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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Fear and Loathing in Mosquito-Land

We hate mosquitoes.

But why?  I mean, yes --- West Nile, dengue, malaria, Zika…not to mention ruined picnics, sleepless nights, and bites you scratch until they bleed … Those are logical reasons to dislike mosquitoes.  But admit it – they also just creep you out.

Jeffrey Lockwood gets at the psychology in his book “The Infested Mind.” He’s an entomologist who once had a truly horrific encounter with a swarm of grasshoppers.   He was left traumatized. Afterwards he wondered why we all fear and loathe insects so much.

Lockwood told Rehman Tungekar the answer is deep deep in our psyches.

 

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Chris Ware - Building Stories

The celebrated cartoonist Chris Ware has a graphic novel called “Building Stories.”  It’s like nothing Steve Paulson has ever seen or read before.

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David Weinberger on "Too Big to Know"

Information, information everywhere... where's knowledge? David Weinberger from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society says knowledge lies in the links between data and info. 

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David Bainbridge on the Natural History of Teens

Biologist and science writer David Bainbridge tells Steve Paulson that a prolonged adolescence is unique to humans and one of our greatest evolutionary advantages.

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Clare Crespo on Food Art

Clare Crespo thinks you should play with your food, and she tells Anne Strainchamps about her banana hot dog and the family portrait she created from mashed potatoes.

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Apostolos Doxiadis on Goldbach's Conjecture

Apostolos Doxiadis tells Judith Strasser about his novel “Uncle Petros and Goldbach’s Conjecture,” in which a man becomes obsessed with solving a mathematical proof.

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Bennett Alan Weinberg on the Science of Caffeine

Bennett Alan Weinberg walks Anne Strainchamps through the science of caffeine.  Sure it’s an addictive drug, but it has its good points!

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Azby Brown on the Small Japanese Home

Azby Brown talks with Jim Fleming about the Japanese ideal of the very small house – sometimes 500 square feet for a family of four.

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