Episode Archives

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a cup filled with change

Nearly 20 million households in America are one paycheck away from losing their homes. For many of these families, keeping a roof over their head means having to choose between the rent or dinner that evening. This hour, we explore how housing insecurity drives poverty in America.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The differences among the world’s various religions are getting a lot more ink these days than the similarities.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge stories of common ground.  “The Life of Pi,” in which an Indian boy finds magic in three different faiths with the help of a Bengal Tiger...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A restaurant wasn't always a place to eat.  It used to be a thing to eat - a cup of medicinal broth to restore your health.  These days Americans eat almost half their meals out, so how did the modern restaurant evolve?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the rise of the restaurant. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Every day you pick up the paper and there's another report about something you either should be eating or shouldn't. Omega 3-fatty acids, soy milk, broccoli - good. Trans fats, soda, fast food - bad. What if instead we just ate what made us happy? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge,...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Twenty-seven years after it originally aired,Twin Peaks returns for a third season on Showtime on Sunday, May 21st. “Twin Peaks” is considered one of the greatest TV dramas ever made.  It has a huge cult following. Mark Frost created the show, along with film director David Lynch....Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Democracy is one of those rubbery words. We kind of know what it means. But do we really? It’s voting and elections, but it’s much, much more than that. Democracy has inspired The Velvet Revolution and the Arab Spring.  It encouraged the Suffragists and the Civil Rights Movement. It stirred the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Everything you know about running is wrong. At least, that's the view right now according to some of the latest science in fitness and exercise. Think running is bad for your knees, that prescriptive running shoes tailored to your feet help avoid injury? That stretching is good for you before...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Japan has a “slow life” movement.  Italy has a “slow cities” movement.  Spain has a network of siesta salons.  And Americans?  10 to 15 million of us now meditate or do yoga.  Is it possible the world is finally ready to slow down?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge a look at the...Read more

colors and light

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Sometimes, a single word speaks volumes about its era. Sputnik conjures up both the heady excitement of the early Space Race and the whole scary history of the Cold War. In this hour, To the Best of Our Knowledge touches on a few of these cultural touchstones....from Sputnik to Snoopy. We'll...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

When and how did the universe begin? Why is there something rather than nothing? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll tackle the big questions about the universe. From Stephen Hawking's latest ideas about parallel universes and theories of everything to the quantum physics of...Read more

shapes

Sometimes it's better to forget than to remember. Maybe it's an embarrassing photo on Facebook. Or perhaps a collective memory that's been used by certain ethnic groups to stir up hatred of their enemies. We explore the science, history and philosophy of memory. Plus, filmmaker Whit Stillman on...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What's the best piece of reporting you read or saw or heard this year?  Today, we share stories that made us see the world in a new way.  National Book Award winner Katherine Boo reports from the slums of Mumbai. Photojournalist Brendan Bannon documents the tenacity and vitality of Africa. ...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Big box education is on the way out. Instead, imagine a future with schools of every variety available for mixing and matching, like sushi on a platter. Micro-schools, Waldorf Schools, part-time schools and more. That's the future as seen by Matt Hern, an advocate for what he calls de-...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

From Soup to Nuts

Part Five

Whether black from a bottomless cup or as a Frappuccino mocha skim latte, it's our culture's elixir: coffee.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Java, Joe or a cup of mud . . . Most of us drink it...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Meaning of Life

Part Three

 

In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we consider the good stuff. Love. Poetry. Pleasure. Chocolate. Art. Beauty. New York Times Art Critic Michael Kimmelman says the beauty of beauty is that...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What do you think of when you hear the word "ventriloquism"?  A showman with a wisecracking wooden boy on his lap?  There's more to ventriloquism than verbal jousting between a man and his dummy.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll explore the cultural history of ventriloquism...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Listen to the experts and they’ll tell you the suburbs are boring, stifling places to live, full of bad architecture.  Well, more than half of all Americans now live in suburbia.  Can so many people be wrong?  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a defense of suburbs.  Also, playwright...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

In February and March of 1974, the legendary science-fiction author, Philip K. Dick, had a series of religious and visionary experiences.  He spent the remaining eight years of his life writing thousands of pages of notes to try to come to terms with the meaning of these strange events.  In this...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

All the world's a stage! The Play's the thing. Fair is foul and foul is fair. Hardly a day goes by when the words that flowed so easily from Will Shakespeare's pen don't meet and greet us in the modern world. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, sweet William makes his way to the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

When the Soviet Union fell, China was poised to take over as America’s next great enemy.  The 9/11 happened and there was a new enemy.  So, what about China?  Next time, we’ll take a closer look at China today and what the future holds for US/China relations.  Also, a talk with Nobel prize-...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Peggy Orenstein didn't want children. At least she didn't think so. Children killed careers and turned smart, professional women into drones. Well, that's what Orenstein was afraid of, anyway. But after a death in the family, she changed her mind. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, to...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Dan Janzen is one of the world’s leading tropical biologists.  He’s spent forty years working in the Cost Rican jungle, and there’s one creature that fascinates him above all others - the moth.  Janzen has found nine-thousand different species of moth in Cost Rica.  In this hour of To the Best...Read more

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