Granted, there are creative lone wolves out there. But history and social psychology tell us that success stems far more often from one-to-one collaboration. Think John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

Writer Joshua Wolf Shenk sits down with native Kansan and former colleague Robert Day to discuss the elements and impact of creative chemistry and Shenk’s new, science-backed book Powers of Two: Finding the Essence of Innovation in Creative Pairs.

Day, author of The Last Cattle Drive, taught creative writing at Washington College for more than 35 years. Shenk has written for Time, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker, among other publications, and is a curator, storyteller, and adviser with The Moth, an organization dedicated to the art of storytelling.