The atom bomb's ability to kill people makes it a literal dangerous idea. But there are other kinds of dangerous ideas -- ideas that are contrary, counterintutive and just plain unconventional. It's that kind of dangerous idea that we explore in this hour.Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
One of the biggest challenges a journalist can face is reporting a story when your connection to your source is compromised. They won't talk, or they can't talk, or it's your own father. Can anyone ever uncover the truth, the whole truth, about another person?Read more
Ronald Reagan had it. Jonathan Swift, Iris Murdoch, and, most likely, Ralph Waldo Emerson had it too. Alzheimer’s disease is on the rise, and scientists predict that up to one hundred million people will develop it in the next fifty years. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the...Read more
Your name is a collection of sounds and syllables that identify you. It's your tag, handle, label, second skin. It's written on your birth certificate and it'll be inscribed on your grave. But what does it actually mean? Names carry family dreams, expectations and legacies....Read more
Maybe you can sing like Jennifer Lopez or Ricky Martin. If not, looking like them is the next best thing. Right now, it’s never been cooler to be Hispanic. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the Latino Revolution. From the rise of Latino-chic to the spicy secretes of salsa. ...Read more
So much of our daily lives gets turned into data -- our online shopping purchases, phone calls, family photos. We're all surrounded by data, and learning how to harness it could be more transformative than we realize. This week, a look at the new data specialists using their knowledge of numbers...Read more
Future Perfect: Dreamers, Schemers & Visionaries
Part Four
The happiness industry is booming. And with good reason - everyone wants to be happy. Today, science can light the way. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more
The holidays can be challenging. All that togetherness can be like squishing a passel of porcupines into a sardine can. In other words - not nice. On the other hand, there is a bright side. Po Bronson found it in the lives of families across the country. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Science and the Search for Meaning: Five Questions, Part Two: What Does Evolution Want?
If there’s one strand of evolutionary theory that sticks in the craw of nearly every religious believer, it’s the idea that human beings are just an evolutionary accident. But...Read more
Atheists are finally coming out of the closet, and in some cases denouncing religion. Others still crave a sense of the sacred even though they don’t believe in God. Do atheists have something to learn from religion? Why do so many people call themselves "spiritual but not religious"? And...Read more
Have you ever heard of an “Uncreative Writing” course? In this class, students are penalized for showing any kind of originality. Instead, they’re rewarded for plagiarism, plundering and stealing. We’ll meet the man behind “Uncreative Writing” – poet Kenneth Goldsmith. Also,...Read more
Nature, red in tooth and claw. That line from Tennyson's poem still strikes a chord when we contemplate the natural world. Today, there's a divide in how we view nature. On the one hand, we swing through it like a playground, on the other, we're forced to step back to allow for nature's power in...Read more
Walk into the children's section of any bookstore and the magic wands and secret portals almost materialize in front of you. Wizards, witches, demons, time travel, dragons, orphans, orphaned dragons – doesn't anyone know how to write a non-magical book anymore?! In this hour of To the Best of...Read more
“The bearded lady/tried a jar/she’s now/a famous movie star/Burma-shave.” Jingles like that could be found on signs across America’s highways between the 1930's and the 1950's. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story behind the legendary Burman-Shave advertising campaign. Also...Read more
Winston Churchill once said “In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.” In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, journalist Jake Tapper discusses the ethics of telling lies during wartime. We’ll also take a concise look at the...Read more
David Rothenburg is a philosopher and a jazz clarinetist, who also loves birds. So one day he sat down in the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and started playing music. Lo and behold, a white-crested laughing thrush started singing with him, riffing on the tunes he played. Since then Rothenburg...Read more
It seems everyone has something to say about motherhood. A lot of people have advice. Others just have... issues. In this hour of To The Best of Our Knowledge -- the tricky topic of motherhood. Linda Gray Sexton remembers her mother, the troubled poet Anne...Read more
There's still debate about climate change, but one thing's for sure – these days nothing's sure about the weather. Northerners can golf in December, spring shows up early, and mosquitoes are movin' on up. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, wacky weather and what you can do to help....Read more
Poet Nick Lantz has a darkly satirical take on American culture. Lately, he’s been thinking about political spin and how politicians speak. In this interview—the third in our series ...Read more
Scientists are launching one of the most audacious projects ever conceived: a detailed map of the human brain, neuron by neron, synapse by synapse. For some scientists...Read more
Plugged into devices, fixated on screens, their world muted by headphones jammed in their ears, college students on campus in Ann Arbor can seem oblivious to risk. Poet Laura Kasischke marvels at their fearlessness in...Read more
Was Henry David Thoreau a failure? Hardly. Today, he's considered one of America's great writers. But his mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson, called him the worst kind of failure: a dreamer. At Thoreau's funeral, Emerson said Thoreau was born for greatness, but he lacked ambition. He was nor more than...Read more
If you find Shakespeare a bit intimidating, you might want to check out the Reduced Shakespeare Company. Its actors do a version of “Hamlet” forward and backwards – all in two minutes. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, Shakespeare as you’ve never heard him before. Also, the great...Read more