Dacher Keltner received his PhD from Stanford University in 1989 and is currently a Professor of Psychology at Berkeley, co-editor of Greater Good magazine, and director of Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, the director of the world-famous Hayden Planetarium, a monthly columnist in Natural History, and an award-winning author. He lives in New York City.

Page Stegner was born in Salt Lake City in 1937. He attended Stanford University, where he received his B.A. in history and his Ph.D. in American literature. From 1967 to 1995 he was a professor of American literature and director of the creative writing program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A prolific author and editor, he recently published The Collected Letters of Wallace Stegner.

Tom Curwen is staff writer and editor at the Los Angeles Times. He was editor of the Outdoors section, a writer for the features section and deputy editor of the Book Review. He has been honored by the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors for three pieces he did for Outdoors on caving with nature writer Barbara Hurd, on Alaskan bush pilots and the annual migration of sand hill cranes to the Bosque del Apache. He has a master's degree in Creative Writing from USC and was a recipient of a 1991 Academy of American Poets prize. In 2002, he received a Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for mental health journalism.

David L. Ulin is book editor of the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith, and the editor of Another City: Writing from Los Angeles and Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, which won a California Book Award. He has written for The Atlantic Monthly, The Nation, The New York Times Book Review, LA Weekly, Los Angeles, and National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

Jenny Price is a writer whose work focuses on L.A. environment. Author of Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America, she has published in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Weekly, Audubon, Believer, and GOOD, and is a regular contributor to the "Native Intelligence" column on LA Observed. She has written often about the Los Angeles River and gives frequent tours. She has a Ph.D. in history from Yale University, and has been a Research Scholar at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women since 1999. She is currently working on a new book, Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in L.A.

Dr. Lisa Bitel is a professor of history at the University of Southern California who studies the social, cultural and religious history of medieval Europe. She is the author of Isle of Saints: Monastic Settlements and Christian Community in Early Ireland and Land of Women: Tales of Sex and Gender from Early Ireland. She has written widely about sex, gender, dreams and dreamers in the Middle Ages and has recently finished a book on the cults of Saint Genovefa in Paris and Saint Brigit of Ireland. She is currently researching the history of Christian religious visions.

Dr. Michael A. Arbib is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Computer Science, as well as a Professor of Biological Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Southern California (USC). He has also been named as one of a small group of University Professors at USC in recognition of his contributions across many disciplines. He is the author or editor of 38 books. His edited volume, The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks is a massive compendium embracing studies in detailed neuronal function, system models of brain regions, connectionist models of psychology and linguistics, mathematical and biological studies of learning, and technological applications of artificial neural networks. His two most recent books are Who Needs Emotions: The Brain Meets the Robot(edited with Jean-Marc Fellous) and Action To Language via the Mirror Neuron System.

Denis Dutton was born in Los Angeles and grew up in a family of bibliophiles, including brothers Dave and Doug, owners of bookstores in North Hollywood and Brentwood. For over twenty years he has been a professor of the philosophy of art at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Beyond his many publications in philosophy and aesthetics, Denis is founder and editor of the hugely popular website "Arts & Letters Daily," named by The Guardian as the best website in the world.

Leonard Susskind has been the Felix Bloch Professor in theoretical physics at Stanford University since 1978. The author of The Cosmic Landscape, he is a member of the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of numerous prizes including the science writing prize of the American Institute of Physics for his Scientific American article on black holes.

Sandra and Matthew Blakeslee, mother and son, are the third and fourth generation of science writers in the Blakeslee family. Sandra's grandfather Howard worked for the Associated Press starting in the 1920s and was one of the pioneers of American science writing. Howard's son Alton - Sandra's father, Matthew's grandfather - took over as AP science editor until retiring in 1985.

*Please note, this panel discussion featured a screening of the film "Eat at Bill's: Life in the Monterey Market." The film portion of the program is not included in the podcast.

Lisa Brenneis is a drought-tolerant California native who grows organic citrus with her husband in Ojai, California. She recently finished her first feature-length video documentary, Eat at Bill's: Life in the Monterey Market. She supports her movie habit by writing technical reference books for Peachpit Press.

Bill Fujimoto was born in Caldwell ID, in 1946, and raised in Berkeley, CA. A 1968 graduate of the University of California, he worked for five years as a mechanical engineer at Lockheed, Sunnyvale, before deciding to join his parents' Berkeley store. Founded in 1962, Monterey Market is an independent market, specializing in fresh produce in season. Monterey Market currently grosses $15 million/yr at a single location in north Berkeley. The business has grown up with the food revolution in Northern California, and has a strong commitment to supporting local agriculture and sustainable farming practices. Bill Fujimoto was a founding member of the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Market Collaborative.

Jonathan Rosen is the author of The Talmud and The Internet: A Journey between Worlds and the novels Eve's Apple and Joy Comes in the Morning: A Novel. His essays have appeared in The New York Times and The New Yorker. He is the editorial director of Nextbook.