The most mysterious musical instrument in the world lives inside your body. Your voice. You can’t see it, can’t touch it, and yet – it expresses all of who you are. On this episode of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll explore they mysteries of the voice. We’ll hear from soprano Renee...Read more
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Episode Archives
Emerging insights from the new science of astrobiology paints a picture of a universe seeded with potential life. While astronomers discover new exoplanets every other week or so, biologists are finding unexpected life in some of the most inhospitable environments on earth. Together, their work...Read more
Hillary Clinton once described herself as a "Rorschach test." People see in her what they want, whether they love her or hate her. In this hour of To the Best Of Our Knowledge we'll talk about the complicated feelings many women have about Hillary, her marriage to Bill, and whether it's possible...Read more
Are Americans dumbing down instead of smartening up? Many surveys say yes. According to a 2006 National Geographic-Roper survey, nearly half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 don't think it's necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. In...Read more
Do you ever get the feeling that everyone's reading all the same books and listening to all the same music, and seeing all the same films? Maybe there's a reason why. New York and Los Angeles account for only a fraction of landmass when it comes to the continental United States...Read more
How far did your food travel to get to you today? 100 miles? A thousand? Or just down the street. No matter where today's meal came from, there's a story behind it. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, food stories. New York chef Dan Barber faces a moral crisis in the form of a...Read more
More than 100 Native Americans nations have come to Standing Rock in solidarity to protest for water rights. This hour we ask a deceptively simple question: Who owns water?
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Mimi Sheraton loves bialys - those Jewish crusty roles with the toasted onion center. She picks one up every morning from her local Manhattan bakery. Sheraton set out to visit the Polish town of Bialystock to find the people who invented this magical bread. But the thriving town of 50,000 didn’t...Read more
The Buena Vista Social Club made history as the top-selling record in world music. It also put Cuban music on center stage, and sparked a brisk tourist trade to Cuba. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk with Ry Cooder, the mastermind behind Buena Vista Records. Also, why...Read more
Roast pig may look delicious on the holiday table, but you might pass on the pork if you met Piglet. That famous New Zealand pig swam in the ocean each day, loved the violin and, as the story goes, sang to the moon. But she was more than an exceptional pet. To one man she was an ambassador...Read more
Photographers capture heartache and agony. What does it mean for them? And what does it mean for us, those viewing the photos? Do these images create empathy? Compassion? Or something else?Read more
DEVO co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh talks about his visual art exhibition, "Myopia," and Joshua Wolf Shenk lays waste to the myth of the lone genius as we explore the creative process.Read more
Every person on earth is unique and special, but some people – maybe one in a hundred – are autistic. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we get to know a few autistic people with Asperger's Syndrome. We'll hear what it's like to try to live in the world when you have visionary...Read more
Would you be surprised to know there are more slaves in the world today than at any other time in human history? An estimated 27 million people live in bondage. On this To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new abolitionists – including a reporter who risked his life to document the global traffic...Read more
The way we think about animals often defies logic. In America, dogs may sleep on our beds, but in Korea, they often end up on the dinner plate. Some people may be horrified by a pet boa constrictor's appetite for live mice, but a cat that roams outside is a far deadlier killer. And...Read more
When did "fat" become a four-letter word? Leaders of the body acceptance movement say it's time to stop shaming fat people. In this hour, curvy girls and plus-size women talk about the emotional and physical costs of America's toxic obsession with weight and body image. Read more
Boots on the Ground: Stories from the War in Iraq
Part Three
For many soldiers and Marines, war is not fundamentally about the mission. War is not really about the enemy. It's not even about patriotism. War is about the man to the...Read more
Say the name "Robert Krulwich" and hard-core public radio listeners start smiling. These days Robert does a lot of science journalism, even though he admits he's no expert. He believes everyone's interested, even though they think it's too hard for them. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Wisdom may come with age, but if you want to make scientific history, it pays to be young. Newton invented calculus before he turned 25. Einstein published his special theory of relativity when he was only 26. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, does genius slip away with age? Also...Read more
"Being a man, like being a woman, is something you have to learn." That's what Aaron Raz Link says. And Link should know. He began life as a girl named Sarah. And he started a new life as a gay man twenty-nine years later. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll meet Aaron Raz Link,...Read more
Author, Author
Part Two
It's been called divine and it's been called disgusting. it's arguably one of the most important books of all time. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" as we ask the...Read more
Forty years ago the streets of Chicago exploded as police clashed with anti-war protesters at the Democratic National Convention. It's one of the momentous events that defined the Sixties. Or is it? Some historians now say the rise of the conservative movement is what truly made history in the...Read more
Dreams can be a pleasant diversion from the daily grind or something with the potential to transform, entertain, and even heal. On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the power of dreams and the science of sleep.Read more
Andrew Sullivan is not a Republican, but he calls himself a conservative. He does not believe in using religion to ground political ideals. But he himself is a person of faith. And he endorsed John Kerry, although Ronald Reagan is one of his heroes. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more