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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Most movie stars will do anything to stay in the limelight.  But Debra Winger didn’t care.  Six years ago, she walked out of Hollywood.  She even taped her retirement card above her mirror so she’d see it every day.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, Debra Winger talks about the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Of all the days in the life of Nelson Mandela - the days in jail, awaiting sentence and his election in 94 - one day stood out as the most nerve-wracking. The day of the Rugby World Cup in 1995 - South Africa versus New Zealand. But it was much more than a sports match. It was the chance to...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It's been more than four decades since the Civil Rights movement ended racial segregation in America. Yet few would say African-Americans are now fully integrated – or assimilated. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, African American writers talk about race, and how black history –...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Bible and the Quran are some of our most sacred and revered texts. They're also full of violent passages. Is religion the source of violence and intolerance around the world?  We look at how sacred texts inspire both violence and liberation.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Is there anything science won’t tackle? The latest question neuroscientists are taking on is, “What makes something beautiful?” We're checking in with the scientists, the philosophers and the artists in this hour.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What would a secular society really look like?  We take an unconventional look at religion, the fiction it inspires, and reflect on why William James' classic book on mysticism, "The Varieties of Religious Experience," still matters.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Take a stroll through a natural history museum these days and you’ll not only see dinosaurs, you’ll smell them.  Get a whiff of T-rex’s halitosis, his dinner leftovers, and, well, how should I put this – his droppings, too! In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, museums that tickle your...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What are the great country music singles?  Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” probably.  George Jones’ “slobbing tearjerker,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”  What about the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”? and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay?  According to the book “Heartaches by the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Bohemians used to hate anything that reeked of money.  It destroyed the soul.  Now, many self-styled bohemians are reveling in slate shower stalls, Range Rovers, and lava-rock grills.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the triumphs of the “Bobo” – the Bourgeois...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Suppose there's a pill that would dramatically boost your creativity.  Would you take it?  Psychologist Jim Fadiman says that pill exists.  It's the powerful hallucinogen LSD.  Fadiman describes a remarkable experiment showing how psychedelics enhanced the creativity of senior scientists. Read more

a fence

In this age of globalization, why would anyone want borders, an army, currency?  Isn’t that kind of … old school?   Read more

a brightly lit bible

Buried scrolls, clay tablets, priceless artifacts and expensive forgeries – this week, we bring you stories from the strange and amazing world of biblical archeology.Read more

beautiful food

Chefs and writers explore the language of food on the plate and on the page. We meet novelists who cook, chefs who write, and a poet of pies.  It's an hour of deliciousness in words and food.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Have you ever thought about money? Now, of course you have.  Talking about money permeates our existence.  But what if there wasn’t any money?  What would you do?

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Two people, a house, a pitchfork, and a barn. It's hard to find a better-known American painting than Grant Wood's masterpiece "American Gothic." But just who are those grim people, and why do they have such a hold on the American psyche? Here's the history of an American classic. Also, a...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It turns out that television may not be quite the "boob tube" and "the idiot box" that we thought it was. It seems that watching TV can actually make you smarter... by posing new cognitive challenges for your brain to solve. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll explore the...Read more

David Graeber speaks at Maagdenhuis occupation

David Graeber was an iconoclastic anthropologist and influential radical thinker, one who popularized the rallying cry "We are the 99%." He died on Sept. 2 in Venice, Italy at age 59. Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Everybody needs a little help, and some of us need a lot.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll meet some helpers - and they’re not all human.  We’ll visit a stable where they do equine assisted therapy, and we’ll hear from a writer who’s a volunteer fireman in his small hometown...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

When he was 10-years-old, Brian Raftery realized he couldn't sing. Despite his lack of vocal prowess, Raftery is obsessed with karaoke. He's traveled around the world to trace karaoke's evolution from a cult fad to a multimillion-dollar industry. In this hour, we'll explore the world of karaoke...Read more

art

Magic is an art, a philosophy, and a way of seeing the world.  In this hour, we learn magic tricks from a stage magician, travel to India's last magician's colony, explore shamanic magic, and talk with magical novelists Erin Morgenstern (Night Circus) and Deborah Harkness (...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Nerds are an easy target for humor in movies and on TV... with their thick black glasses, hopelessly out-of-fashion clothes, and over-enunciated diction. But there's a dark side to nerds. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll find out how the nerd stereotype is harming our children...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

How far would you go for something to eat?  Paris?  Mom’s house?  The drive-through at Mickey D’s?  I bet you wouldn’t swim thousands of miles, from Mexico to the Arctic, just to scarf up mud from the bottom of the ocean.  Whales do, and they’ve been doing it every year for eons.  In this hour...Read more

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