Neuroscientists have made remarkable discoveries about the brain, but so far, no one's come close to cracking the biggest mystery of all - the connection between the...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
Anne D. LeClaire was walking along the beach on Nantucket Sound when she heard a voice. The voice said, "Sit in silence." LeClaire turned to look but there was no one there. Anne D. LeClaire talks about this experience seventeen years ago and how it inspired her to remain silent for two days...Read more
Maybe you watched Elizabeth Taylor strut around Ancient Rome so you think you know who Cleopatra was. Well, the real Cleopatra was far more remarkable - a brilliant woman who spoke nine languages and ruled over the world's most cosmopolitan culture... and yes, also cavorted with both Julius...Read more
Kashmir has been called the most beautiful place on earth. Today, it’s the melting point for a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan. It’s a situation that’s been called more dangerous than the Cuban missile crisis. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, an Indian writer mourns the...Read more
The Mississippi River is an American icon. It's a body of water that’s been shaped as much by cultural processes as by environmental ones. From the state lines it draws to its role in literature and the arts, it’s a river that flows deep in the American psyche.
This episode is about the...Read more
The Meaning of Life
Part Two
Karen Armstrong was a Catholic nun who stopped believing. In this hour of the Peabody Award-winning program To the Best of Our Knowledge, Armstrong shares her story of how she found her way back to God...Read more
In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge one man’s attempt to apologize for the sins of his family’s past. Also, mizuko kuyo, the Japanese ritural ceremony of apology to aborted fetuses. What does it mean to say “I’m sorry.”Read more
Two years ago a professor in Wisconsin checked her mail and found a most unusual letter...from an Iraqi graduate student asking for scholarly advice. Since then professor Susan Friedman has exchanged hundreds of e-mails with academics in Iraq. And she's heard harrowing accounts of academic...Read more
One of the top-selling songs last year was by rapper Kanye West. But it wasn’t hardcore hip-hop, it was a gospel song called “Jesus Walks.” In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the rebirth of Gospel Music. We’ll look at where gospel came from and where it’s going. And, we’ll feel...Read more
It’s the most contested piece of real estate on Earth. Jews know it as the Temple Mount. Muslims call it Al-Aqsa. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the controversy over this sacred site in Jerusalem’s Old City. Also, why the Temple Mount inspires apocalyptic visions for some...Read more
This hour we combine two seemingly unlikely things: food and death. But when you think about it food and death really do go hand-in-hand. From the Last Meal to the new phenomenon of Death Dinners. Read more
It's the sesquicentennial of the Civil War -- it's been 150 years since that epic war began. Americans will commemorate and remember it from different points of view. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Remembering the Civil War. We'll talk about soldiers' experiences on the...Read more
If grocery shopping isn’t your thing, here’s a new way to put food on the table: try sticking your arm under a rock until a big ol’ catfish clamps onto to you. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, noodling for catfish and other southern pastimes. Also, Texas singer Steve Earle’s...Read more
We explore music and memory in this hour -- Kurt Cobain's lasting impact 20 years after his death; insidious and infectious earworms; and the retro worldly music of Pink Martini.Read more
Creativity is a little like obscenity: You know it when you see it, but you can't exactly define it....unless you're a neuroscientist. In labs around the...Read more
In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a visit with former Israeli commando Uri Avnery, who went on to become an outspoken critic of Israeli policy. He's seen his office bombed. He's been beaten and once barely survived an assassination attempt. Today Avnery is calling for a separate...Read more
With the elections approaching, candidates and campaigns are working hard to get out the vote. But what would it take to get people politically involved all year round? This hour we explore a few ways, whether it's by using games to make the political process more fun, or mobilizing activists...Read more
Computers permeate our lives. They scan our groceries. They entertain us. They keep us safe. But, can they write a poem? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, will your desktop be the next Bard? And, the life of the original rock n’ roll rebel: the 19th century French poet Arthur...Read more
We're keepin it surreal this hour with a hallucinatory vortex chock full of innovative fiction. Like Salvador Dali said -- "Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision." Join us as we expand your vision and melt your mind....Read more
If you think the influence of Shakespeare is confined to the page and the stage, think again. Take starlings, the aggressive European birds who’ve pushed a lot of Native American birds out of their nests. They were introduced by a Shakespeare fanatic, who loosed dozens of them in Central Park....Read more
There’s an old joke from the former Soviet Union. Roughly translated it goes like this. The communists were liars. Everything they said about communism was untrue. Unfortunately, everything they said about capitalism was true. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, considering...Read more
Does Western aid to impoverished African countries really help? Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo says no: it just lines the pockets of corrupt leaders and creates a culture of dependency. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk about the ethics of foreign aid, and hear why...Read more
It's been said that "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." But the rock critic Robert Palmer didn't have any trouble. Palmer wrote effortlessly about all kinds of music – rock and roll, blues, jazz and world music. The fact that Palmer was also a musician didn't hurt. In...Read more
Michael Chabon's a pretty successful writer of literary fiction. As far as he's concerned, literary fiction is just another genre, with its own set of conventions. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we get into the fight over genre fiction. Agatha Christie's grandson says the...Read more