Episode Archives

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

There are about 675 species of native birds in North America.  To win the most demanding and prestigious birdwatching competition in the country you have to see ALL of them.  And then some.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, die-hard birders compete in “The Big Year.”  Also, we’ll...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Vivek Maddala knows how to tell a good story. He can put a lump in your throat or make you laugh out loud. His themes are timeless and universal. Maddala composes music for silent films. In this hour of To The Best Of Knowledge, how to construct a narrative. From writing silent film music to...Read more

an old bible

Who doesn’t love a good book? We all know a great novel can change the way we see the world, but what about the way we treat each other? This week, we explore the benefits of reading fiction, and find out if it makes us more moral.

And if you're wondering if movies can make us more...Read more

burning book

What's the hot new thing in fiction? Fire! Today, novelists Jesse Ball and Joe Hill talk about their incendiary new fiction. And we meet a pyromaniac-turned-firefighter who can really light up a page. Join us for an hour of flammable fiction.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Our world is increasingly unthinkable.  It’s a world of tectonic shifts, strange weather and oil-drenched seascapes.  So maybe it makes sense to look to the horror genre to help us think about our unthinkable world. Next time on TO THE BEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE, we’ll explore the...Read more

a scientist

Science is moving out of the lab and into the pages of literary fiction.  This week, we introduce the “Lab Lit” movement and talk about why fiction needs more realistic portrayals of scientists and science cultureRead more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

No matter what quiet corner of America you inhabit, you’ve heard about NASCAR. You may not understand it. You may not get it. But while you weren’t paying attention, those cars, driving in circles for hours, became our national pastime. In this hour of  To The Best Of Our Knowledge, car racing....Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What do Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise and Madonna have in common?  Not much, except the kind of blazing fame that turns relatively normal people into obsessive fans who would walk ten miles through a blizzard just to stand in celebrity garbage.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge...Read more

a man at the end of the world

How many ways can you imagine the end of the world?   To celebrate the end of 2012, we've gathered some of our favorite apocalyptic fiction.  Doomsday scenarios from award-winning novelists and short story writers, featuring  zombie invasions, mutant plagues, fire and...Read more

a man becomes a living cereal bowl

What do the opening notes of Beethoven’s “Symphony Number Five” and a rabbit named Oolong balancing a pancake on his head have in common?  They’re both examples of memes – units of culture that are imitated and, as a result, copied from one brain to another.  Are memes the driving...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

For all the amazing discoveries that scientists have made, the cosmos is still full of mysteries - from dark matter to quantum entanglement. Will physicists ever explain the universe, or is it fundamentally unknowable? We explore the frontiers of physics and ponder what it means to live with...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

President Obama's surrounded by science advisors. So you might figure he doesn't need to know much about physics, but you'd be mistaken. How is a President supposed to assess the risk of a "dirty bomb," or weigh the pros and cons of various energy sources, from solar power to nuclear energy?...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Many of us first met Islam on 9/11 with planes slamming into the World Trade Center – not a very good first impression. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a proper introduction, as we talk with Muslims and Westerners who are redefining our relationship. From a Danish cartoonist with a...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

There are children who seem to be re-born into new families, while remembering specific and verifiable things about their former lives.  It may be coincidence, or imagination, but some of their stories will curl your hair!  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a search for...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Is it any wonder boys don’t read?  Too often they’re assigned the books their female teachers loved.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the man behind the GuysRead website says forget “Little House on the Prairie” and bring on Stinky Cheese Man!  And we’ll hear what happened when the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What does it take to become a U.S. president?  Driving ambition, of course, but what else?  We'll dissect a few presidents - from Lincoln and LBJ to Obama - and consider the chances of a female president in 2016.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

There’s no English translation for the Dutch word “Gezellig."

Are there things that can never be understood, expressed or experienced outside their home culture?

We’re wandering the unmarked maps of cultural translation!Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Once upon a time, not so long ago, the classroom filmstrip was everywhere.  They taught us to change our underwear at least twice a week, among other things.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’ll revisit the golden age of classroom filmstrips.  So sit up straight.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Tragedy struck Ron Mallett when he was ten years old. His beloved father died and he wanted to bring him back. So he dreamed of building a time machine. Ron Mallett grew up to become a theoretical physicist. Now he studies quantum mechanics and he's still trying to figure out how to go back in...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

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

Photographers capture heartache and agony. What does it mean for them? And what does it mean for us, those viewing the photos? Do these images create empathy? Compassion? Or something else?Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Every person on earth is unique and special, but some people – maybe one in a hundred – are autistic. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we get to know a few autistic people with Asperger's Syndrome. We'll hear what it's like to try to live in the world when you have visionary...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

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