Episode Archives

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What’s the face of the future? Not flying cars and life on Mars… What’s the future of our faces? With new facial transplantation surgeries and the latest news about the NSA collecting images for facial recognition anaylsis, we're wondering about what we see in the mirror every day. 

Also...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Ok, take a breath. Close your eyes. Recall the home of your childhood.  Can you smell the cookies in the kitchen? Can you open a drawer in your bedroom? Do you see the sunlight through a window? Every building has a story. . . And not only a story, every building has a sound.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Is there such a thing as true, original creativity? Or "Are we just seeing further by standing on the shoulders of giants?", to paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll explore the question of where good ideas come from. Steven Johnson will tell us about...Read more

static screen

Failure is a four letter word in America. Most of us do everything we can to avoid it.  But what if we've got the wrong idea about failure - and it's all a matter of learning the right way to do it? This hour, one psychologist's take on how to embrace the fall.  And comedian...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

When do we most need our leaders? In times of crisis? In times of war? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge Winston Churchill's biographer Martin Gilbert explains how the man who offered his nation only blood, sweat, toil and tears made it believe that was enough. And he says Churchill's...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Who are you?

A man? A woman?

Are you a success? A failure?

A parent? An athlete? A wallflower?

A Christian? A Buddhist? A baker? 

If we are only a collection of stories about ourselves... what's the truth of who "we" are? 

Looking for UNCUT...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In the history of near-fame experiences, one story stands out.  Pete Best was the Beatles’ drummer just a few months before “Love Me Do” became a smash hit.  His replacement, Ringo Starr, became a huge star.  And Pete Best?  He worked for decades as a civil servant in Liverpool.  In this hour of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you believe in social progress and the power of networks to solve problems?  Steven Johnson does.  And he's coined a new term for himself and others like  him -- the peer progressive movement.   We'll learn all about it as we explore how digital networks are changing our lives.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It's the liberal's apocalypse. Consider empty big-box stories, deserted highways, worthless pieces of paper we used to call money. The economy collapses. There's widespread violence and social unrest. The only people with a fighting chance ride out the storm in life-boat communities with access...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

To Daniel Libeskind, buildings are much more than concrete boxes.  They’re expressions of hope, joy, freedom, and memory.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, architect Daniel Libeskind talks about his master design for the World Trade Center site.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Cross-dressing terrorist angels.  LA Gangbangers covered in Virgin Mary tattoos to protect them from bullets.  Prophets in g-strings and pasties.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge we’re going to look for god in some unlikely places - in the middle of a math equation, and in the lyrics...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The pint-sized wizard harry Potter has conquered the book world, and it’s not just kids who love him.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what’s behind Harry Potter’s popularity.  Also, acclaimed author Katherine Paterson (pronounced Patterson) on the emotional lives of...Read more

a woman with head pain

You stub your toe, hit your head on an open cupboard, slam your fingers in a car door, slice your hand on the sharp lip of can, or lick an envelope the wrong way. Your toes throbs, your head aches, your fingers pound, your hand hurts, your lip smarts.

Pain is your body’s way of letting...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

George Burns lived a good long life, hanging on to one hundred.  These days scientists say that’s no big deal.  According to them, some of us may be tottering around the golf course when we’re 150.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the quest for immortality – how long can science...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Kayfabe is an old carny term for fakery. Now it’s the code of honor for professional wrestling. Kayfabe means you never, EVER admit to ANYONE under ANY circumstances that pro wrestling’s fake. In this hour of To The Best Of Our Knowledge - the spectacle of professional wrestling. We’ll talk real...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Al Green is often referred to as the minister of L-O-V-E. You know, a couple of candles, a back-rub, and Al Green on the stereo. In 1976, Al Green put all that behind him and became a real minister – the Reverend Al Green of the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, Tennessee. But now he's...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but you still need a word to describe that glorious smell. We'll try out new words from the online world with a New York Times language blogger - words like YakkaWow and suicide cuisine. Also, the rise of a new world language called Globish....Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

When the Taliban took control of Kabul, many Afghans destroyed their books and TV sets.  Belquis Ahmadi’s family left the country when women lost their rights.  Today, Ahmadi lives in exile, campaigning for women to play a major role in a new Afghan government.  Her story in this...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Start telling love stories and chances are, you’ll find yourself telling tales of transgression.   In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Joyce Carol Oates talks about the harm done by family secrets.  P.D. James muses on why women are so good at crime fiction.  A...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

If you ever find yourself on a dark country road in Ireland, bring along some salt, red thread, and a cross.  That’s what you’ll need to protect yourself from “the other crowd.”  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the fairies of Ireland.  They’re magical, vengeful, and still alive and...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Are you a knave? Scalawag?  A varlet? Are you a scoundrel?  Maybe you’re not but secretly you want to be. Being a scoundrel kind of has a ring to it. It’s romantic. Rebellious.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you ever have the strange feeling that you've heard this promo before? Well, in this case, it's only fitting because we're going to explore deja vu on the next edition of To the Best of Our Knowledge. We'll try to find out what causes us to think we've already experienced the exact same...Read more

an open door

Well we made it through the anticipated apocalypse. 

Now, to say, "Goodbye old year; hello, new."
 
To help us begin again, we’ve got a collection of stories about putting challenges behind us. About transformation. About coming through hard times into...Read more

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