What’s the biggest threat to American supremacy? Islamic fundamentalism? China? How about Europe? Today Europe has more people, more trade, and more wealth than the U.S. And the European welfare state offers a potent alternative to American capitalism - and what government’s supposed to do...Read more
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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
How much time do you spend thinking about the future? Oh sure, you’ve probably got plans for the weekend, maybe you’re looking for a new job or thinking about how your kids are doing in school.
But how much time to do we spend – as a nation, a global community – thinking about...Read more
What do Hip-Hop and traditional Delta Blues have in common? Down in the bijous and hollers of Mississippi - a lot more than you think. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new revolution in Roots Music. Also, the debate over what’s authentic country music. And, we’ll talk to Nora ...Read more
Nearly 2500 years ago, Socrates celebrated the pursuit of wisdom, and famously said “the unexamined life is not worth living.” But does rigorous self examination actually lead to a happy or fulfilled life? It didn’t seem to work some of history’s most famous philosophers, including...Read more
Maybe it hits you the first time you get a mailing from AARP – all of a sudden, getting older isn't just about other people. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we spend time with some people who've chosen to face the rest of their lives in some unusual ways. Poker columnist James...Read more
Every year billions of classified dollars are funneled into what defense analysts call “the black world.” It’s a realm that uses code names like “Black Light,” “Classic Wizard,” and “Link Plumeria” - a place where even an idea can be top secret. Stealth bombers came from the black world, and...Read more
Remember the movie “Field of Dreams,” about Shoeless Joe Jackson with Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones? Well, the Field of Dreams is a real place, not a Hollywood studio lot. It’s a cornfield in Dyersville, Iowa and it’s become something of a religious site for many baseball fans. In this...Read more
20 years ago a group of musicians gathered in Trinity Church in Toronto and did something extraordinary. In one night, using only one microphone and with no budget, they recorded a masterpiece. The band is the Cowboy Junkies. And the album, "The Trinity Session." The Cowboy Junkies look back on...Read more
We all have our good days and our bad days, but chances are they’re nothing like what Andy Behrman has experienced. Behrman would fly from Zurich to the Bahamas and back in three days to balance hot and cold weather. On the bad days, he’d experience tornado-like rages of depression. In this...Read more
Fashion photographer David Jay recently sent us a book of his photos. The lighting was perfect, the settings intimate. The women, nearly naked, were gorgeous. Taking in the beautiful images, something stood out – the mastectomy scars.Read more
Popular myths, urban legends and just plain lies. Why do we persist in believing things that just aren't true?Read more
Hear that? It's the soothing sound of silence. We'll have much more, including "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking"; one man's quest for absolute silence; and John Cage's 4'33."
And if you are looking to contribute your neighbor story,...Read more
Back in 1933 novelist James Hilton wrote of an earthly paradise hidden in the Himalayas. He called it Shangri-La. But Hilton didn't invent the idea. Myths about Shangri-La go back centuries, and they pop up in a variety of places from Tibet to Kashmir. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Imagine a country where Islam is the dominant religion but Christians, Jews and Muslims still live together peacefully – a place where philosophers from all three religions talk and debate openly. Well, there was once such a culture in the Middle Ages. For centuries, Al Andalus was the beacon of...Read more
Guns are a part of our national mythology. Just consider the Western, Annie Oakley, Daniel Boone -- it's hard to deny the role guns had in shaping America.
But what if all those stories were exaggerated at best? What if the gun myth was created in the 19th ...Read more
As a boy in northwest Ohio during the 1930's, Donald Richie spent a lot of time watching movies about exciting new worlds. So it seems only fitting that Donald Richie went on to live in a different world. For the past 50 years he’s lived in Japan, and has established a reputation as one the of...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
Do you ever think about the way you think? Lately, we've been doing a lot of thinking about what we think about when we think about thinking. Join us as we explore the life of the mind.Read more
Boots on the Ground: Stories from the War in Iraq
Part Five
At least 120 journalists have been killed in Iraq since the war began. They're targets for insurgents. But what are journalists to the US military? A necessary evil? Or...Read more
“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments...” “Because I could not stop for death…”
First lines. Classic poems. But poetry’s no anachronism. It’s pulsing and swelling and beating new rhythms.
From online verse to the new US Poet Laureate, from poetry...Read more
We’ve all heard we live in “the information age,” but what does this mean? We’ll give you a short history of information – from talking drums onward. But do we now have too much information? We’ll hear how information overload is actually re-wiring our brains. Also, the new theory in physics...Read more
The Paleo Diet. Running barefoot. Look around, the modern caveman is among us.Read more
"Every time a bell rings, an Angel gets its wings." At this time of year you're likely to hear that line over and over again, as Jimmy Stewart plows through "It's a Wonderful Life." But he's not the only one who's seen an angel - in or out of the movies. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more