Buried scrolls, clay tablets, priceless artifacts and expensive forgeries – this week, we bring you stories from the strange and amazing world of biblical archeology.Read more
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Episode Archives
What if our lives were like DVDs? What if we had alternative endings to look forward to, instead of death? We explore our lust for immortality. And we look at the many alternative endings that Ernest Hemingway wrote for his classic novel, "A Farewell to Arms."
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
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
It was the best of times for Pattie Boyd. Her modeling career was booming and the sixties were exploding on the London scene. One day she got a call - she'd been cast in a Beatles film. The rest is history. We'll meet the woman who inspired three of the most famous rock songs of all time,...Read more
Does anyone still hitchhike? Cult film director John Waters does. At the age of 66, he hitchhiked 2,800 miles, from Baltimore to San Francisco. He tells us about the people who picked him up, along with some who didn't. And did the America Interstate System pave the way...Read more
Do you get eight hours of sleep a night? If not, join the millions of sleep-deprived Americans stumbling through life half-awake. Scientists say our national sleep debt may be behind the epidemics of diabetes and obesity – maybe even cancer. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Say you’re in Vegas playing high-stakes poker. You haven’t slept in days. To make matters worse, you’re being stared down by two of the best poker players in the world. And...you’re bluffing. So, you bet it all to bring the pot to well over a million dollars. In this hour of To the Best of...Read more
We explore the frontiers of brain science, from the neurobiology of emotions to recent discoveries about autism. Renowned neuroscientists Richard Davidson and V.S. Ramachandran reveal new insights into the brain, and we'll hear the story of one marriage saved by a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome...Read more
America is famously a nation of immigrants, a melting pot of cultures. And yet, few subjects will be debated as passionately this year as immigration reform. What are we really talking about, when we argue about immigration? And, what's it like to be 'fresh off the boat" in a country that...Read more
Have you ever wished you cared less or been told to develop a thicker skin? For the polite and anxious among us, suddenly being immune to criticism and embarrassment might seem to be a superpower. In this hour, we’re exploring...Read more
A police officer's shooting of a young, unarmed Afrian American man here in Madison joins a long list of national tragedies. So we devote this hour to conversations about race and justice.Read more
In America’s struggle with race, one man is trying to keep it real. His website dares to post the questions we’re afraid to ask out loud. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the quest for racial understanding from the founder of the Y-Forum. Also, the sweet and sorrowful history of...Read more
Oliver Sacks has an unusual problem. He can't recognize other people's faces. In fact, he doesn't always recognize himself when he's looking in the mirror. Sacks is also a neurologist who's fascinated by brain disorders. We'll talk with Sacks and with the painter Chuck Close, who also...Read more
Pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman has interviewed some of the biggest names in the celebrity constellation. But getting a celebrity to talk is no easy task. In fact, Klosterman says it's not in the celebrity's best interest to do any interviews at all. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Future Perfect: Dreamers, Schemers & Visionaries
Part Two
It's not hard to see why economics is called "the dismal science" – after we were blind-sided by the worst financial meltdown in decades. But economics does have its...Read more
Any day now, the United States will welcome the three hundred millionth American. He or she may be a new born baby, or someone who comes across the border – legally or illegally. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll look at America’s changing demographics, and consider the price...Read more
Jonathan Kaplan is a field doctor who travels to war zones around the world. He treats people who’ve been shot or maimed. Many of his patients die on the operating table. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge what war looks like from the inside. Also singer/songwriter Steve Earle...Read more
As soon as you, or someone you love, has that first "senior moment" – you start to worry. Is this the beginning of the slippery slope of Alzheimer's Disease? Relax! There's something you can do. The good news is that most of us won't live long enough to get Alzheimer's. And the rest of us...Read more
America was once a nation of readers, but now experts warn that reading is in decline as our cultural life moves online. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an hour in praise and defense of the book. Ursula Le Guin takes book publishers to task and a beloved children's book editor...Read more
We love books. We line them on shelves like totems. We pile them next to our beds in some hope they'll affect our dreams. For many of us, books are sacred objects. And sometimes, just sometimes, they’re even magical.Read more
Ahh, nature! It’s always such fun to watch on television. Let someone else stalk grizzlies and wrestle Amazonian snakes – real nature is hard work. But it doesn’t have to be. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we invite you to step out of your front door into the natural world. You...Read more
Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part One: What is Life?
Scientists can now explain virtually every stage of the evolutionary process. But there’s a basic question that still mystifies even the best scientists: How did life first begin on Earth...Read more
Celebrate Halloween with this spooky hour full of ghost stories from our wonderful listeners, and real-life tales of the paranormal. Haunted houses, near-death experiences, and spectral raccoons... so many ways to be un-dead.Read more