Seven hundred million people get their music from the Internet. More than 10 million people own iPods. Does this mean that compact discs and record companies are going the way of the gramophone and eight-track tapes? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll look at this digital...Read more
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
Episode Archives
In India he’s known as the giggling guru. In America Dr. Maden Kataria is famous in certain circles as the man who founded Laughter Yoga. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge the man who’s changing the world with chuckles, chortles and belly laughs. And, why more and more people...Read more
Imagine living your whole life in excruciating pain, 24/7, and actually choosing to go without any pain medication. Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge, one man’s permanent pain. And is a teenager slashing her arms with a razor a cry for help or an ancient ritual of sacred pain? Also,...Read more
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
It's called the Turing Test, an annual event in which the most advanced computer programs try to fool a panel of judges into mistaking them for real people. And real people compete to try to win the coveted "Most Human Human Award." In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, we'll meet...Read more
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
Contemporary nomads are primitive, tribal people who chase the seasons to fresh water and greener pastures. They’re not middle aged American women who’ve published scores of children’s books, or not usually. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we’ll meet Rita Golden Gelman,...Read more
Getting through winter requires mental and physical toughness, plus good central heating. But animals have amazing strategies for surviving conditions that make humans whimper. Today, winter survival strategies from our furred and feathered friends. What could we learn from a walrus who...Read more
From Soup to Nuts:
Part Two
This may be the century when Americans forget how to cook. We're just too busy. Take-out's too easy. And, who needs to cook when you can buy ready-made...Read more
Have you ever thought about disappearing... wiping out your old identity and starting fresh, with a new name, a new life, a new self? In this hour we try to find out how to disappear completely. You too can vanish without a trace! Read more
Once upon a time people believed the world was populated with terrible monsters and fabulous mythical beasts. They thought if they just searched long enough and hard enough, they'd find them. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the mythical beasts of folktale and legend and the modern...Read more
The public sees a politician one way. A political cartoonist sees something else entirely. What makes a good political cartoon? We’ll get some answers from Steve Brodner, one of the most savage illustrators at work in the United States. It’s The New Toons in this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more
Plato argued that poets would be banished from the ideal republic. He said poets are only good for promoting petty emotions, such as anger and lust and love. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, poetry. We'll talk with four-time Slam Poet champion Patricia Smith about how powerful words...Read more
It’s up for debate whether or not the business of America is business. But like it or not, corporate culture touches us all. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the quirky online marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers from all over the world. But is e-bay really the...Read more
How's your basic knowledge of religion? Can you name the Ten Commandments? The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism? What happens during Ramadan? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll hear an argument for why every American should know the basics of the world's religions. Also, Muslim hip...Read more
Atheists have been called the most hated minority in America, but recent atheist manifestos by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris have all made the bestseller list. Have these atheists changed our thinking about religion? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the New...Read more
American companies generate a lot of wealth. But Americans aren't seeing much of it. Media theorist Douglas Rushkoff says that's because today's corporations are obsessed with one thing -- growth. We'll find out why our economy's operating system is broken and how we can fix it, as we rethink...Read more
It’s the longest-running prime-time animated series in TV history...with sixteen seasons and more than 350 episodes. So far. Not bad for a four-fingered family whose first gig was doing animated segments on a TV variety show. In this hour of the Peabody Award Winning Program To the Best of Our...Read more
Imagine the world as we know it, only without us. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a writer imagines a world reinventing itself without human beings. He sees the New York subway system returning to its watery origins. The re-absorption of carbon into the earth, and endangered...Read more
Charles Monroe-Kane grew up hearing voices in his head. For years he tried to drown them out with potentially lethal quantities of hard drugs and alcohol. Lithium saved his life but coming clean about his past hasn't been easy. How do you admit, as a public radio producer, that for years you had...Read more
Who would have guessed that number two on the Best Seller List this summer would be an intellectual thriller starring four brainy Princeton seniors and a 15th century manuscript written in code? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, meet the authors of “The Rule of Four.” Lost and...Read more
A few years ago, the notion of the "quantified self" was the domain of a relatively small group of hackers, engineers, and computer enthusiasts. Now, under its many names—lifelogging, self-tracking, fitness monitoring—it's become one of the fastest growing segments of the technology...Read more
Chaotic headlines out of Washington, ice melting in Antarctica, world temps rising and global conflict on the rise… it could be worse. It could be Ragnarok. Writer Neil Gaiman retells the ancient Norse myth of the Twilight of the Gods and apocalyptic end of the world in his stunning new...Read more