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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

President Obama is out to remake America's relationship with the Islamic world. We'll explore what this means for both the Middle East and the U.S. We'll also look at the ongoing debate over Muslim immigration in Europe, and we'll talk with a Hollywood screenwriter about his new novel on the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Phil Harvey gives away tens of millions of dollars every year to fight AIDS and promote family planning in such places as India, Brazil, Vietnam and Ethiopia.  Where does the money come from?  Harvey runs the largest mail-order erotica business in the world.  In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It used to be simple to pick out a shade of paint, before computers made almost infinite gradations possible.  Now if you stare at those samples long enough they all start to look alike.  It turns out color is as much a mental construct as a physical substance.  In this hour of To the Best of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Are humans innately good? Do we have a generosity gene? Is there an inherent desire to help our fellow human beings? Or, are we natural born sinners who have to fight, tooth and nail, to conquer our inherent tendencies towards selfishness, destruction and war. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It seems everyone has something to say about motherhood.  A lot of people have advice.  Others just have... issues.   In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge -- the tricky topic of motherhood.   Linda Gray Sexton remembers her mother, the troubled poet Anne...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Calling Lynne Cox a swimmer is like calling Mohammed Ali a tough guy.  At age fourteen, she swam to Catalina Island from mainland California.  At eighteen she swam between the islands of New Zealand.  Years later, with miles of hard swims behind her, she turned her eye to the unthinkable - the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Malcolm Gladwell knows how to succeed in show business without really trying -- write a story for The New Yorker about a psychiatrist who studies serial killers. Then a playwright will take some of the words from your article and use them in a Broadway play. Next time on To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

To Daniel Libeskind, buildings are much more than concrete boxes.  They’re expressions of hope, joy, freedom, and memory.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, architect Daniel Libeskind talks about his master design for the World Trade Center site.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Cross-dressing terrorist angels.  LA Gangbangers covered in Virgin Mary tattoos to protect them from bullets.  Prophets in g-strings and pasties.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge we’re going to look for god in some unlikely places - in the middle of a math equation, and in the lyrics...Read more

a girl making butterfly wings

Have you ever heard of an “Uncreative Writing” course?  In this class, students are penalized for showing any kind of originality.  Instead, they’re rewarded for plagiarism, plundering and stealing. We’ll meet the man behind “Uncreative
Writing” – poet Kenneth Goldsmith.  Also,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

David Rothenburg is a philosopher and a jazz clarinetist, who also loves birds.  So one day he sat down in the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and started playing music.  Lo and behold, a white-crested laughing thrush started singing with him, riffing on the tunes he played.  Since then Rothenburg...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Walk into the children's section of any bookstore and the magic wands and secret portals almost materialize in front of you. Wizards, witches, demons, time travel, dragons, orphans, orphaned dragons – doesn't anyone know how to write a non-magical book anymore?! In this hour of To the Best of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Poet Nick Lantz has a darkly satirical take on American culture. Lately, he’s been thinking about political spin and how politicians speak. In this interview—the third in our series ...Read more

clap board for a movie

What is it about certain films, and certain directors, that inspires obsession?  Maybe because these directors are obsessed themselves.  Like the legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog, who...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Forty years ago, the U.S. ended its war in Vietnam, but we're still fighting over its legacy - in foreign policy and military strategy, and also in books and movies. But there's one question Americans rarely ask: what does the war mean to the Vietnamese themselves?  We'll hear several...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, some of the most critical questions you’ll ever face.  Who are you?  What does your life mean?  And how did you decide who you wanted to be?  We’ll hear from Rabbi Harold Kushner, Senator John McCain and novelist Tim O’Brien.  We’ll talk about making...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It’s one of the great stories in the history of books.  James Murray was a poor kid from Scotland who dropped out of school at age 14.  Somehow, he taught himself the history of words in various languages, and went on to create the world’s greatest dictionary.  In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Is there anything science won’t tackle? The latest question neuroscientists are taking on is, “What makes something beautiful?” We're checking in with the scientists, the philosophers and the artists in this hour.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Take a stroll through a natural history museum these days and you’ll not only see dinosaurs, you’ll smell them.  Get a whiff of T-rex’s halitosis, his dinner leftovers, and, well, how should I put this – his droppings, too! In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, museums that tickle your...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

With hundreds of millions of people moving into cities, we're wondering what shapes urban cultures. In this hour, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk talks about how Istanbul shaped his writing. One historian argues that early liberal philosophies from Amsterdam shaped the United States. And we check in...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you ever have the strange feeling that you've heard this promo before? Well, in this case, it's only fitting because we're going to explore deja vu on the next edition of To the Best of Our Knowledge. We'll try to find out what causes us to think we've already experienced the exact same...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What’s the best way to get someone to talk?  NPR’s Terry Gross has done more interviewers than just about anyone else in public radio.  But she prefers to talk to them long distance, with no eye contact.   In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Terry Gross on the art of the interview.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Fifty Years ago James Watson and Francis Crick made history when they cracked the code for DNA. Watson was only 24 years old, and by no means the smartest scientist around. So why do some scientists make great discoveries? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, James Watson talks about...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Everyone in your Facebook feed is falling for fake news–sharing it even when there's no way it can be true. They keep falling for it. But not you, right? You’re smart, well-educated. You can tell the difference. Or can you?Read more

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