When’s the last time you were wonderstruck? Would your life be richer for more wonder? What wonder is, how to make it, where to find it and what it does for us... we all get gently awed in this hour.Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
When disaster strikes, photojournalists run toward it instead of away. Usually, with a camera in hand. Their job is to get up close to tragedy and danger, to document things we need to see, in the hopes of somehow making a difference. This hour we’re talking with some of the world’s great...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
Are you planning to see the world this summer? Or enjoy the frugal pleasure of a stay-cation? Remember, the best travel isn't about miles logged – it's about minds expanded. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, travel stories. Travel guru Rick Steves develops an unexpected passion for...Read more
It's the sesquicentennial of the Civil War -- it's been 150 years since that epic war began. Americans will commemorate and remember it from different points of view. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Remembering the Civil War. We'll talk about soldiers' experiences on the...Read more
If grocery shopping isn’t your thing, here’s a new way to put food on the table: try sticking your arm under a rock until a big ol’ catfish clamps onto to you. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, noodling for catfish and other southern pastimes. Also, Texas singer Steve Earle’s...Read more
Vaclav Havel is President of the Czech Republic, but for many around the world, he's known as the poet in blue jeans, the dissident playwright who inspired a Velvet Revolution. On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, President Havel talks art and politics. And, we'll go back to when the...Read more
It's been more than four decades since the Civil Rights movement ended racial segregation in America. Yet few would say African-Americans are now fully integrated – or assimilated. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, African American writers talk about race, and how black history –...Read more
Born 200 years ago, Charles Darwin was a revolutionary figure, and yet polls show that more than half of all Americans still don't accept his theory of evolution. So, is Darwinian evolution compatible with faith in God? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what Darwin himself thought...Read more
Remember what it was like to be a kid, playing outside with friends for hours at a time? Sure, it may just seem like fun and games, but it may also have been invaluable training for life as an adult.Read more
Filmmaker Ken Burns calls the national parks "America's best idea." We'll take you to Yosemite,Denali and Carlsbad Caverns. We'll also explore some forgotten parts of our history: how the "buffalo soldiers" helped create America's first parks, and why the very idea of protecting nature has...Read more
You’re part of the “Freedom Movement,” - a group of anti-globalization anarchists. You’re blowing up security stations to fight “The Corporation.” Sounds like a scene out of Seattle during the World Trade Organization protests of a few years ago, doesn’t it? But it’s not. It’s...Read more
In the recent election, the Tea Party emerged as a major force in American politics. It's a striking story, when a few years before, the "New York Times" was speculating about the demise of the Republican party. So, why the game change, after Barack Obama won the White House on a surge of...Read more
The past is nebulous - a place no one can go. When we try to get our bearings there, we often find more than one truth. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll go back to Vietnam with Senator Bob Kerrey. And, one woman pieces together her past in war-torn Liberia. Also, paying...Read more
Are humans innately violent? If you stripped the civilization out of us, just how bad would we be?Read more
Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part 3: Does the Soul Still Matter?
For centuries, we’ve been told the soul is what makes each of us unique. It’s why we have moral responsibility. And it’s the part of us that lives on after we die. ...Read more
On February 13th, 1945 Kurt Vonnegut and other American POWs were hiding in a cellar during the firebombing of Dresden. They were remarkably lucky, as 135,000 people died that night. During the bombing one soldier said, “I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight?” Nobody laughed but, as...Read more
Who did the press hail as the conqueror of the air? Alberto Santos-Dumont, who flew around the Eiffel Tower while Jules Verne and H.G. Wells watched and wondered. He even tied his “personal airship” to the lamp posts outside restaurants in Paris, and worked to revolutionize transportation. ...Read more
Batman, Superman, the Green Lantern we all had our superheroes as kids. Maybe we still do today? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, SUPERHEROES. We'll celebrate Wonder Woman's 70th birthday with a look at her controversial new costume. We'll also explore the actual physics of...Read more
Gore Vidal has a special fondness for the Founding Fathers, especially George Washington. “The others were geniuses. He was not a genius” he says, but “he had a powerful character which got him through the revolution, since he was not much of a general. But he was a great leader.” We’ll talk...Read more
Are you living the American Dream? Or just struggling to get by? Changing the minimum wage, cuts to food stamps, and health care coverage have been all over the news. What does it take to “make it” in America today?
Also, On Our Minds this week, Swedish crime fiction writer Jens Lapidus...Read more
With the war in Iraq winding down, now what? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a look at the war’s aftermath - and not only for Iraqis, but also for the millions of people who marched against the war. Does America’s quick victory mean the peace movement failed? And what about...Read more
Have you ever heard of Dan Rice? Probably not. But if you were alive around the middle of the nineteenth century chances are you would know his name. That’s when Dan Rice made his mark in “the show business.” In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the life and times of Dan Rice. And...Read more
With shows in Milan, Paris and New York, it's fashion month across the Western World, and people are turning their eyes to runways. But does fashion really matter? Truth is, the garment industry is worth trillions of dollars, and employs millions of people. In this hour, we take a look at the...Read more