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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Solar engineer Martha Lenio was the first woman to command a mission on the HI-SEAS — the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation. It's a project co-sponsored by NASA and the Univeristy of Hawaii that simulates what it would be like to live on Mars for eight months. To survive in such extremes, they were sequestered into a 1,000 square foot dome, and when they went outside they had to wear space suits. When Lenio got there, she said it didn't feel much like Mars, but she changed her mind after 8 months without the sun and wind on her skin. She spoke with Anne Strainchamps about missing her family — and missing YouTube cat videos.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Media critic Susan Douglas tells Steve Paulson that the American new media is doing less foreign news since 9/11, concentrating on health issues and “news you can use.”

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

William Ian Miller tells Jim Fleming we're all guilty of faking it, and that a little social duplicity isn't necessarily a bad thing.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Robert Crumb and Sophie Crumb tell Steve Paulson about her development and work.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Walter Moskowitz learned tattooing from his father William, who did tattoos from the basement of his barbershop called Willy’s. In bruising Bowery fashion, the shop offered a unique service.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Steve Grand tells Jim Fleming about Norns – virtual pets that live and breed in desktop computers. He says the Norns give us a way to explore questions about what it means to be alive and what rights and responsibilities "living" creatures have.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

J.R. Thornton was once a serious tennis player on the junior circuit. Then he moved to China and spent a year training with the Beijing National Team, where he discovered just how different the life of an aspiring champion could be. His novel "Beautiful Country" reveals the incredibly difficult demands on young athletes in China.

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Have you ever heard that space is a vaccuum? That space is totally silent? Well, neither of those things is exactly true. Thanks to the research of physicist Don Gurnett, we now know there are thin layers of gas in space that produce all kinds of interesting waves — including sound waves. In this segment, we talk with Gurnett about his research and listen to some downright strange and wondrous sounds from both near and deep space.

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