The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics from PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360 by interact@pri.org

When science fiction was just catching on in the early 20th century, writers looked to the field of quantum mechanics for ideas. They sensationalized scientific advancements and sparked public fear. Physics professor James Kakalios — author of The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics — tells Kurt about the real science behind death rays and atomic radiation. Listen to the podcast.

David Rakoff from PRI: The Sound of Young America

David Rakoff is an essayist, journalist, and a regular contributor to This American Life. His latest book is a collection of essays called Half Empty, on taking down optimism and championing pessimism. Listen to the podcast.

Russell Simmons on How You Can Get Rich from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

Russell Simmons made his name as one of the most influential names in hip-hop by helping to found Def Jam Records in the 2980s. But he's also a the author of a successful self-help book that Oprah Winfrey helped become a bestseller. Simmons tells us why he's trying to help people get rich. Simmons is has a new book called "Super Rich: A Guide to Having It All" and stars in a new TV show called "Running Russell Simmons." Download the podcast here.

Good Writing: On the Endangered List? from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radi

Ben Yagoda, a professor of English and Journalism at the University of Delaware wrote an article in this week's Chronicle of Education called “The Elements of Clunk” in which he laments some currently popular usages that tend to make the language clumsy and awkward. Yesterday, we asked you to find the problems in a sentence provided by Professor Yagoda. He joins us to discuss the results and the clunky trends he has observed plaguing written English today. Ben Yagoda is the author of "Memoir: A History" and "When You Catch an Adjective Kill It: The Parts of Speech, for Better and/or Worse," Download the podcast here.

Continued Calls for Apologies, Compensation for WWII 'Comfort Women' from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

One of the few remaining Korean women who Japanese troops forced into sexual slavery during World War II has died. Advocates for the few still alive say Japan should officially apologize and compensate the "comfort women." Dr. Katherine H.S. Moon is a professor of political science at Wellesley College and author of “Sex Among Allies: Military Prostitution in U.S.-Korea Relations." She elucidates the history of the women and the underlying tensions that likely makes a Japanese apology out of the question. Download the podcast here.

Increased Secret Shipments Endeavor to Secure Nuclear Material from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

The world has seen a recent increase in shipments, by land and sea, of nuclear materials to more secure harbors. This increase comes on the heels of President Obama's pledge to secure all the world's nuclear material within four years and the ratification of the New Start Treaty. Is the securing of these nuclear materials on schedule with the President's four-year plan? We speak with David Hoffman, who has written on the subject for Foreign Policy magazine. He is also the author of "The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy." Download the podcast here.

Mapping Out the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Its 21st Century Legacy from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

The historic slave trade from Africa to the Americas was so widespread and so horrific as to remain difficult to entirely grasp. A new book, “Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade," aims to turn historic data from the period into a more coherent view, through maps and data. The book uncovers information that may soon have us all reconsidering not only America's history, but many of our own, personal stories. David Eltis, Professor of History at Emory University and co-author of the book, says that the data put forth in the atlas reveals a modern reintegration of peoples from around the world. The transatlantic slave trade marked the very beginning of that shift, which is still happening today.

View The Takeaway webpage on this story here. [Podcast will be made available after the show airs.] See also: George Washington's America: A Biography Through His Maps, Atlas of Remote Islands

PRI's The World: Global Health Podcast: The Challenge of Global Health from PRI's The World: Global Health Podcast [Originally posted March 16, 2008]

Anchor Lisa Mullins speaks with Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, about funding strategies for helping the world's sick and poor. Her article, "The Challenge of Global Health," appears in the upcoming issue of Foreign Affairs. It challenges the notion of putting money toward specific diseases.

That article can be found here. Download the podcast here. Recently, the author was quoted as hypothesizing that cholera was actually imported to Haiti, a place that is absolutely ravaged by the disease currently. Human Events, a conservative website, said this:

Earlier this month, Laurie Garrett, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told The Washington Post that cholera was clearly imported to Haiti, but couldn’t pinpoint the exact source. “It has to be either peacekeepers or humanitarian relief workers, that’s the bottom line,” she told the Post.

You can find that Human Events article here. See also: The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance, Charlie Rose with Laurie Garrett; David Denby, Peter Travers & Janet Maslin; Susan Eisenhower (June 9, 1995), Great Minds of Medicine:Cancer [VHS]

John Brandon from PRI: The Sound of Young America

John Brandon is a novelist who was raised on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Citrus County is set in his home state and is his second novel, focusing on a teacher and two middle-schoolers who have their loneliness and status as outsiders in common. The book is part crime novel and part exploration of the adolescent pysche.

Download the podcast here. See also: Citrus County, Arkansas, The Searchers (John Wayne Collection)

The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics from PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360 by interact@pri.org

When science fiction was just catching on in the early 20th century, writers looked to the field of quantum mechanics for ideas. They sensationalized scientific advancements and sparked public fear. Physics professor James Kakalios — author of The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics — tells Kurt about the science behind death rays and atomic radiation.

. Download the podcast here.

"Salman Rushdie plays with video games in his new book" from PRI and WNYC's The Takeaway

Video games guide the hero in Salman Rushdie's newest book, "Luka and the Fire of Life." It might be difficult to imagine literary titan Salman Rushdie sitting down for a game of Donkey Kong, but video games play a central role in his new book, "Luka and the Fire of Life." A sequel to "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," Rushdie's new book follows Haroun's younger brother, Luka, on his quest to save their father by finding the source of life: fire. Video games may seem like an unlikely vehicle for a writer knighted by the Queen of England, but Rushdie points out that many games are retellings of classic stories. For example, the goal of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers is to fight villainous creatures to save Princess Peach, who happens to be locked in a castle. "Let's say the best case scenario defense for video games is that they are quite closely modeled, many of them, on old classical quest narratives," Rushdie told PRI's The Takeaway. "And since at the heart of this book is maybe one of the oldest of all the quest narratives -- which is the quest for fire -- it seemed like just an enjoyable thing to do."

Download The Takeaway podcast here. Read the full PRI feature story here. The Harvard Crimson had this to say about the book and story:

Richard Avedon, one of the greatest American photographers of the last century, once took an unforgettable portrait of Salman Rushdie. The author sat for Avedon in London on September 26, 1994, five short years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran placed a fatwa on the author for his portrayal of Muhammad in “The Satanic Verses.” The subject sits centered in his frame, flush with the camera, staring directly into the lens. Under two thickly arched eyebrows his ever-drooping eyelids frame a gaze at once incredulous, subversive, and strangely hypnotic. The portrait is hard to reconcile with the exuberant wit and wordplay exemplified by so much of Rushdie’s work. The author is, first and foremost, a playful yet captivating storyteller; his ever-imaginative magical realism has often led critics to trumpet his tales as diversions for all generations. Yet dark threads weave consistently through his writing, and his best novels—most notably the Booker Prize-winning “Midnight’s Children”—contain indirect yet sharp political and religious critiques.

Read that Crimson review here. See also: Midnight's Children: A Novel, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Satanic Verses: A Novel, The Enchantress of Florence: A Novel

California's Prop 19: The Politics and Practicality of Marijuana Prohibition from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

In under a week, the nation will vote in gubernatorial, Senate and Congressional elections that seem very likely to shift the national balance of power. But in many states, those same voters will be deciding on ballot initiatives that will have more dramatic and immediate consequences. In California, voters are going to decide on Proposition 19, a ballot initiative that would legalize the use of marijuana for non-medicinal purposes. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says that even if California were to legalize pot, the Department of Justice will prosecute Californian users and growers under federal drug laws. For more on the politics and the practicality of Prop 19 we speak with Bruce Cain, political science professor at U.C. Berkeley and Time.com health reporter Maia Szalavitz, author of "Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential ... and Endangered."

Listen to the podcast here. Download the podcast here. See also: Recovery Options: The Complete Guide, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook Child Psychiatrist's Notebook--What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing, Help at Any Cost

William Gibson from PRI: The Sound of Young America

William Gibson is a science fiction writer whose works, increasingly, take place in a realistic present. His latest book, Zero History, is about fashion, authenticity and identity.

Listen to the show here. Download the show here. See also: Zero History, Spook Country, Count Zero

Vocoder from PRI: The Sound of Young America

Dave Tompkins is an acclaimed music journalist. His new book, How To Wreck A Nice Beach, is a history of the vocoder from its military applications to its musical ones.

Listen to the PRI podcast here, or download it here.

Educators Amend Columbus Day Lessons in Schools from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

Columbus Day is one of only 10 federal holidays, and in most schools across the country, it's recognized as a celebration of the man who discovered America. For many Americans, Christopher Columbus is a hero. But in recent years, educators, politicians and scholars have argued that the conventional teaching of the holiday offers a lionizing myth of Columbus, and that students should be made aware of the uglier truths that followed his arrival in the Americas. We talk with Bob Peterson, co-author and editor of "Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years," as well as a fifth grade teacher at La Escuela Fratney in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We also talk with Scott Richard Lyons, director of Native American Studies at Syracuse University. He recently authored the book, "X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent."

Check out "Rethinking Schools" on this topic. And download the mp3 of the podcast here. See also: X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent (Indigenous Americas)

Brian Leung on Chinese Americans in the Wild West from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

When we look back on the wild west of American history, we frequently celebrate cowboys and Indians, wild buffalo and wide open country. But what we often leave out are the thousands of Chinese-Americans who worked on the Union Pacific railroad, lived in the many coal-mining towns, and struggled against the prejudices of their white neighbors and employers. Brian Leung’s new book “Take Me Home,” revisits this more diverse and real wild west — specifically Wyoming in the 1880s. He talks with us about “Take Me Home,” and about the real events that are depicted in his story.

You can download the full Takeaway show here.

Kristen Schaal from PRI: The Sound of Young America

Kristen Schaal is a comedian, actress, and author. She's best known for her role as Mel, the devoted, stalkerish fan of the band on HBO's "The Flight of the Conchords". She's recently co-authored a book, "The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex", with Rich Blomquist.

Listen to the podcast here.

PRI's The World: How We Got Here -- The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic from PRI's The World: How We Got Here

Judith Armatta talks about her new book Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic

Listen to the podcast show here, or download the mp3 file of that show here.

Danielle Evans and 'Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self' from The Takeaway: Early Edition by feedback@thetakeaway.org (Public Radio International and WNYC Radio)

At 26, Danielle Evans is already the kind of writer who makes other writers jealous. She's still fresh from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, but she's already been chosen – twice – for The Best American Short Stories, and both Salman Rushdie and Richard Russo have praised her work. There's already a lot of buzz around her new book, a collection of eight short stories called “Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self” She joins us to read a bit, and to talk about the challenges of being a young black writer in a world that's not over race... but is kind of over talking about it.

Amazing story and context, but amazing read as well. Listen to the podcast here.

C Street: Sex Scandals, Fundamentalism, Family from The Takeaway: Early Edition

The book is supposedly based on a dump of about 600 boxes full of documents—communiqués and memos, journals and such. This has everything to do with understanding the sort of insanity (or sanity) that Stewart and Colbert are trying to restore. Here we have very powerful people—business people, governors, senators, etc.—and what has happened is, God has intervened in very literal ways. Schizophrenic much? They hear voices. These leaders, in charge of nothing less than factions of the Federal Government, whole States, and various big cap corporations, are hearing—in English no less—instructions from God. Perfect. Well, gee, that’s great. That’s just what I wanted to hear right now. I’m heading to Switzerland. Auf Wiedersehen!