Spiderman had a pretty good summer last year, but J.K. Rowling wasn’t worried. When the sixth Harry Potter book came out, children trampled the web-slinger in their rush to bookstores and libraries. Which makes perfect sense to author and Arthurian scholar Jane Yolen. She says it’s all about...Read more
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Episode Archives
If you find Shakespeare a bit intimidating, you might want to check out the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Its actors do a version of “Hamlet” forward and backwards – all in two minutes. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, Shakespeare as you’ve never heard him before. Also, the great...Read more
American citizens worry about suicide bombers on airplanes, but intelligence analysts say the real threat today is in cyberspace. Cyber attacks on American companies and military installations are on the rise. Could terrorist hackers take down America's power grid? Or financial networks. In...Read more
When Meg Gaines was diagnosed with terminal cancer, her doctor told her to go home and think about the quality, not the quantity, of her days. Instead she grabbed him by the bow-tie and said “I don’t think you understand. I intend to live.” Today Meg Gaines is helping other cancer patients...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
Outsiders used to be the outcasts, misfits, and under-employed. Today, they're indie, alternative and ahead of their time. Outsiders are thriving and they're changing the way we think about what is mainstream and what is alternative. You might even say that outsiders are the new insiders.Read more
How do you soak in the essence of a city? In New York, writer Colson Whitehead goes walking ... through Times Square, along Broadway, down into the subway. In Memphis, critic Robert Gordon listens to its music - the blues, soul, rock-n-roll. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll...Read more
The American middle class used to be living proof that the American dream was alive and well, providing homes and modest savings to anyone willing to work. It’s another story today. In this hour, the decline of the middle class. How rising levels of income inequality shattered...Read more
Do you have a tattoo? One in five American adults do. It seems there are tattoo parlors everywhere. What’s most popular? Quotes from great works of literature. "So it goes."Read more
Classical musicians don't come with better pedigrees than violinist Anne Akiko Meyers. She's been wowing audiences since she was four, performs all over the world and has commissioned many new works. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Meyers talks about why she chose to record popular...Read more
Who says it's only humans who make art? Have you ever seen an elephant paint? Move over Jackson Pollock - elephant masterpieces are heading to the auction block! And when it comes to music well, Renee Fleming's got a nice voice, but have you have heard a whale sing? It's unbelievable. In this...Read more
Dave Soldier has an unusual hobby. He teaches elephants to play music instruments...in an elephant orchestra. Ben Kilham does something else that’s unique. He raises orphan bear cubs and then releases them into the wild. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, some remarkable stories...Read more
Double-crossin’ dames. Grifters on the make in sleazy dive bars. Dead men that are heavier than broken hearts. Some think his novels are just pulp fiction, but to others Raymond Chandler is one of the greatest American writers of the 20th Century. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge...Read more
Want to improve your mood? Just dance. This hour we’re talking with people who’ve found an easy way to keep themselves happy, to build friendships, and make art. We’re checking in with neuroscientists too, to hear just what happens in our brains when we’re dancing. Also, how dancing...Read more
Nearly 2500 years ago, Socrates celebrated the pursuit of wisdom, and famously said “the unexamined life is not worth living.” But does rigorous self examination actually lead to a happy or fulfilled life? It didn’t seem to work some of history’s most famous philosophers, including...Read more
Lilydale, New York isn’t your average small town. In Lilydale, people say ghosts walk the streets and the neighbors can talk to the dead. No, this is not fiction. 20-thousand visitors a year travel to Lilydale to consult the largest community of mediums in the world. Is it all a gigantic...Read more
Rising sea levels, brutal storms and droughts, record temperatures...is there anything we can do about climate change? As world leaders gather at the Paris Climate Summit, we consider a range of proposals - from geoengineering and new green technology to a post-carbon economy. Read more
Are Americans dumbing down instead of smartening up? Many surveys say yes. According to a 2006 National Geographic-Roper survey, nearly half of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 don't think it's necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news is being made. In...Read more
We’re off to the scene of the crime. Need a lawyer? Maybe you should find an evidence broker. He’s the guy you go to see when you’ve been accused of a crime and you need witnesses to prove you didn’t do it. At least that’s how it worked in the 18th century. Novelist David Liss talks about...Read more
How far did your food travel to get to you today? 100 miles? A thousand? Or just down the street. No matter where today's meal came from, there's a story behind it. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, food stories. New York chef Dan Barber faces a moral crisis in the form of a...Read more
General Patton wrote in 1943 that, "War is very simple, direct, and ruthless. It takes simple direct, and ruthless men to wage it." In this hour of To The Best Of Our Knowledge, simple and direct conversations with the ruthless men who wage war. We'll talk with a machine gunner stationed in Iraq...Read more
Cult film director John Waters has been described as the "Pope of filth" and the "King of Trash." To put it mildly, his films have, well, transgressed the boundaries of good taste. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, pushing the limits in film with John Waters. We'll...Read more
What goes into making new music? And how does hearing new music change the way we listen? From the Avant Garde composers of the 1920s, through Japanese noise music, to punk progenitor Richard Hell, we’re looking at how music - and how we hear it - changes. Read more
What makes a scientific revolution? Thomas Kuhn said it’s when a new paradigm blows the old scientific model out of the water. Fifty years later, we examine Kuhn's legacy, and talk with iconoclastic scientist Rupert Sheldrake, who says science is mired in untested dogmas. Also, stories of two...Read more