Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this complicated country.

We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing.

Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts.

It's Lynn Rosetta Casper with the splendid table.

Today it's new kitchen science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

How about dial a smell?

Let your pal sniff what's for dinner by telephoning the scents to them.

Then there's the kitchen table that cleans itself.

Now that one's a keeper.

And this is only the beginning.

Scientists keep dreaming up these kinds of things at MIT's Media Lab.

And we've got a report.

Jane and Michael Stern are on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, eating saltwater taffy.

Wine Maverick Joshua Wesson explains why the fuss over old vine wines.

Reporter Scott Haas is in Italy with a truffle hound named Diana and her farmer.

And we have the scoop on etymami.

All this and your calls coming up on the splendid table.

But first, this.

Hi, it's Lynn Rosetta, Casper, with Kitchen Chronicles,

where knowledge is power and cooking is pleasure,

a practical guide for nourishing ourselves and the people we care about.

I was roaming the supermarket last night, and I started thinking about how many bottled dressings there are and how a lot of them don't deliver an awful lot of good taste.

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