Episode Archives

Filter episodes by the year they originally aired.
To The Best Of Our Knowledge

A Swedish environmentalist believes we really should give back to the earth, even after we’ve died.  Her company is trying to replace cremation with a technologically-enhanced form of organic composting, and she’s already got the support of King Carl Gustav and the Church of Sweden.  In this...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

To Daniel Libeskind, buildings are much more than concrete boxes.  They’re expressions of hope, joy, freedom, and memory.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, architect Daniel Libeskind talks about his master design for the World Trade Center site.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Tariq Ramadan has been called the Muslim Martin Luther King, and he's often described as Europe's most important Muslim intellectual.  Hundreds of young Muslims turn up at his talks, and tapes of his lectures are widely circulated.  He travels throughout the Islamic world, trying to build...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Cross-dressing terrorist angels.  LA Gangbangers covered in Virgin Mary tattoos to protect them from bullets.  Prophets in g-strings and pasties.  Next time on To the Best of Our Knowledge we’re going to look for god in some unlikely places - in the middle of a math equation, and in the lyrics...Read more

An independent woman.

For the first time in American history, young women are choosing independence over marriage.  Single women today outnumber married women and have more political power than ever before.  It's what Susan B. Anthony, Margaret Sanger and other feminist icons predicted.  This hour, how...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Next time you catch an old episode of the Flying Nun, you may want to pay attention.  Because today’s convents are closing.  The average nun is seventy years old, and even devout sisters often have to bite their tongues when they talk about the pope.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Sometimes all you really want to take to bed is a good book.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, meet some passionate readers.  We’ll also try to find out if big time critics really hate books.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

farm fields

The Back to the Land spirit of the 60s lives on today, in the proliferation of farmer's markets, and the increased interest in sustainability and growing our own food.  From the fight to end food waste in America to the art of living small, we'll find out what the Back to the Land spirit...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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 everyday, but few of us know the effects it has on the world’s economy, or even...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you ever have the strange feeling that you've heard this promo before? Well, in this case, it's only fitting because we're going to explore deja vu on the next edition of To the Best of Our Knowledge. We'll try to find out what causes us to think we've already experienced the exact same...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

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

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What would a secular society really look like?  We take an unconventional look at religion, the fiction it inspires, and reflect on why William James' classic book on mysticism, "The Varieties of Religious Experience," still matters.Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

What are the great country music singles?  Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” probably.  George Jones’ “slobbing tearjerker,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”  What about the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women”? and Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay?  According to the book “Heartaches by the...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Cameron Sinclair has something to say to architects out there: design like you give a damn. The founder of Architects for Humanity says the houses and office buildings we build today will literally shape the world our children inherit. So give a damn. In this hour of To the Best of Our...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Eighty per cent of Americans say they believe in heaven. But when they're asked to describe it, many are at a loss for words. Do they think that there's another universe in the sky or do they believe that heaven is something more abstract and metaphorical? We'll explore our enduring fascination...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

The Capitol Hilton.  The Eve of then-President Clinton’s Alfalfa Club Speech, one of four humorous speeches of the so-called Washington “silly season.”  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the story of a White House joke-writer, a contentious egg-timer, and the night Bill Clinton...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Do you have a tattoo?  One in five American adults do.  It seems there are tattoo parlors everywhere.  What’s most popular?  Quotes from great works of literature. "So it goes."Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

It sounds like a deal in the ads - submit your poems, have them set to music, and start a fascinating new career as a hit songwriter.  Of course your chance of success is slim to none and you have to pay for the privilege.  In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the strange subculture of...Read more

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

After World War Two, existentialism was all the rage in the U.S.A.  College students rebelled by smoking European cigarettes and wearing black clothes and berets.  Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus felt that Americans were too self-confident and superficial to accept this dark, brooding...Read more

Pages