Say you’re in Vegas playing high-stakes poker. You haven’t slept in days. To make matters worse, you’re being stared down by two of the best poker players in the world. And...you’re bluffing. So, you bet it all to bring the pot to well over a million dollars. In this hour of To the Best of...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
It’s been described as the Nobel Prize of motion pictures: the coveted Academy Award. One billion people around the world watch the Oscars on TV every year. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the history and politics of the Academy Awards. Is Oscar a white man’s award? Also, Don...Read more
In the mid-80's the metal band Winger topped the charts with hits like "Seventeen." Then Grunge came along and left bands like Winger in the dust. Now, Kip Winger is back on top with a new CD that debuted at #1 on the music charts. Only this time, he's rocking the classical charts....Read more
We explore the frontiers of brain science, from the neurobiology of emotions to recent discoveries about autism. Renowned neuroscientists Richard Davidson and V.S. Ramachandran reveal new insights into the brain, and we'll hear the story of one marriage saved by a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome...Read more
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
Have you ever wished you cared less or been told to develop a thicker skin? For the polite and anxious among us, suddenly being immune to criticism and embarrassment might seem to be a superpower. In this hour, we’re exploring...Read more
America is famously a nation of immigrants, a melting pot of cultures. And yet, few subjects will be debated as passionately this year as immigration reform. What are we really talking about, when we argue about immigration? And, what's it like to be 'fresh off the boat" in a country that...Read more
Global pandemics, alien invasions, the Second Coming....why do we love imagining the end of the world? We examine apocalyptic thinking – from vampire movies to the Book of Revelation.Read more
The world of plants can be a dangerous place. Gorgeous monkshood, with stalks of purple blooms can cause delusions and death. A plump cashew can make you miserable if it isn't steamed properly. And aconite, almost indistinguishable from parsley can cause paralysis and stop your beating heart...Read more
One of the biggest challenges a journalist can face is reporting a story when your connection to your source is compromised. They won't talk, or they can't talk, or it's your own father. Can anyone ever uncover the truth, the whole truth, about another person?Read more
Your name is a collection of sounds and syllables that identify you. It's your tag, handle, label, second skin. It's written on your birth certificate and it'll be inscribed on your grave. But what does it actually mean? Names carry family dreams, expectations and legacies....Read more
Maybe you can sing like Jennifer Lopez or Ricky Martin. If not, looking like them is the next best thing. Right now, it’s never been cooler to be Hispanic. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Latino Revolution. From the rise of Latino-chic to the spicy secretes of salsa. ...Read more
Celebrate Midsummer's Eve with a visit to the fey folk. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll have an hour filled with stories of changelings and other-kin, Fairy Courts and green children. We'll conjure up a world of enchantment, but beware! There are no Tinkerbells in the world....Read more
So much of our daily lives gets turned into data -- our online shopping purchases, phone calls, family photos. We're all surrounded by data, and learning how to harness it could be more transformative than we realize. This week, a look at the new data specialists using their knowledge of numbers...Read more
Today's entertainment industry is shrinking the gap between real life and fantasy. Popular television shows like Big Brother turn ordinary life into an engaging drama. Virtual worlds like Second Life give users a chance to recreate themselves with the click of a button. But how real is...Read more
From the minute we can pick up a crayon, most of us want to draw something - a house, a tree, the sun. As we get older we aim for nuance and sophistication - landscapes and shadows, faces and expressions. A gifted few will achieve something greater - they’ll make art. On this hour of To the...Read more
The holidays can be challenging. All that togetherness can be like squishing a passel of porcupines into a sardine can. In other words - not nice. On the other hand, there is a bright side. Po Bronson found it in the lives of families across the country. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
A Swedish environmentalist believes we really should give back to the earth, even after we’ve died. Her company is trying to replace cremation with a technologically-enhanced form of organic composting, and she’s already got the support of King Carl Gustav and the Church of Sweden. In this...Read more
They can talk to angels, they're intuitive, and their aura is an unusual vivid blue. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll find out about indigo children. The new age movement says they're here to save the world, but modern medicine says they're normal kids with attention deficit...Read more
The geography of organized religion in America is changing. Today, more and more Americans identify themselves as spiritual, rather than aligning themselves with a particular religion. They're cobbling together faith and spirituality from sources all over the world, picking and choosing the...Read more
When somebody asks Josh Ritter what kind of music he plays, sometimes he ends up lying. After all, Ritter's music is hard to describe - a little bit rock n' roll by way of Bruce Springsteen with a twist of Bob Dylan. Anyway you describe it, Josh Ritter has arrived. We'll get inside the music...Read more
Imagine a scenario where universes bubble up out of black holes. Space itself can boil, and humankind may have to fight for survival by building gigantic atom-smashers the length of several star systems. That future may be closer than you think. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more
Scientists are launching one of the most audacious projects ever conceived: a detailed map of the human brain, neuron by neron, synapse by synapse. For some scientists...Read more