Yang Lan is often called “the Oprah of China.” The chair of a multi-platform business empire, Yang is pioneering more-open means of communication in the communist nation.

Yang Lan’s rise to stardom in China has drawn comparisons to Oprah Winfrey’s success in the US. It’s easy to see why.

Biologist Sheril Kirshenbaum is the author of The Science of Kissing, which explores one of humanity's fondest pastimes.

A research scientist at the University of Texas, Sheril Kirshenbaum wrote The Science of Kissing, containing "everything you always wanted to know about kissing but either haven't asked, couldn't find out, or didn't realize you should understand."

Alice Russell is a force of nature, one of those fabulous British girls with a great big soul sound -- a tradition stretching from Dusty Springfield to Alison Moyet to Adele.

What sets her apart? Some seriously clever musicianship.

"Growing up, I was surrounded by different types of music and you know, you just get taken by something, don’t you?" she says, "It hits you in the right place and you think, ‘Yeah, Baby, I like that!’"

How do we design nature? That’s a question Daisy Ginsberg and her partners in the Synthetic Aesthetics project aim to answer.

By applying engineering principles to living systems, they’re turning biology into a material for design.

Daisy Ginsberg describes herself as a designer, artist and researcher who’s interested in the future.

What’s it really like to see through the eyes of a child?

Are babies and young children just empty, irrational vessels to be formed into little adults, until they become the perfect images of ourselves?

On the contrary, argues Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology and philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley.