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Science
 
 
Monday, March 1, 2010 at 10:00 am

A massive earthquake strikes Chile. We’ll ask seismologists what’s going on, and look at Chile’s response.

Comments [13]
 
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:00 am

Much of the country has seen a strange winter. We’ll ask how weather patterns relate to climate change.

Comments [104]
 
Monday, February 8, 2010 at 11:00 am

Prozac versus placebo. New studies say that for many people antidepressants may not work much better than sugar pills. We’ll hear the debate.

Comments [110]
 
Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 10:00 am

Patenting human genes. We’ll hear the debate around a legal challenge to the idea of human genes as intellectual property.

Comments [47]
 
Friday, January 8, 2010 at 11:00 am

Big science thinker John Brockman asked scientists around the world one question: what breakthrough will change everything? We’ve got their answers.

Comments [32]
 
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 11:00 am

Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who profoundly challenged the understanding of human cultures, has died at the age of 100. We’ll look back at his work and its meaning.

Comments [20]
 
Friday, July 24, 2009 at 11:00 am

Forget summer heat. We’re talking glaciers, igloos, blizzards, and adventures in the world’s coldest places.

Comments [14]
 
A shopper walks through downtown Seattle Wednesday, April 29, 2009. The economy shrank at a worse-than-expected 6.1 percent pace at the start of this year as sharp cutbacks by businesses and the biggest drop in U.S. exports in 40 years overwhelmed a rebound in consumer spending. (AP)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009 at 10:00 am

We’ll look at a nation moving from instant gratification to an age of thrift, and the psychology of self-control.

Comments [38]
 
Friday, April 10, 2009 at 11:00 am

We talk with top neuroscientist Bruce Hood about his new book, “SuperSense: Why We believe in the Unbelievable.”

Comments [46]
 
Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 11:00 am

Alaska’s Mt. Redoubt is one active volcano. And other volcanoes are roaring or rumbling. We’ll ask vulcanologists what’s going on.

Comments [13]
 
Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11:00 am

Galileo Galilei and Pope Urban VIII, back, onstage, in a play by Richard Goodwin. Faith and science tangle again.

Comments [28]
 
Friday, March 6, 2009 at 1:27 pm

What Would Be the Military Response?
Many people are confident that, sequestered deep within the cryptic machinery of the United States Department of Defense, are plans and personnel ready to deal with the aftermath of discovering extraterrestrials. It’s a pleasant assumption, and one that gains currency from the fact that, a half century ago, [...]

Comments [1]
 
Friday, February 27, 2009 at 11:00 am

Heavens and Hells and more – a top neuroscientist offers forty ways to imagine the afterlife.

Comments [40]
 
Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 11:00 am

“CSI” it’s not. A new report on crime labs from the National Academy of Sciences calls into question decades of forensic techniques. We’ll investigate.

Comments [10]
 
Monday, February 9, 2009 at 11:00 am

Sylvia Earle has spent a lifetime exploring ocean depths. She tells us about her new brainchild, Google Ocean, and the bottom of the deep blue sea.

Comments [15]
 
Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 10:00 am

Stem cell researchers are making up for lost time, and looking forward to big medical breakthroughs. We’ll talk with two top scientists on the leading edge of stem cell research.

Comments [24]
 
Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 11:00 am

Pharmaceutical companies – and some scientists – are pushing to make drugs like Adderall and Ritalin mainstream performance enhancers.

Comments [73]
 
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 10:00 am

President Obama has pledged to “restore science to its rightful place.” We’ll ask what that means, for America – and the future of science.

Comments [22]
 
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 11:00 am

We’ll talk with the field biologist who tracks new threats, to jungle and stream, before they become pandemic.

Comments [6]
 
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 11:00 am

Descartes said “I think, therefore I am.” Bestseller Russell Shorto reminds us it’s more complicated than that, in his new tale of faith, reason, and “Descartes’ Bones.”

Comments [18]
 
Recent Shows
After ‘No Child Left Behind’
Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Obama administration wants to rewrite No Child Left Behind. We’ll ask what’s coming for American education.

Comments [48]
 
The U.S.-Israel Blowup
Thursday, March 18, 2010

Top Pentagon brass complain the Israel-Palestinian impasse is undermining American interests. We’ll look at the US-Israel moment of crisis.

Comments [159]
On Point Blog
Sonny Rollins on Race and Jazz’s Future

Jazz legend Sonny Rollins joined us to reflect on his storied career and give us his thoughts on the future of music. To celebrate his 80th birthday, the hugely influential tenor saxophonist is embarking on yet another national tour.

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IED’s in Afghanistan: Hard Numbers

The Department of Defense provided On Point with some statistics about IED attacks in Afghanistan, where there has been an increase in the use of such weapons over the past 14 months. It’s striking to see the spike in numbers — from 2,677 IED incidents in 2007 to 8,159 last year.

More » | Comments [2]
 
Christopher Hill: U.S. Troop Withdrawal ‘On Schedule’

U.S. Ambassaor to Iraq Christopher Hill spoke with On Point live from Baghdad today as early voting gets underway, part of the run-up to Sunday’s elections. “So far so good,” Hill said, despite scattered violence. Hill said that the plan to withdraw U.S. combat troops by Sept. 1, and to leave only a residual advisory force of 50,000 or fewer, remains “very much on schedule.” Observers worry that a spike in violence could derail that timeline.

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