Episode Archives

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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Survival.

The oldest living things on the planet and a list of everything you’ll need to know after the apocalypse.

But there’s one thing no one can survive. And that’s death. Or maybe not...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Space, the final frontier. But is science fiction the final frontier when it comes to being a literature of ideas? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll wax philosophical about science fiction with two of the genre's greatest writers -- George R.R. Martin and Ursula K. Le Guin....Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Nicola Griffith wanted to fight back. A lesbian activist well-versed in the martial arts, Griffith knew she had the moves. But when her friend was attacked in a bar, she couldn't bring herself to hurt her attacker. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the deadly, deep-minded lesbian...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a visit with former Israeli commando Uri Avnery, who went on to become an outspoken critic of Israeli policy. He's seen his office bombed. He's been beaten and once barely survived an assassination attempt. Today Avnery is calling for a separate...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

One day, an IRS auditor named Harold Crick wakes up to discover a voice in his head – a female voice narrating his life. That's the premise of the film, "Stranger Than Fiction." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll meet the man who wrote the screenplay. Also, the story of Orson...Read more

spare change

Why do we assume more money is better?  Maybe if we weren't so focused on how much we have, we'd ask a better question:  How much is enough?  We explore the relationship between money and happiness, and alternative forms of currency.  Also, Great Britain's experiment in Gross...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Jewish High Holy Days come to an end every fall on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  This year, we're thinking about atonement and forgiveness.  Whether you're Jewish or non-Jewish, secular or religious, forgiveness is something we all struggle with.  Today we explore the path to...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Good house-keeping used to go hand-in-hand with good citizenship. And remember the phrase, "cleanliness is next to godliness"? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, thoughts on the art of keeping house. We'll talk about the science of dust, meet the Queen of Clutter, and hear novelist...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Eric Liu is on a campaign to restore America's civic joy. To make voting fun again, with late-night dance parties for Miami voters, participatory election street theater in Akron,Ohio; and a giant election scavenger hunt in Philadelphia. He says there's no such thing as not voting: choosing not...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It started as a joke.  Danny Wallace put a small ad in a London newspaper.  It simply said “Join me” and invited people to send a passport-sized photo.  The only problem was, no one knew what they were joining.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of Danny Wallace’s “Join Me”...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Is there such a thing as true, original creativity? Or "Are we just seeing further by standing on the shoulders of giants?", to paraphrase Sir Isaac Newton. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll explore the question of where good ideas come from. Steven Johnson will tell us about...Read more

a climate sticker

Global pandemics, alien invasions, the Second Coming....why do we love imagining the end of the world?  We examine apocalyptic thinking – from vampire movies to the Book of Revelation.Read more

holding hands in hospital

Modern medicine can treat disease at a molecular—or even atomic – level.  And today’s surgeons can fix things the naked eye can’t even see.  But there’s one thing every patient wants that no technology in the world can provide: compassion.  In this hour, doctors talk about the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Future Perfect: Dreamers, Schemers & Visionaries

Part Three

 

Our environment is in trouble. It's not hard to imagine global catastrophe as problems like climate change and overpopulation take their toll. But there's always hope...Read more

woman on a mountain

There's been a hot spotlight shining down on women this past year.  From allegations of a war on women to the debate about reproductive rights, it's hard to tell how far women have come and just where they're going. So, what does feminism look like today? The first woman governor...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

President Obama is out to remake America's relationship with the Islamic world. We'll explore what this means for both the Middle East and the U.S. We'll also look at the ongoing debate over Muslim immigration in Europe, and we'll talk with a Hollywood screenwriter about his new novel on the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It used to be simple to pick out a shade of paint, before computers made almost infinite gradations possible.  Now if you stare at those samples long enough they all start to look alike.  It turns out color is as much a mental construct as a physical substance.  In this hour of To the Best of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

a girl making butterfly wings

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The pint-sized wizard harry Potter has conquered the book world, and it’s not just kids who love him.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, what’s behind Harry Potter’s popularity.  Also, acclaimed author Katherine Paterson (pronounced Patterson) on the emotional lives of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

After 11 years of isolation in New England, Nathan Zuckerman returns to New York City. Now 71, Zuckerman discovers that a lot has changed. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll meet Nathan Zuckerman's creator, the renowned novelist, Philip Roth. And we'll find out how both Roth...Read more

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