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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Everyone knows what comic books are about, right? But it's not all about people in long underwear hitting each other. This hour on To the Best of Our Knowledge, heroes, anti-heroes, and regular folks strutting their stuff in black and white.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Seven hundred million people get their music from the Internet. More than 10 million people own iPods.  Does this mean that compact discs and record companies are going the way of the gramophone and eight-track tapes?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll look at this digital...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Tenzin Palmo isn’t your ordinary Englishwoman.  For twelve years she boiled snow for drinking water, lived without heat and electricity, and spent 12 hours a day propped up in a wooden box.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a Buddhist nun recalls her years of meditation in a lonely...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Are we running out of water? Science writer Fred Pearce thinks so. He's traveled the world to investigate the current state of crucial water sources. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge Pearce talks about the defining crisis of the twenty-first century. Also, we'll explore the social...Read more

a woman plays guitar

Music and social change go hand in hand. We explore the secret history of protest music. Songs and social movements you might have missed -- from the early days of rock and roll to the non-violent hip hop message of FM Supreme.Read more

geometry in the dark

Reality is catching up to science fiction.  But there are still new science-fiction writers who are thinking the unthinkable and daring to go beyond the limits of our imaginations.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Getting through winter requires mental and physical toughness, plus good central heating.  But animals have amazing strategies for surviving conditions that make humans whimper.  Today, winter survival strategies from our furred and feathered friends.  What could we learn from a walrus who...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Eric Liu is on a campaign to restore America's civic joy. To make voting fun again, with late-night dance parties for Miami voters, participatory election street theater in Akron,Ohio; and a giant election scavenger hunt in Philadelphia. He says there's no such thing as not voting: choosing not...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It started as a joke.  Danny Wallace put a small ad in a London newspaper.  It simply said “Join me” and invited people to send a passport-sized photo.  The only problem was, no one knew what they were joining.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of Danny Wallace’s “Join Me”...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Couples know the frightening statistic: 50 percent of today’s marriages will fail.  And the real victims are the children.  As they grow up they are more likely to be aggressive or depressed, end up in mental health hospitals, or get divorced themselves.  In this hour of To the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

George Orwell wrote "1984" in response to two of the reigning ideologies of his day - fascism and communism. Does his dystopian story of Big Brother and Doublethink still matter today? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk with actor Tim Robbins, who recently staged a...Read more

military helmet

The US will pull troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016, leaving behind an enemy they've fought for more than a decade. This week, we explore Afghanistan's Taliban insurgency and find out what motivates them.Read more

game over

Parents worry that their kids spend too much time playing video games, but according to one new study, if you need surgery, you want the surgeon who grew up with a game controller in one hand.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why the future belongs to gamers.  Imagine a...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Everyone is on the Internet but they're not all talking with each other.  There are groups upon groups out there, but they don't talk to one another.  So while the Internet brings everyone into a share space, it does not necessarily bring them together."  -- David LynchRead more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Have you ever thought about disappearing... wiping out your old identity and starting fresh, with a new name, a new life, a new self? In this hour we try to find out how to disappear completely. You too can vanish without a trace! Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Have you ever heard of Bibleman, the Caped Christian? This evangelical superhero quotes scripture while fighting villains. There's a Bibleman video series, as well as a live show, toys, and a computer game. Bibleman is just part of the seven-billion-dollar Christian pop culture industry. In...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

June 22nd, 1977. Two college women are camping. A man runs over their tent in a pickup truck. Then he attacks the women with an axe. Fifteen years later, one of the women returns to central Oregon to try to solve the crime. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Terri Jentz shares...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

Atheists have been called the most hated minority in America, but recent atheist manifestos by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris have all made the bestseller list. Have these atheists changed our thinking about religion? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the New...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

For decades, men have written about their first sexual experiences, but there’s almost no literature like that for women.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, memoirist Mary Karr reflects on her first kiss and other rites of passage for girls.  Also, Jonathan Kozol describes...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Mind and Brain

Neuroscientists have made remarkable discoveries about the brain, but so far, no one's come close to cracking the biggest mystery of all - the connection between the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Kashmir has been called the most beautiful place on earth.  Today, it’s the melting point for a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan.  It’s a situation that’s been called more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an Indian writer mourns the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

James Hood had a dream.  He wanted to go to college and get an education.  But there was a problem.  Hood was a black man in segregated Alabama in 1963.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a variety of views and opinions from Black Americans on their expectations of freedom.  We’ll...Read more

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