There's something magical about making words. Ask any parent what their baby's first word was. Chances are they'll remember. Words are what set us apart from all the other animals. And they're endlessly fascinating. In this hour of To Best of Our Knowledge we'll meet a variety of people...Read more
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Episode Archives
In 1945 Franklin Roosevelt worked out a deal with the king of Saudi Arabia. America got unlimited access to Saudi Oil, and in return, the U.S. protected the Royal Family against its enemies. Now that special relationship is under fire. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the politics...Read more
"The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four Americans is suffering from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they're okay, then it's you."...Read more
Woody Allen is an Academy Award-winning film-maker and screenwriter, but he's notoriously media-shy. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Eric Lax on talking to Woody Allen over 36 years. Also, we'll explore how independent screenplays work.Read more
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
Elephants mourning their dead. Chimpanzees dying of grief. And the everyday joy of a dog at play. Biologist Marc Bekoff says the evidence is all around us, if we learn how to see it. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the case for animal emotions. And we’ll spend some time with a...Read more
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
Christopher Hogwood was not your ordinary household pet. For one thing, he weighed 700 pounds. And he loved to drink beer. Christopher was a very large pig with a heart of gold. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of how Christopher Hogwood became the best-loved pig in...Read more
Why do we assume more money is better? Maybe if we weren't so focused on how much we have, we'd ask a better question: How much is enough? We explore the relationship between money and happiness, and alternative forms of currency. Also, Great Britain's experiment in Gross...Read more
The Jewish High Holy Days come to an end every fall on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This year, we're thinking about atonement and forgiveness. Whether you're Jewish or non-Jewish, secular or religious, forgiveness is something we all struggle with. Today we explore the path to...Read more
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
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
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
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
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
Imagine living your whole life in excruciating pain, 24/7, and actually choosing to go without any pain medication. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, one man’s permanent pain. And is a teenager slashing her arms with a razor a cry for help or an ancient ritual of sacred pain? Also,...Read more
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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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