It sounds like a deal in the ads - submit your poems, have them set to music, and start a fascinating new career as a hit songwriter. Of course your chance of success is slim to none and you have to pay for the privilege. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the strange subculture of...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
The world’s oceans are emptying at an alarming rate. Fish populations are dwindling and dozens of species are going extinct. Is this something to worry about? Not as long as you like plankton stew. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll meet the controversial scientist who jump-...Read more
Imagine that you grow up with dreams of fame and fortune. You're going to become a world-famous rock star. The only problem is your childhood friend becomes the world's biggest rock star instead. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Neil McCormick shares his story of being upstaged...Read more
Betsy Lerner was a chubby kid. Then an overweight teenager. Then, a compulsive eater with a secret food life. Binging and dieting consumed her life – until the day she tried to kill herself. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the story of Betsy Lerner’s struggle with weight. And,...Read more
From trance music to ecstatic dance, from Burning Man to psychedelic mushrooms, Americans are awash in weird and intense experiences - and maybe even inventing a new kind of religion. Is this just a bunch of New Age thrill-seekers getting off, or is something deeper going on? We explore the...Read more
The idea of creative collaboration is a relatively new one. For centuries, science and culture focused on the self self-expression, self-realization. But two is the magic number. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll explore creative partnerships. Joshua Wolf Shenk talks about...Read more
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
America's gone craft crazy. Everyone's knitting, or keeping scrapbooks; throwing pots or wood-working. And naturally, there are new chains of stores that carry all the supplies these crafters need, or think they do. To the Best of Our Knowledge considers what we mean by the word "craft." Does it...Read more
If you live in Wisconsin, chances are you've heard of the Wisconsin Idea. It's the century-old dream of sharing the best of higher education with the entire state -- bringing the values of the liberal arts, scientific knowledge and search for truth to everyone. It's a cherished tradition,...Read more
How does creative work get done? When the answer finally comes to a question that's dogged you for weeks or years, where is it coming from?
In this special hour, Nathan Englander - acclaimed novelist, short story writer, playwright - is our guest...Read more
New York Times columnist David Brooks is best known for his political writing, but he's also fascinated by recent findings in psychology and neuroscience. In fact he says many of our public policies fail because we're not actually the rational decision makers we think we are. In this hour of...Read more
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.
Nelson Algren said “Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mum’s. And never go to bed with a woman whose troubles are greater than your own.” In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll catch up with Studs Terkel to talk about why an American master like...Read more
Henry David Thoreau died 150 years ago, and he’s still a great American icon. But have you ever wondered exactly why? Thoreau wasn’t exactly the model environmentalist he’s often made out to be. And his account of living at Walden Pond is partly fictionalized; he spent nine years writing and...Read more
“Lets Make Our Own Movie!” That was a wild idea back in the days of young Mickey Rooney, but today, anyone can do it. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, how digital cameras make us all directors, and why movies may never be the same. Also, screenwriter Andrew Davies...Read more
New Orleans is famous for a lot of things...many of them musical. It's the birthplace of jazz, the cradle of rhythm and blues. The home of the brass bands. So it's no wonder that New Orleans is known as "the City that Care Forgot." In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
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
Consider this future world: a vaccine that makes you continually happy. A chip in your brain that lets you communicate telepathically with your spouse. Human lives that span hundreds of years. Sound far-fetched? Not according the James Hughes of the World Trans-humanist Association. He says...Read more
The physics world has a darling - it's called string theory. The idea that the universe is composed of infinitesimal vibrating strings. String theory has been the subject of bestselling books, popular TV series and countless articles. But is it a dead end street? In this hour of on To the...Read more
East Meets West
Part Four
Imagine growing up in Pakistan. Islam is a way of life. You get up every morning at 4:30 to pray. Then when you're 18, you move to the American Midwest, Iowa, to attend college. That's the story Kumail...Read more
We remember the magical moments of chemistry in certain interviews; the brilliant sound design that emerged from particular studio sessions; the stories that took us places and those that changed us.Read more
It's been called all kinds of things: God, Brahman, Nirvana, All, Dao. But renowned religion writer Karen Armstrong says we've often lost sight of what this ultimate reality means, so it's not surprising it can seem so unbelievable. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Karen Armstrong...Read more