfakes, egg labels, and bumblebee rhythm. Its interviews are plainspoken, patient, and willing to ask the basic question before the story widens.
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The Curiosity Desk is a question-led GBH show with a broad appetite and a local center of gravity. Edgar B. Herwick III frames each hour around the things people wonder about but do not always know how to ask. The style is conversational and measured. Guests carry much of the technical detail, while the show keeps returning to the practical follow-up: how does it work, what changed, who is affected, and why should ordinary people care? Its range is unusually elastic. Recent episodes have moved through abortion medication access, AI-generated political deepfakes, public relations smear campaigns, psychedelic research, body mass index, bumblebee rhythm, marathon engineering, egg carton labels, tax filing, helium shortages, urban gardening, colonial history, and cranberry farming. That breadth does not feel random because the show keeps grounding big systems in small, observable facts. A court document becomes a lesson in online misinformation. A Boston Marathon special becomes a way to talk about athletic limits, weather, gear, and the strange decisions regular runners make. A segment on mifepristone leads into state shield laws and volunteer abortion-access networks. A cranberry story turns spring weather into agricultural urgency. The show also has a playful streak. It can make room for a modern-day jester, a library audience game, or the citywide mystery of a missing plastic ice cream cone named Swirly. Still, the lightness does not flatten the serious material. When the subject is reproductive rights, sexual harassment allegations, medical trials, or deceptive political media, the show keeps a steady, careful pace. Boston is more than a backdrop here. The Boston Public Library, GBH newsroom, Massachusetts politics, local farms, and Marathon Monday all give the program a lived-in sense of place. The show is best for listeners who enjoy explanatory journalism without stiffness. It favors curiosity over certainty. It asks plain questions and usually earns interesting answers.
Made for: For public-radio listeners who like local news, science, history, health, and culture explained through accessible interviews. It especially suits people drawn to practical questions with civic or human stakes.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its mix of civic seriousness and oddball curiosity, often in the same hour. It can connect mifepristone access, cranberry frost, colonial beheading, and a stolen ice cream cone without losing its grounded tone.
Edgar B. Herwick III hosts GBH’s newest show, The Curiosity Desk, where he answers your questions and examines everyday mysteries hiding in plain sight. Tune in daily for conversations, insights and profundities about the world we live in. Have something you’re curious about? Leave us a voicemail anytime at 877-301-8970, or submit questions via the form on our landing page at GBHNews.org. Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content and exclusive videos.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Edgar B. Herwick III demonstrates how conversational rhythm can carry a live radio hour across reporting, interviews and local stories.
Edgar B. Herwick III runs The Curiosity Desk as a live radio magazine, moving from reported questions to guest conversations with an easy command of the hour.
A stolen ice cream cone meets psychedelic consent, and your curiosity somehow gets a coherent hour.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A civic mystery that moves from gardens to a beheaded governor to the search for Swirly.
The piece moves through Boston civic life with an easy, local rhythm, tying together urban gardens, food costs, climate change, a beheaded governor honored in the library, and the hunt for Swirly, the beloved plastic ice cream cone. Edgar B.
A legal settlement, a deepfake warning, and a Mother's Day detour make for a brisk, useful hour.
The Curiosity Desk opens with the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settlement and expands into a wider look at how smear campaigns can spread online, including the uneasy possibility that a PR agency can pass as ordinary users and seed misogynist narratives across platforms to…
A Supreme Court abortion debate and a cranberry-growing lesson share one grounded hour.
The Curiosity Desk opens with the Supreme Court's abortion docket, mifepristone, remote prescribing, and the ongoing tension between state shield laws and conservative courts. Edgar B.
A wide-ranging science hour is strongest when it lingers on psychedelic risk and the surprising rhythm of bumblebees.
The Curiosity Desk frames science through practical questions about risk, health, and rhythm. The strongest section follows Franklin King, Director of Training and Education at the Mass General Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics, as he explains why it is so difficult to…
A live Marathon Monday special that turns race-day logistics into a very human radio hour.
Marathon Monday gives The Curiosity Desk a sturdy frame, with 30,000 runners heading toward the finish line in downtown Boston on a mostly sunny day that runs a little chillier than average.
Practice ownership without the performance mask.
Creative lives, community care, real talk.
The Curiosity Desk goes live from the Boston Public Library.
The Curiosity Desk opens on a settlement.
Edgar B.
The Curiosity Desk host Edgar B.
The Curiosity Desk opens on Marathon Monday.
This episode of the Curiosity Desk features a live performance by a modern-day jester, a segment called Bad Fibs where real news stories are transformed with silly keywords, and a discussion on how Earth got its water from comets.
This episode explores how engineering and sports technology can optimize marathon running performance, featuring experts from MIT and Loughborough University.
This episode explores why filing taxes is so difficult in America, featuring an interview with tax expert Beverly Moran about the complexities of the system and how companies that simplify taxes may actually make it more confusing.
This episode of the Curiosity Desk explores how tax money from paychecks is used, the journey of microplastics to remote areas like Antarctica, and investigates whether pollen allergies are worsening in Boston.
This episode features an inaugural AI news panel discussing AI integration in schools and celebrates National Scrabble Day with a top Scrabble player.
This episode explores why Pokemon has remained culturally significant for 30 years, becoming the highest-grossing media franchise in history.
This snow day special episode explores how fish survive under ice, opportunities for citizen science in winter cities, and advice for enduring harsh winter seasons.
This episode explores the history, health benefits, and cultural significance of saunas during National Sauna Week, featuring interviews with experts including a mobile sauna owner and someone named Sauna McDaniels.
This episode explores President's Day by discussing lesser-known presidential anecdotes like Calvin Coolidge's raccoon and the French origins of government language, while also diving into revolutionary American music with a focus on De La Soul's impact on rap in 1989.
This episode explores coyote mating behavior around Valentine's Day and discusses superstitions related to Friday the 13th with a folklore expert.