Episode Archives

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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

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

Uncovering the real story in Iraq is getting harder.  Western journalists have become targets, just like American soldiers.  And reporters now take elaborate precautions to avoid being killed or kidnaped.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk about the hazards of war reporting...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Where’s James Bond when you need him?  You have to wonder about the spy business after the dubious information that was used to justify America’s war against Iraq.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an argument for revealing all the secrets to the public.  And, a look back at Anthony...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a visit with former Israeli commando Uri Avnery, who went on to become an outspoken critic of Israeli policy. He's seen his office bombed. He's been beaten and once barely survived an assassination attempt. Today Avnery is calling for a separate...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Ever want to chuck everything and just live your dream? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we meet several people who are doing just that. One of them's a hot young actor, starring in a smash Broadway musical. Another is a middle-aged husband and father who published a small magazine...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

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

Imagine the world as we know it, only without us. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a writer imagines a world reinventing itself without human beings. He sees the New York subway system returning to its watery origins. The re-absorption of carbon into the earth, and endangered...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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Charles Monroe-Kane grew up hearing voices in his head. For years he tried to drown them out with potentially lethal quantities of hard drugs and alcohol. Lithium saved his life but coming clean about his past hasn't been easy. How do you admit, as a public radio producer, that for years you had...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Salman Rushdie's new novel is called "The Enchantress of Florence." It's a tale of two cities, consisting of stories tucked inside stories tucked inside stories...along the lines of Scheherazade's stories of "One Thousand and One Nights." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Salman...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Posters at Starbucks ask customers to focus on the world water crisis. Church congregations ask the faithful to go on a "carbon diet." Slate magazine asks readers to take a "green challenge." We've got green cars, green clothing, green politics and even green weddings. In this hour of To the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Russia and China.  They were the two Communist giants.  Now each is carving out a new future.  By most accounts, China is doing it better.  It’s still an authoritarian state, but the economy if booming.  And Russia?  Well, it’s capitalism’s wild...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Who's calling your shots? Who's in charge of your thinking, your perceptions? Maybe it's simple. Your mind is the boss, then your brain runs your body. Everything's fine. Until it's not and you find yourself confronting depression or autism or a head injury that leaves you with brain damage....Read more

a politically divided map

 Political animosity between the right and the left is off the charts.  Social scientists say we're living in one of the most polarized periods in history and that conservatives and liberals don't just disagree anymore. They hate everything about each other.  It's time to de-...Read more

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