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To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Fear and Loathing in Mosquito-Land

We hate mosquitoes.

But why?  I mean, yes --- West Nile, dengue, malaria, Zika…not to mention ruined picnics, sleepless nights, and bites you scratch until they bleed … Those are logical reasons to dislike mosquitoes.  But admit it – they also just creep you out.

Jeffrey Lockwood gets at the psychology in his book “The Infested Mind.” He’s an entomologist who once had a truly horrific encounter with a swarm of grasshoppers.   He was left traumatized. Afterwards he wondered why we all fear and loathe insects so much.

Lockwood told Rehman Tungekar the answer is deep deep in our psyches.

 

To The Best Of Our Knowledge

Aubrey Ralph - a look at being transgender

There are lots of ways we identify ourselves – where we come from, our race, our religion… but perhaps nothing shapes our identity more than whether we’re a man or a woman. But even that can get really complicated.  Independent producer Aubrey Ralph explains.

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Charles McNair on Literary Criticism

As the Books Editor of Paste Magazine, Charles McNair cares deeply about what we read.  But McNair is concerned that we're only reading a handful of the artists available to us, thanks to what he calls a kind of geographic hegemony of taste-making.  In other words - we're all reading the same books because a handful of respected critics on the East and West coasts tell us to.  

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Conscious Dying - Extended Interview

In this extended interview, Buddhist chaplain Steve Spiro talks about meditations on mortality, about setting the scene at a deathbed, and shares more stories of conscious dying and living.

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Ben Folds on A Cappella

Ben Folds is fascinated with the human voice, especially in the genre of A Cappella music.

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Christian Lander on "Stuff White People Like"

Christian Lander sees himself as an expert on "Stuff White People Like".

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Doris Kearns Goodwin on Abraham Lincoln

Doris Kearns Goodwin talks with Jim Fleming about the political genius of the man she considers America's greatest President.

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Clifford Pickover on Magic Squares

Physicist Clifford Pickover talks with Steve Paulson about Magic Squares and why people get hooked on them.

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