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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part 3: Does the Soul Still Matter?

For centuries, we’ve been told the soul is what makes each of us unique.  It’s why we have moral responsibility.  And it’s the part of us that lives on after we die. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Who did the press hail as the conqueror of the air?  Alberto Santos-Dumont, who flew around the Eiffel Tower while Jules Verne and H.G. Wells watched and wondered.  He even tied his “personal airship” to the lamp posts outside restaurants in Paris, and worked to revolutionize transportation. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

To mark the Winter Solstice, we’ll honor the sacred origins our secular Christmas decorations and hear a solstice story from India.  And to help you get through the long winter evenings, we’ll get some recommendations for your winter reading list.  Solstice myths and stories and provocative new...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Film-maker David Lynch has been "diving within" through the Transcendental Meditation technique for more than 30 years.  Now Lynch has created a foundation that wants to help students discover their full creative potential through T.M. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, David Lynch...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Imagine the world as we know it, only without us. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a writer imagines a world reinventing itself without human beings. He sees the New York subway system returning to its watery origins. The re-absorption of carbon into the earth, and endangered...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Christopher Hogwood was not your ordinary household pet. For one thing, he weighed 700 pounds. And he loved to drink beer. Christopher was a very large pig with a heart of gold. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of how Christopher Hogwood became the best-loved pig in...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Charles Monroe-Kane grew up hearing voices in his head. For years he tried to drown them out with potentially lethal quantities of hard drugs and alcohol. Lithium saved his life but coming clean about his past hasn't been easy. How do you admit, as a public radio producer, that for years you had...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

While the debate about how to fix America’s schools rages on, millions of parents have their own solution – opting out of the system.  Homeschoolers in America usually make the choice for two reasons – to invest more religion in the curriculum or to embrace the vales of progressive education. ...Read more

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader speaking at a campaign event in Waterbury, CT

Selling out: we talk with two people who’ve vowed never to sell out: Ralph Nader, and Congressman Joe Walsh. Walsh says the Tea Party must be the party of no compromise. Also, someone often accused of selling out: Shepard Fairey; he went from making street art to designing an iconic Obama poster...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Memory and ForgettingDo you think your memory is a record of what actually happened?  Chances are, it's not.  New scientific findings show that with every act of remembering, our brains...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In India he’s known as the giggling guru.  In America Dr. Maden Kataria is famous in certain circles as the man who founded Laughter Yoga.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the man who’s changing the world with chuckles, chortles and belly laughs.  And, why more and more people...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Wallace Stegner put it this way. “National Parks are the best idea we ever had.”  This weekend, the National Park Service celebrates its birthday by making the parks free for a day. We're celebrating with an hour on the history and politics of national parks.  And we'll meet some folks whose...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Suppose you drop a family photograph on the subway, is it still yours?  Not if Brian Dunn finds it.  He collects lost photos and makes them his own.  I’m Jim Fleming.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge “Who owns what?”  If there are copyrights are there copy “...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Albert Einstein died more than half a century ago, but there's still a raging debate over what he thought about religion. He once said "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what exactly did Einstein conclude about...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

American leaders say the fight against Osama bin Laden is not a religious war, but are they right?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the deep divide between fundamentalists and the secular world.  Also, a look at true believers in America - from the Holy Rollers of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It's time to wish you a Happy 2006 – if you use the Gregorian Calendar. And a Happy 1427 by the Islamic calendar, or a Fruitful 4704 in China, where it's the Year of the Dog. But then, if you accept the Big Bang Theory, let us wish you a Happy 13 Billion, 700 Million. However you calculate it,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Pentagon has something new: a microwave mounted on a Humvee that shoots an energy beam cooking everything in its path.  Is this a new weapon in our war on terrorism?  No, it’s the Marines’ “non-lethal” device for crowd control.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more

a preacher on the prairie

You know the earth is round, the sky is up, and your dog loves you.  But HOW do you know those things?  This week, how we form opinions – the psychology and brain chemistry behind our beliefs.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Vaclav Havel is President of the Czech Republic, but for many around the world, he's known as the poet in blue jeans, the dissident playwright who inspired a Velvet Revolution.  On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, President Havel talks art and politics.  And, we'll go back to when the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Bible and the Quran are some of our most sacred and revered texts. They're also full of violent passages. Is religion the source of violence and intolerance around the world?  We look at how sacred texts inspire both violence and liberation.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The cultural revolution changed everything for Hao Jian Tian.  When he was ten years old, Tian studied piano.  Reluctantly.  So when his piano teacher was hauled off to jail, it was a day of celebration.  No more piano lessons.  No more practicing.  But years later, music caught up with Hao...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Once upon a time people believed the world was populated with terrible monsters and fabulous mythical beasts. They thought if they just searched long enough and hard enough, they'd find them. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the mythical beasts of folktale and legend and the modern...Read more

a mosquito takes over the world

As the Zika virus continues to make headlines, consensus is slowly growing among scientists that it’s showdown time for the mosquito.  Time to marshal the technology to wipe them off the face of the earth.  Which seems pretty extreme.  Doesn’t it?

So, should we bio-...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The public sees a politician one way.  A political cartoonist sees something else entirely.  What makes a good political cartoon?  We’ll get some answers from Steve Brodner, one of the most savage illustrators at work in the United States.  It’s The New Toons in this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

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