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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

David Abram on "Becoming Animal"

David Abram is an ecologist, anthropologist and philosopher, and author of "Becoming Animal."

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Dangerous Idea: A Palace of Unbuilt Roads

Hans Ulrich Obrist's dangerous idea is to create a museum for projects that haven't been completed—he calls it "A Palace of Unbuilt Roads."

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Austin Kleon on "Steal Like an Artist"

Austin Kleon talks about his book, "Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative."

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From the Sabertooth to the Grizzly

Doug Peacock is a legend in wilderness circles. A friend of Edward Abbey, Peacock was a Vietnam vet so traumatized by the war that he escaped into the wilderness once he returned to America. He says grizzlies saved his life.

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de Botton Goes Arty

Alain de Botton's latest project Is art as therapy. Feeling lonely? Stand in front of the Mona Lisa. Anxious about work? Caspar David Friedrich’s “Rocky Reef on the Seashore” will put everything in perspective. Anne talks with de Botton about his new book, free app, and… upcoming museum shows.

 

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Carole Case on the New York Jockey Club

Carole Case wrote a history of New York’s Jockey Club, the elite cartel that controls the thoroughbred stud book.

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Douglas Rushkoff on "Program or Be Programmed"

Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff says the writing's on the wall: in the future, you can either make the software... or you can BE the software.

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