Oh, city living. The crush of people, the crowd of buildings, the empty lots, the garbage-strewn slums.
More than half of us will be living urban by 2050. How will we manage?Read more
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Episode Archives
Even now, the oceans of the world are terra incognita. We’ve explored only 5-10 percent of them on a planet mostly comprised of water. What we’re missing couldsurprise us. This hour, we explore the mysteries of the deep. We’ll hear about the oceans’ oddest creatures...Read more
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments...” “Because I could not stop for death…”
First lines. Classic poems. But poetry’s no anachronism. It’s pulsing and swelling and beating new rhythms.
From online verse to the new US Poet Laureate, from poetry...Read more
Bees are responsible for forty percent of the food we put in our mouths. It sounds astonishing, but without bees, we could find ourselves facing food shortages and a collapse of the green and flowered world. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a peek inside the world...Read more
Ten years after the War on Terror began, militant Islamic teenagers are still blowing themselves up in crowded streets. What makes someone willing to become a human bomb? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, how religious radicalization works and new techniques for...Read more
It's been called all kinds of things: God, Brahman, Nirvana, All, Dao. But renowned religion writer Karen Armstrong says we've often lost sight of what this ultimate reality means, so it's not surprising it can seem so unbelievable. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Karen Armstrong...Read more
Turning thirty used to be embarrassing, an occasion for angst and misery. Today young adults are embracing thirty as cause for celebration. They’re renting yachts, giving speeches and spending thousands of dollars to celebrate the big three-oh. In this hour of To the Best of...Read more
Ever want to chuck everything and just live your dream? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we meet several people who are doing just that. One of them's a hot young actor, starring in a smash Broadway musical. Another is a middle-aged husband and father who published a small magazine...Read more
If you believe those at the top of society deserve their success, doesn’t that mean you think those at the bottom deserve their failure? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’ll talk about status anxiety. Also, we’ll find out why American poverty matters to everyone.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
What would you die for? And what are you willing to kill for? Democracy?On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the meaning of democracy. We’ll hear from writers Alice Walker, Sherman Alexie, Isabel Alende and Margaret Atwood. Also, tomorrow’s citizens. Are schools giving children...Read more
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
In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, James Bradley remembers his father the war hero, who helped raise the flag on Iwo Jima. Martin Amis comes to terms with his famous father – the writer Kingsley Amis. And the story of a military father who was an officer but no gentleman...Read more
Lilydale, New York isn’t your average small town. In Lilydale, people say ghosts walk the streets and the neighbors can talk to the dead. No, this is not fiction. 20-thousand visitors a year travel to Lilydale to consult the largest community of mediums in the world. Is it all a gigantic...Read more
Rising sea levels, brutal storms and droughts, record temperatures...is there anything we can do about climate change? As world leaders gather at the Paris Climate Summit, we consider a range of proposals - from geoengineering and new green technology to a post-carbon economy. Read more
When it comes to religious practice, we don't always end up where we started. For some people, the journey away from their childhood religion is filled with serious, personal strife. For others, spiritual loss can be less dramatic or even – dramatically funny. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Dave Soldier has an unusual hobby. He teaches elephants to play music instruments...in an elephant orchestra. Ben Kilham does something else that’s unique. He raises orphan bear cubs and then releases them into the wild. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, some remarkable stories...Read more
Double-crossin’ dames. Grifters on the make in sleazy dive bars. Dead men that are heavier than broken hearts. Some think his novels are just pulp fiction, but to others Raymond Chandler is one of the greatest American writers of the 20th Century. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge...Read more
Steve Kissing seemed like a perfect child. He was an "A" student. He excelled as an athlete. He was even an altar boy. But Steve had a secret, a secret so dark he couldn't tell anyone. Steve was possessed by the devil. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, meeting the devil. From a boy...Read more
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
On a scale of one to ten, how happy would you say you are right now? If someone could teach you how to be even happier, would you be interested? Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, how to boost your happiness IQ. Also, eating for pleasure, with chef and food writer Deborah Madison. ...Read more
When Donald Trump described his offensive remarks about women as "locker room talk," he implied that it's normal for men to engage in macho sexual braggadocio in gender-segregated spaces like men's locker rooms. Sociologist Amy Schalet and law professor Terry Kogan trace hidden...Read more
The mind and the body meet in the brain. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, two of the world’s top brain doctors claim that what you feel affects how you feel. Dr. Norman Rosenthal, the man who discovered Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), says there’s an Emotional...Read more
Somewhere along the way, did we ruin poetry? Have the heartfelt angst of young lovers and the epic elegies of heroes become elitist and academic? But poetry is back, and we have new technology to thank.Read more