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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

How much time do you spend thinking about the future? Oh sure, you’ve probably got plans for the weekend, maybe you’re looking for a new job or thinking about how your kids are doing in school.
    
But how much time to do we spend – as a nation, a global community – thinking about...Read more

a dancer in red lighting

Want to improve your mood? Just dance. This hour we’re talking with people who’ve found an easy way to keep themselves happy, to build friendships, and make art. We’re checking in with neuroscientists too, to hear just what happens in our brains when we’re dancing. Also, how dancing...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What do Hip-Hop and traditional Delta Blues have in common?  Down in the bijous and hollers of Mississippi - a lot more than you  think. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new revolution in Roots Music. Also, the  debate over what’s authentic country music. And, we’ll talk to Nora ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

For eons Mars has been the toast of the galaxy – and has ignited the human imagination.  The Red Planet is home to the God of War – and to little green men.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, exploring Mars.  We’ll get the latest on NASA’s new Mars missions, and take a look at the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Every year billions of classified dollars are funneled into what defense analysts call “the black world.”  It’s a realm that uses code names like “Black Light,” “Classic Wizard,” and “Link Plumeria” - a place where even an idea can be top secret.  Stealth bombers came from the black world, and...Read more

book

Is Jennifer Egan's book, "A Visit from the Goon Squad," a novel or is it a series of entangled stories? It's a fair question because this polyphonic narrative covers a lot of territory – from satire to tragedy told from a wide range of characters' points of view. And one chapter...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Every time a bell rings, an Angel gets its wings." At this time of year you're likely to hear that line over and over again, as Jimmy Stewart plows through "It's a Wonderful Life." But he's not the only one who's seen an angel - in or out of the movies. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

lily-ads

Brutal storms, rising seas, drought... you've seen the headlines. Our climate changed future seems pretty scary. But do all the messages about climate catastrope keep people from taking action to slow carbon emmissions or prepare for changing weather? What would happen if we...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

*With his black Fedora hat Jack Abramoff became the symbol of everything that’s corrupt about government.  But now he’s out of prison and seeking atonement.  Join us for a candid interview with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. How do we as a society deal with the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

His critics called him a war criminal.  Robert McNamara himself has said the Vietnam War was a colossal mistake.  So should he take the blame for leading America’s war in Vietnam?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, filmmaker Errol Morris talks about war and morality... and his...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

There are about 675 species of native birds in North America.  To win the most demanding and prestigious birdwatching competition in the country you have to see ALL of them.  And then some.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, die-hard birders compete in “The Big Year.”  Also, we’ll...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Our world is increasingly unthinkable.  It’s a world of tectonic shifts, strange weather and oil-drenched seascapes.  So maybe it makes sense to look to the horror genre to help us think about our unthinkable world. Next time on TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, we’ll explore the...Read more

a woman shushing

Hear that?  It's the soothing sound of silence.  We'll have much more, including "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking"; one man's quest for absolute silence; and John Cage's 4'33." 

And if you are looking to contribute your neighbor story,...Read more

a scientist

Science is moving out of the lab and into the pages of literary fiction.  This week, we introduce the “Lab Lit” movement and talk about why fiction needs more realistic portrayals of scientists and science cultureRead more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Back in 1933 novelist James Hilton wrote of an earthly paradise hidden in the Himalayas. He called it Shangri-La. But Hilton didn't invent the idea. Myths about Shangri-La go back centuries, and they pop up in a variety of places from Tibet to Kashmir. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

a model brain

Do you ever think about the way you think?   Lately, we've been doing a lot of thinking about what we think about when we think about thinking.  Join us as we explore the life of the mind.Read more

a man becomes a living cereal bowl

What do the opening notes of Beethoven’s “Symphony Number Five” and a rabbit named Oolong balancing a pancake on his head have in common?  They’re both examples of memes – units of culture that are imitated and, as a result, copied from one brain to another.  Are memes the driving...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

For all the amazing discoveries that scientists have made, the cosmos is still full of mysteries - from dark matter to quantum entanglement. Will physicists ever explain the universe, or is it fundamentally unknowable? We explore the frontiers of physics and ponder what it means to live with...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It’s Art & Craft week at TTBOOK, but we’re not gluing macaroni to cardboard. 

From the halls of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, to MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms; from a craft studio on the coast of Maine, to "outsider artists" at the Venice Biennale... w...Read more

guitar

Prominent Evangelical leaders are divided on the subject of Donald Trump and some have gone so far as to say the soul of their movement is at stake. This week we talk about the perennial tension between faith and politics,and the evolution of the Religious Right -- the movement that shaped the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

There are children who seem to be re-born into new families, while remembering specific and verifiable things about their former lives.  It may be coincidence, or imagination, but some of their stories will curl your hair!  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a search for...Read more

castle

Another season of HBO's "Game of Thrones" is beginning, and the History Channel's "Vikings" is racking up ratings. Why are we so interested in the Middle Ages?Read more

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