The Best of Our Knowledge on WAMC

This computer ‘question answering system” took the country by storm when it won on a popular game show.  What is Watson?  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear how clinical laboratories are converting this computer technology into Dr. Watson.

We’ll also hear how students with Autism are being given help to make their way independently through life.  Find out about the importance of music education in school...and spend an Academic Minute learning how a musician’s wife paved the way for his lasting musical legacy.

Survival of the fittest.  British philosopher Herbert Spencer coined that phrase back in the 18 hundreds and its been used as an interchangeable description of Darwin’s term “natural selection”.  But there are new theories that say life flourished on earth by cooperating...not competing. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our Origins of Life series takes a look at survival of the most cooperative.

Today, we’re going to talk about civics.  Now wait, before you get ready for a snooze or worse, change the station...hear me out.  There’s a new book out that says the only way to bridge the education gap between the rich and inner city schools is to realize that there is also a gap in those student’s life experiences.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, why schools should say No Citizen Left Behind.

We’ll also find out why a group known for farm life and education is building robots...and spend an academic minute helping older drivers.

I think it goes without saying that on this program, we value knowledge.  The fact that we put that word in the title of the show is probably a dead giveaway.  But today we are going to hear from a Columbia University professor who thinks that ignorance hasn’t been given its due.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, is ignorance the driving force behind science?

We’ll also head to Minnesota and meet a high school chess champion...and we’ll spend an Academic Minute learning how cooperation is just how us humans roll.

You can’t see them...but they’re there.  Billions of microscopic life forms just waiting for their chance to grab hold of something and start to grow.  And that includes you.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our astrobiology series gets small with a look at the tiniest life on the planet...and how it fares while off the planet.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute dealing with the issues caused by space travel.

Death and English class often go together...and yes, you’re welcome to insert any joke about your English test scores right here.  The fact is when studying English, you encounter death from the first time you pick up Shakespear.  But how often are students encouraged to write about their own experiences with death. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear from the author of Death Education In The Writing Classroom.

We’ll also spend an Academic Minute exploring death and a host of other events that can cause grief.

Making sure a child is getting the best education possible has its challenges...not the least of which is struggling to get through to a child with a history of disruptive behavior.  Finding a way to crack this code of disruptive behavior could make a huge difference.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll talk about The Behavior Code.

We’ll also find out about a new effort to grade the nation’s school’s of education. And we’ll spend an Academic Minute with some nice, round numbers.

OK, try to wrap your head around this little chain for a minute.  As the population ages, our doctors are ordering more and more labs tests to screen for disease.  So we need more and more labs and lab technicians to perform and read these teats.  But there’s another population that getting older - lab technicians.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear about the coming shortage of laboratorians and what’s being done to train technicians to take their place.

There’s a place in northern New York...a girl scout camp in the woods...where, for years, girls have gone to learn about nature and the outdoors...and about the value of loyalty and friendship.  That camp ran into financial problems and had to close, but now a group of the camp's supporters have given it new life. Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, the story of Camp Little Notch.

We'll also cross the ocean and visit a European kindergarten in the woods...and we'll spend an Academic Minute finding out why western forests in the US are feeling the heat.

A lot of people like to relax on a warm day, puttering around alone in their garden.  However...you might not be as alone as you think.  Today on The Best Of Our Knowledge, our Astrobiology series goes into Microbiology mode to explore the origins of the unseen life around us.

And we'll spend an Academic Minute learning about the complex chemistry that goes into making a gourmet dinner.