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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A year and a half ago Gary Wolkstein’s doctor told him he had cancer of the spine, that it was terminal, and that he had just a few months left to live.  Today Gary’s in fine health.  Not, it wasn’t a miracle cure, it was a mistake.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...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

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

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

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It’s up for debate whether or not the business of America is business.  But like it or not, corporate culture touches us all.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the quirky online marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers from all over the world.  But is e-bay really the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

How's your basic knowledge of religion? Can you name the Ten Commandments? The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism? What happens during Ramadan? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll hear an argument for why every American should know the basics of the world's religions. Also, Muslim hip...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge, Susan Sontag reflects on how photographs help us experience other people’s pain. And, as the country faces war, we’ll hear stories about our great patriotic songs, and find some comfort in the ancient Sufi poet, Rumi.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

”My solid pigeon, that drape is a killer-diller, an E-flat Dillinger, a bit of a fly thing all on one page.”  Any idea what that means?  It’s hipster slang for “My, that’s a nice dress you’re wearing.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the roots of hipster slang – old movies, pulp...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Electrons to Enlightenment

Part Five

 

In the real world where we take out the garbage, we sometimes brush up against wonder and awe. We all look for it in different places. Some of us find it in God, like the great mystic poet...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a visit with former Israeli commando Uri Avnery, who went on to become an outspoken critic of Israeli policy. He's seen his office bombed. He's been beaten and once barely survived an assassination attempt. Today Avnery is calling for a separate...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you ever think about the future? Not tomorrow or next month or post-election, but 100, 200 years in the future.  Everyone alive now will be dead -- and what will be remembered? Which pop stars, movies and books will people still know?  And will people's understanding of gravity...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

“Good fences make good neighbors." Robert Frost writes in Mending Wall.  Is he right? Maybe homemade chocolate chip cookies or lending a lawnmower are more neighborly. I guess it depends on who your neighbors are.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Electrons to Enlightenment

Part Four

 

Polls show that nearly half of all Americans believe the Biblical story of creation, while only a quarter accept evolution. The philosopher Daniel Dennett thinks we need to "break the spell" of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Nerds are an easy target for humor in movies and on TV... with their thick black glasses, hopelessly out-of-fashion clothes, and over-enunciated diction. But there's a dark side to nerds. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll find out how the nerd stereotype is harming our children...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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Did you know that Teddy Roosevelt was one of nine U.S. presidents who had hooks for hands? Well, that's just one of countless facts included in John Hodgman's new almanac. But, as it turns out, all of these facts are fake. In this hour of the Peabody Award-winning To the Best of Our Knowledge,...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

Here’s the truth: the wild romance will probably end. Wedding vows, intimacy, heartache… they can have a long shelf-life. But those butterflies in your stomach? Wild libidinal longings? They tend to quiet over time.

So what happens after the romance ends? From passionate marriage, to ...Read more

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There’s a powerful new voting bloc in America. They’re white, working class, and they live in places that have been left behind. We'll talk with "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance, and country music star Brandy Clark joins us in the studio to play some music and talk about her hometown.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Siberia is the name for a place we tend to think of as a metaphor as much as a destination on the map. Writer Ian Frazier indulged what he calls his dread Russia love with travels through Siberia, tracing the path of prisoners on their way to lonely exile and through mosquito-ridden swamps at...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Graphic novelist Neil Gaiman has a talent for creating strange and fantastic worlds.  His “Sandman” comic books helped spawn the Goth movement, and with characters called Dream and Death, he created a new mythology.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll visit with Neil Gaiman at...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Crime may not pay but writing crime fiction does. Just ask the Swedish writer, Henning Mankell. Or those who write "Tartan Noir"...Scottish detective fiction. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll explore Northern Europe's fictional crime wave. Also, Roger Ebert on film noir.Read more

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