Joe Donahue

We speak with Sam Kean about his book, The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic Code.

Cancer rates — particularly lung cancer rates — are significantly higher in upstate than in New York City, according to an American Cancer Society report released this week. What do you make of the findings?

Mediating Mental Health looks across fictional and factual genres in film, television and radio examining media constructions of mental health identity. It also questions the opinions of journalists, mental healthcare professionals and people with conditions with regard to mediated mental health meanings.

We speak with former federal prosecutor and congressional investigator, Ken Ballen, about his book, Terrorists in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals.

Earlier this summer, The Empire State Youth Orchestra traveled to China and South Korea. By the time the trip was over, the musicians had performed seven times in outstanding concert halls in Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Yeosu. They also played for U.S. service people and their families on the Army Base in Seoul. We spoke with Conductor Helen Cha-Pyo before the tour and she’s back now to with two student musicians to tell us how it went.

We welcome New England recreational fisherman, Matt Rigney, to the show and speak with him about his book, In Pursuit of Giants: One Man's Global Search for the Last of the Great Fish .

Keith Lockhart, Conductor of The Boston Pops, joins us for his annual visit and we discuss how he go to where he is - and why he'll always like it.