Bob Barrett

Do you constantly split infinitives, start sentences with “and or “but” and end sentences with a preposition?  Have no fear, you’ve done nothing wrong.  It seems many of the grammar rules that we’ve been following over the years are completely bogus. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk to an English professor about the seven bogus grammar errors that you don’t need to worry about...and a lot more about the state of writing in general.

Plus we’ll spend an academic minute finding out what goes on in our brains to create language in the first place.

In 1977, the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released with the tag line: “we are not alone”.  You know what, we really aren’t.  And it has nothing to do with aliens.  There are thousands of tiny organisms living in our bodies right now and we couldn’t live without them.  On today’s Health Show we’ll take a look at the Human Micro Biome.

If you turn on a light, send a text message or watch TV with any device made in the last few years, you’s using LED technology.  Advances in LEDs are happening rapidly...and some of those breakthroughs are coming from unexpected corners. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll meet a college student who invented a new type of LED...and won a prestigious competition along the way.

We’ll also hear how schools need to be turning out more lab technicians than they are now...and spend a academic minute talking about lizard’s tails.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t think the name “Superstorm Sandy” would stick.  But it has...and as the areas that were affected by Sandy continue to rebuild there is another consequence of the storm literally growing under people’s noses.  Mold.  On today’s Health Show we’ll talk with an expert in environmental medicine about what is being called Sandy’ second wave.

Earlier this year we told you about a law passed in the state of Massachusetts that gives the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education authority over any virtual schools that begin operating in the state.  At the time, there was only one such school...and that’s about to change.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear why a virtual school is literally closing.

Over the years there have been two words that have summed up the most effective weapon in the fight against cancer...all cancer: early detection.  Now researchers are trying hard to make early detection quicker, easier...and earlier.  

On today’s Health Show we’ll hear about advances in the early detection of cancer...and hear from a clinical researcher about the feasibility of finding warning signs for cancer in blood.  We’ll also focus on one of those tests that is generating a lot of controversy: the PSA test for prostate cancer.

Talking about race in America is still an uncomfortable conversation.  But a professor in Boston found that teaching a class on the topic was a great way to bring the conversation to a racially diverse collection of high school students. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about that class and about the new book “High Schools, Race, and America’s Future What Students Can Teach Us About Morality, Diversity, and Community".

Once a woman is diagnosed, treated and cured of breast cancer...her journey is far from over.  In fact, it’s more than likely just beginning.  On today’s Health Show, a lively conversation with a breast cancer survivor about her book “The Adventures of a One-Breasted Woman”.

We’ll also hear from an artist who survived breast cancer...and wanted to do more to help than just wear a pink ribbon.  You’ll be surprised when you hear just what she IS wearing.

While you were vacationing last summer, there were groups of middle school students around the country on a quest in the search for the origins of life.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our Astrobiology Series returns with the students of the Exxon/Mobile, Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp, and learn about their quest to find life on one of the moons of Saturn.

Plus we spend an academic minute exploring the link between the winds and the waters.

Do you have high blood pressure? Are you sure? Most people with high blood pressure have no signs or symptoms, even if their blood pressure readings get dangerously high. On today's Health Show we'll talk about Hypertension and how to avoid it...or live with it.

We’ll also hear from the N-I-H about a new method of screening for coronary artery disease using M-R-I technology.  And we’ll hear a compelling story of how cops and other first responders in Chicago are changing the lives of mentally ill kids.