The Best of Our Knowledge

Lucas Willard
  • 4.5 (8)
  • SCIENCE
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Throughout the world, new discoveries are being made every day that shape our ways of thinking and redefine our understanding of today’s information-driven society. "The Best of Our Knowledge" highlights those breakthroughs across multiple disciplines and across the globe, putting you in touch with the men and women at the forefront of their fields. Each week, host Lucas Willard examines some of the issues unique to college campuses, looks at the latest in emerging research, and invites commentary from experts and administrators from all levels of education.

  1. 2D AGO

    Smell maps and cleaner ants

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.A new scientific breakthrough is changing the way research think about our sense of smell.And we’ll learn about a particular species of ant that spends its days cleaning ants of a separate species.

    29 min

  2. MAY 18

    Magical musical daydreams

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.On this episode, we’ll the explore the phenomenon of musical daydreams.Our guest is Elizabeth Margulis, Director of the Music Cognition Lab at Princeton University. She writes about the ability of music to bring the listener to another time and place in her book, ‘TRANSPORTED: The Everyday Magic of Musical Daydreams.’

    29 min

  3. MAY 11

    A surprising sponge fossil and dispelling a centuries-old rumor

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.On this episode, we’ll learn how an unusual fossil offered scientists a new glimpse into the evolutionary history of some of Earth’s earliest animals.And we’ll learn how pirate gold helped dispel a centuries-old rumor among seafaring European traders.

    29 min

  4. MAY 8

    Gretchen Sisson on 'Relinquished' and the politics of adoption

    On the latest 51%, we speak with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Sisson studies the relationship between abortion and adoption in the U.S., and is part of a team of researchers for "The Turnaway Study" at the University of California, San Francisco. In Relinquished, Sisson compiles a decade's worth of interviews with women who gave their newborns up for adoption through a private adoption agency. In unpacking how some agencies pressure (and rely on) struggling moms to relinquish their children, Sisson pushes back on the idea that adoption is an ethical alternative to abortion, and questions whether it's really a choice at all.Encore Episode.

    30 min

  5. MAY 4

    The enormous challenges facing small colleges

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.According to a recent analysis, hundreds of private colleges and universities across the United States are at risk of closing in the next 10 years.On this episode, we speak with Jon Marcus, a journalist with the Hechinger Report, who recently reported on the impending closure of Sterling College, a tiny school in rural Vermont.

    29 min

  6. APR 22

    Searching for life and a mimicking spider

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research.On this episode, we’ll learn about scientists testing a new theory of how to look for life on other planets.And a newly-discovered species of spider in the Amazon mimics an infamous zombie fungus.

    29 min

  7. APR 20

    Nurses, tarantulas, and curious chimpanzees

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education, and research. On this episode, we’ll learn what’s keeping more student nurses from graduating in New York.A newly identified species of tarantula is setting a record among large, furry spiders.And humans are not the only ones with an affinity for beautiful crystals.

    29 min

  8. APR 13

    A stealth beetle and a miniature dinosaur

    The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, science, and research.A species of beetle found living in ant colonies has developed a cloaking system to go undetected – but it could represent an evolutionary dead end.And scientists believe the fossilized skeleton of a two-pound dinosaur found in Argentina may offer new clues into dinosaur evolution.

    29 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Throughout the world, new discoveries are being made every day that shape our ways of thinking and redefine our understanding of today’s information-driven society. "The Best of Our Knowledge" highlights those breakthroughs across multiple disciplines and across the globe, putting you in touch with the men and women at the forefront of their fields. Each week, host Lucas Willard examines some of the issues unique to college campuses, looks at the latest in emerging research, and invites commentary from experts and administrators from all levels of education.

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