Episode Archives

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Democracy is one of those rubbery words. We kind of know what it means. But do we really? It’s voting and elections, but it’s much, much more than that. Democracy has inspired The Velvet Revolution and the Arab Spring.  It encouraged the Suffragists and the Civil Rights Movement. It stirred the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Scientists tell us optimistic people are happier, healthier and even live longer than pessimists.  But it's hard to maintain an optimistic frame of mind in the face of daily reports of war, famine, disease and injustice.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, evidence that the world is...Read more

an ape

Are humans really unique?  Not as much as we think, says renowned primatologist Frans de Waal.  So what do our ape cousins - chimps & bonobos - think and feel?  Also, the remarkable story of a feral child who lived with monkeys.

 

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Japan has a “slow life” movement.  Italy has a “slow cities” movement.  Spain has a network of siesta salons.  And Americans?  10 to 15 million of us now meditate or do yoga.  Is it possible the world is finally ready to slow down?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge a look at the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What's the centerpiece of the American Dream? Is it our belief that you can pull-yourself-up-by-your-boot-straps? Maybe it's our rugged individualism? Or maybe, just maybe, it's the lawn. In this hour of To The Best Of Our Knowledge the obsessive quest for the perfect lawn. Also, a little bunny...Read more

colors and light

We may think it’s pretty clear what is – and isn’t – science, but history is littered with cases where the line wasn’t so obvious.  For instance, Isaac Newton studied alchemy, and Galileo was a practicing astrologer.  This hour explores the edges of science, and we hear about the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Pragmatic.Problem-solving. And non-partisan -- Mayors just might be the next best hope for democracy.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Sometimes, a single word speaks volumes about its era. Sputnik conjures up both the heady excitement of the early Space Race and the whole scary history of the Cold War. In this hour, To the Best of Our Knowledge touches on a few of these cultural touchstones....from Sputnik to Snoopy. We'll...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Future Perfect: Dreamers, Schemers & Visionaries

Part One

 

Imagine a poor child in Uruguay. Now imagine giving that young girl a hundred-dollar laptop computer. Imagine the educational opportunities that this laptop will provide...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Boots on the Ground: Stories from the War in Iraq

Part Three

 

For many soldiers and Marines, war is not fundamentally about the mission. War is not really about the enemy. It's not even about patriotism. War is about the man to the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Wisdom may come with age, but if you want to make scientific history, it pays to be young.  Newton invented calculus before he turned 25.  Einstein published his special theory of relativity when he was only 26.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, does genius slip away with age?  Also...Read more

A protest at Standing Rock

More than 100 Native Americans nations have come to Standing Rock in solidarity to protest for water rights. This hour we ask a deceptively simple question: Who owns water?

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Beowulf" is the oldest story in the English language, but for centuries no one knew it existed. The manuscript was buried in an ancient monastery, written in a language no one understood. Even after it was discovered few scholars read it as serious literature, but that all changed with J.R.R...Read more

light from a lamp

Light has long been a powerful metaphor for holiness and truth, and rightly so. From the stars in the sky to the bulbs in our homes, light touches every facet of human life. This hour, a look at the natural, artificial, and symbolic light that colors our history -- and our future....Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Most of us think in words, but not Temple Grandin.  She thinks in pictures.  Grandin is autistic, and visual thinking is common among people with autism.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Temple Grandin talks about how thinking in pictures has helped her help animals.  Also, mark...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and...a trip to the mall?  Like it or not, a trip to the mall is an American rite of passage.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge a look at the great American pastime - shopping.  From the Mall of America to the latest new strip mall, Americans spend more...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Whatever happened to psychoanalysis?  It used to be the most influential science of the mind, but today its founder, Sigmund Freud, just looks like a sex-obsessed old man.  Analyst Adam Phillips says we got Freud all wrong; he remains a radical thinker if we know how to read him.  This hour...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, choosing the life you want.  Colette’s biographer talks about how the great French writer stayed saucy and sexually active into old age.  Kay Redfield Jamison takes a look at the end of life - a view of the suicide epidemic.  And...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Author, Author

Part Two

 

It's been called divine and it's been called disgusting. it's arguably one of the most important books of all time. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" as we ask the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Dreams can be a pleasant diversion from the daily grind or something with the potential to transform, entertain, and even heal. On this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the power of dreams and the science of sleep.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

From Boston to Berkeley, people are going raw.  Vegetarians, vegans and Atkins followers are old hat – the hottest trend in food is cool.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, why the raw food movement has people turning off their ovens and trumpeting the healing powers of uncooked food...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Most people want to do the right thing.  But what if your survival depended on doing something wrong?  Something deeply repellent.  Something evil.  And what if the police told you to?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the consequences of moral choices, from Nazi Germany to American...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

"Being a man, like being a woman, is something you have to learn." That's what Aaron Raz Link says. And Link should know. He began life as a girl named Sarah. And he started a new life as a gay man twenty-nine years later. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll meet Aaron Raz Link,...Read more

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