Colbert Builds 'Report' with Viewers, Readers from NPR Podcast Fresh Air

Story: Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report talks about his book I Am America (And So Can You!). Colbert targets race, religion, sports and the American family as well as more mundane topics like breakfast cereal and the Hollywood blacklist.

Read the full Fresh Air transcript here, and listen to the podcast.

Robert Reich Looks Askance at 'Supercapitalism' from NPR Programs: Fresh Air from WHYY

We love low prices, sure, but we frown at the things companies do to get us good deals -- like paying low wages. In his book Supercapitalism, economist Robert Reich looks at the divided mind of the consumer and citizen. Reich subtitles his book "The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life," and in it he asks tough questions about American priorities: "Why has capitalism become so triumphant and democracy so enfeebled? Are these two trends connected? What, if anything, can be done to strengthen democracy?"

Listen to the full Fresh Air podcast here. See also: The Work of Nations: Preparing Ourselves for 21st Century Capitalism

Women at bay from NPR: Selected Shorts

Author Antonya Nelson is a vivid portraitist of the trials and triumphs of contemporary American women. Her ironically titled "Happy Hour," is the chronicle of a hectic love affair, given a subtle reading by Mia Dillon. Some mild sexual content. There were book clubs long before Oprah, and American master Edith Wharton skewers the self-important society ladies who make up this reading club, and their pompous celebrity guest, in "Xingu." The delicious reading is by multiple Emmy-winner Christina Pickles, who also had a word with us backstage at Wharton's Massachusetts home, The Mount.

Download the podcast here. See also: Xingu: And Other Stories

Phantom Limbs (Radio Lab: Friday, 05 May 2006) from WNYC's Radio Lab by listenerservices@wnyc.org (Jad Abumrad & Robert Krulwich)

Warning: this section gets gorey. We'll start off with fatality, trauma, and bear attack. Neurologists Robert Sapolsky and Antonio Damasio weigh in on 19th century philosopher William James, and his theory of emotion (and of bears), which says “emotion is a slave to physiology.” Then we'll look at sensations of feeling that hang on long after the physiology goes away. Radio Lab takes a field trip to the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (a collection of medical oddities), and finds a photograph of the severed feet of Civil War soldiers (pictured, on the right.). Photo courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, D.C., CP 1043. And then we'll speed back into the present-day to see brain doctor V.S. Ramachandran solve the case of a painful phantom limb. Pain relief by but mere smoke and mirrors.

See the Radio Lab entry for this episode, here.

Brain Science Podcast #10 NeuroPlasticity (show notes) from Brain Science Podcast Archive by docartemis

In this episode of the Brain Science Podcast we explore the recent research that has established, contrary to long-standing dogma, that our brains our able to change throughout our lives, based on our experience. The reference for this episode is Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, by Sharon Begley. This book describes the 2004 meeting between the Dalai Llama and several leading neuroscientists. To learn more about these meetings go to the Mind and Life Institute website. All the studies that I mention in the podcast are referenced in the back of the book.

Download the podcast of this show, here. See also: The Plastic Mind: New science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves Abridged on CD [Train Your Mind], The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books), Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force Check the Brain Science webpage on this episode, here.

01-15-07: The Wine and Food Lover's Diet and Stuff On My Cat: The Book from Chronicle Books podcast

1-15-07 In this episode, we talk to Philip Tirman, M.D. about his new book, The Wine and Food Lover's Diet. Tirman, a sports doctor, turned his attention to nutrition when he was fighting his own battle to lose weight. He's written a diet that he says will appeal to foodies- and allows you to have a glass of wine with dinner. Our Worst-Case Scenario this week helps you deal with that nightmare customer, and finally we talk to Mario Garza about the Stuff on my Cat phenomenon.

Download the podcast here. See also: Exploring Wine: The Culinary Institute of America's Guide to Wines of the World, The Little Black Journal of Wine: A Wine Lover's Record Keeper (Little Black Books) (Guided Journal Series), World Atlas of Wine

Podcast #5: Consciousness from Brain Science Podcast Archive by docartemis

Perhaps the hard problem will disappear. I consider how the discovery of neurotransmitters has changed our understanding of the role of emotions in consciousness. We now know that neurotransmitters provide two-way signaling between our brains and the rest of our bodies, producing our experiences of emotions and feelings. Though there is still a tendency to regard logic as superior to emotion, researchers like Antonio Damasio are showing that emotions play an essential part in decision making and other aspects of intelligence.

Find the podcast entry here.

Oh, Yoko (Soundcheck: Monday, 29 January 2007) from WNYC's Soundcheck by listenerservices@wnyc.org

Few women in the history of music have inspired as much controversy as Yoko Ono. Some say she broke up The Beatles. Others say she saved John Lennon. Joining us is Larry Kane, the journalist whose latest book is "Lennon Revealed," and Allan Kozinn, New York Times classical music critic and Beatles authority.

Download the podcast here. See also: A Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles' 1964 Tour That Changed the World, The People Vs. Larry Flynt

Mathematician Claims New Yorker Defamed Him from Slashdot by kdawson

An anonymous reader writes, "Last month the New Yorker ran the article 'Manifold Destiny', by Sylvia Nasar, author of 'A Beautiful Mind.' Now a renowned Harvard mathematics professor, Dr. Shing-Tung Yau, is claiming the article defamed him. His attorney wrote the New Yorker a letter (PDF) threatening that Yau will have 'no choice but to consider other options' if Nasar, her co-author, and the New Yorker fail to undo the damage done."

Read the full post here.

The Unconscious Toscanini of the Brain (Radio Lab: Sunday, 29 January 2006) from WNYC's Radio Lab by listenerservices@wnyc.org (Jad Abumrad & Robert Krulwich)

How does the brain produce a thought? Or experience a unitary, whole, synchronized perception of a cup of coffee? For neuroscientists, this is the Mount Everest of questions. We have a look at one possible theory (that a thought is like lots of little neurons singing together in harmony) and then visit neurologist Christof Koch to ask: who conducts the brain chorus? Koch thinks he knows, and he tells us of the cutting edge work of one of science’' great thinkers, Francis Crick...an inquiry which lasted until his dying day.

The Radio Lab story and podcast are here. See also: Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul