Who was Charles Darwin before he wrote the landmark “On the Origin of Species?” We’ll find out this hour with Keith Thomson, professor emeritus of natural history at the University of Oxford and author of “The Young Charles Darwin” (Yale, 2009).
What does a century sound like? This hour we’ll discuss and listen to the sounds of the last century with MacArthur Fellow Alex Ross. His highly acclaimed book, now in paperback, is “The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century” (Picador, 2007).
Why does some literature seem better when read aloud? That’s the question that Selected Shorts has been answering for almost twenty years on the stage and nationwide on public radio. We’ll spend this hour with Isaiah Sheffer, a founder and artistic director of Symphony Space in New York City, and director of Selected Shorts. Sheffer […]
The July, 1999 drug busts in Tulia Texas were initially hailed as great progress in the War on Drugs, but quickly became emblematic of the serious racial divides in Tulia and elsewhere. PBS’s Independent Lens takes a look back with “Tulia Texas” on Tuesday, February 10th. We’ll talk this evening with Judge Ron Chapman, Retired […]
How big a problem is aggression among children? How can parents and educators deal with the issue? We’ll spend this hour with Dr. Marion Underwood, UTD Professor of Developmental Psychology. Underwood is also the author of the 2003 book “Social Aggression Among Girls” (The Guilford Press).
What does the future hold for the thousands of veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan? According to journalist Aaron Glantz, it doesn’t look good. Glantz will join us this hour to discuss his new book “The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against America’s Veterans” (University of California Press, 2009).
With all its idiosyncrasies, some might argue it’s a wonder that the English language actually exists as a working language. But how did the language develop? We’ll spend this hour with bestselling author, linguist, and Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow, John McWhorter. His new book is “Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English” (Gotham, […]
Is there empirical evidence for Extra Sensory Perception? We’ll spend this hour with Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell, a Johns Hopkins-trained neuroscientist and author of the new book “The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena” (Walker and Company, 2009).
Is genetic testing and pre-assessment of risk an effective weapon in the current fight against breast cancer? We’ll explore advances in risk assessment, prevention, diagnosis and treatment this hour with Dr. David Euhus, professor of surgical oncology and Linda Robinson, head genetic counselor at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
What role did Texas play in the history of the U.S. oil business? Bryan Burrough chronicles the lives of the Texas oil industry’s biggest figures in his new book “The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes” (The Penguin Press, 2009). Burrough will be our guest this hour.
