Episode Archives

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tarot cards

Wouldn't it be great if we could predict the future? We could invest wisely, prepare for social change, and have next season's fashionable footwear.

But in our accelerated world, it seems increasingly difficult to figure out what the next big thing will be. In this hour, are trends a...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

In the early 1950's two-year-old Jacqueline Henley in New Orleans became darker.  After the neighbors complained, her aunt turned her over to New Orleans authorities.  A black couple wanted to adopt Jacqueline but -- she had the word “white” stamped on her birth certificate.   Next time on To...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

You know those end of the year lists?  Best books, movies, music and so on?  This hour, To the Best of Our Knowledge shares the best interviews from 2015.  Plus a booklist or two.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

We’re all seeking something.  What about you? What are you looking for?Read more

love neon sign

Red roses, chilled champagne, a candlelight dinner for two. Who cares?!?

This is the 21st century. We’ve got 30 million potential dates online. We’ve got every imaginable type of pornography at our fingertips. Odds are each of us could hook up with someone new tonight.

...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Anne D. LeClaire was walking along the beach on Nantucket Sound when she heard a voice. The voice said, "Sit in silence." LeClaire turned to look but there was no one there. Anne D. LeClaire talks about this experience seventeen years ago and how it inspired her to remain silent for two days...Read more

a man near the Mississippi

The Mississippi River is an American icon. It's a body of water that’s been shaped as much by cultural processes as by environmental ones. From the state lines it draws to its role in literature and the arts, it’s a river that flows deep in the American psyche.

This episode is about the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Picking up a bottle of wine for dinner used to be simple. It pretty much depended on how much you wanted to spend, since everything came from France. Not anymore! We'll look at what happened to the wine world in 1976, when wine from the Napa Valley won a blind tasting and turned the industry...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Subdivisions. Industrial Parks. Strip Malls. Gridlock. Sprawl is socially unequal, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Right? We'll look at the costs and, YES, the benefits of suburban sprawl. Because maybe, just maybe, sprawl is a good thing.Read more

beautiful food

Imagine a farm five stories tall, powered by the sun, watered by the rain. Cabbage and carrots, tomatoes and eggplant grow on living walls. Tens of thousands of fish swim in aquaponic tanks. In this hour, the urban farm of the future gets real. Also, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,...Read more

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

Many people treat it as a national holiday, more Americans watch it than vote in presidential elections, and it leaves an economic footprint larger than the Gross Domestic Product of 49 countries: it's Super Bowl Sunday. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll go behind the scenes of...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

The Meaning of Life

Part Four

 

Pete Best should have been famous beyond his wildest dreams. He had Ringo's job just months before the Beatles' "Love Me Do" became a smash hit. But he got tossed out of the band and ended up working...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

One of the top-selling songs last year was by rapper Kanye West.  But it wasn’t hardcore hip-hop, it was a gospel song called “Jesus Walks.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the rebirth of Gospel Music.  We’ll look at where gospel came from and where it’s going.  And, we’ll feel...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

From Soup to Nuts:

Part Two

This may be the century when Americans forget how to cook. We're just too busy. Take-out's too easy. And, who needs to cook when you can buy ready-made...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It’s the most contested piece of real estate on Earth.  Jews know it as the Temple Mount.  Muslims call it Al-Aqsa.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the controversy over this sacred site in Jerusalem’s Old City.  Also, why the Temple Mount inspires apocalyptic visions for some...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

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Creative BrainCreativity is a little like obscenity:  You know it when you see it, but you can't exactly define it....unless you're a neuroscientist.  In labs around the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Computers permeate our lives.  They scan our groceries.  They entertain us.  They keep us safe.  But, can they write a poem?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, will your desktop be the next Bard?  And, the life of the original rock n’ roll rebel: the 19th century French poet Arthur...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

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