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April 2008
CD indicates the program is available on CD from IDEAS Transcripts or from the CBC Shop.
Tuesday, April 1
MURAKAMI’S WELL CD
Freelance broadcaster Teresa Goff takes us into the dream world of the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, where cats speak, men try to unite with their shadows and frogs save Tokyo. “In dreams begin responsibilities... “
Wednesday, April 2
THE 2007 DALTON CAMP LECTURE
Toronto Star national affairs columnist Chantal Hébert, one of Canada's most perceptive commentators on Canadian politics, delivers the 2007 Dalton Camp Lecture at St. Thomas University in Fredericton.
Thursday, April 3
REMEMBERING POLIO, Part 1 CD
The polio epidemics of the 1950s struck thousands of Canadians, especially children. Braces, wheelchairs and the Iron Lung became symbols of the polio threat. By 1960, thanks to new vaccines, the virus was under control. Why then, almost fifty years later, are concerns about polio surfacing again? Maria Meindl traces the legacy of polio, a disease we thought we’d left behind.
Part 2 airs Thursday, April 10.
Friday, Apri 4
DON QUIXOTE, Part 1 of 3 CD
First published in 1605, Don Quixote is the story of a man driven mad by books, a self-appointed knight-errant and his adventures on the back roads of Spain. Centuries later, it is considered by many the greatest novel of all time. Why? Barbara Nichol asks the foremost scholars of Cervantes and his book. Part 2 airs Friday, April 11. Part 3 airs Friday, April 18.
Monday, April 7
CANADA: NATION OR NOTION?
 Do we need a common identity to be a modern nation? Adam Gopnik and Malcolm Gladwell, both staff writers at The New Yorker, battle it out with wit and humour in a debate moderated by Maclean’s national editor, Andrew Coyne.
Tuesday, April 8
MEMEGWESHIWAG CD
Elves, leprechauns, trolls, faeries. The best known little people seem to be European, but Maureen Matthews introduces us to Canada's aboriginal little people. They taught the Cree and Ojibwe to make arrowheads, and even make elegant little stone canoes.
Wednesday, April 9
HOW TO THINK ABOUT SCIENCE, Part 16 CD
David Cayley in conversation with historian Steven Shapin. He's one of the authors of Leviathan and the Air Pump, a book which has helped a generation of readers to re-imagine the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. Steven Shapin talks about the authority of science in the 17th century and today.
Thursday, April 10
REMEMBERING POLIO, Part 2 CD
The polio epidemics of the 1950s struck thousands of Canadians, especially children. Braces, wheelchairs and the Iron Lung became symbols of the polio threat. By 1960, thanks to new vaccines, the virus was under control. Why then, almost fifty years later, are concerns about polio surfacing again? Maria Meindl traces the legacy of polio, a disease we thought we’d left behind.
Friday, Apri 11
DON QUIXOTE, Part 2 of 3 CD
First published in 1605, Don Quixote is the story of a man driven mad by books, a self-appointed knight-errant and his adventures on the back roads of Spain. Centuries later, it is considered by many the greatest novel of all time. Why? Barbara Nichol asks the foremost scholars of Cervantes and his book. Part 3 airs Friday, April 18.
Monday, April 14
GOLF CD
It's not a sport; it's a test of character, a good walk spoiled. Golf has inspired a great literature - including works of fiction, philosophy, physics and metaphysics. Paul Kennedy tees up to explain why.
Tuesday, April 15
WACHTEL ON THE ARTS
Eleanor Wachtel, arts journalist and host of Writers & Company, explores Paris between the years 1917 and 1932. She talks to writer John Richardson about Picasso’s work for the stage and how it influenced his art. And Alex Ross, the music critic of The New Yorker, discusses the Paris musical avant-garde of the 1920s, from Satie to Stravinsky to Les Six.
Wednesday, April 16
HOW TO THINK ABOUT SCIENCE, Part 17 CD
Many books discuss the theories of physics. Historian Peter Galison approaches the field like an anthropologist interested in its material culture. Machines play as big a role as theories in his history of physics.
Thursday, April 17
THE DRAGON THRONE’S FLEET CD
In 1405, Zheng He, chief eunuch to the emperor of China, commanded the magnificent Dragon Throne’s Fleet and China ruled the seas. A few short decades later, the Ming Dynasty’s power over the seas had ended. Christine Wong tells what happened.
Friday, Apri 18
DON QUIXOTE, Part 3 od 3 CD
First published in 1605, Don Quixote is the story of a man driven mad by books, a self-appointed knight-errant and his adventures on the back roads of Spain. Centuries later, it is considered by many the greatest novel of all time. Why? Barbara Nichol asks the foremost scholars of Cervantes and his book.
Monday, April 21
MISTAKES WERE MADE - BY OTHERS! CD
Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why can’t political figure own up to their blunders? What’s behind so many domestic fights? The distinguished social psychologist Elliot Aronson tells us about the power of cognitive dissonance.
Tuesday, April 22
WHERE HAVE ALL THE TENORS GONE? CD
The pitch of the human voice has been dropping for centuries. Partly physiological, partly cultural, men and women are pitching their voices lower. High (particularly male) voices are no longer considered desirable. Anne Mullens explores the physiological, musical and cultural influences that affect the way men speak and sing, focusing on changing perceptions of what is authoritative, attractive, persuasive and masculine.
Wednesday, April 23
HOW TO THINK ABOUT SCIENCE, Part 18 CD
Science cannot live without metaphors. The lay person can only form a conception of a gene, or an electron, by translating the scientific idea into an image of some kind. But we forget that our metaphors are only metaphors at our peril, says evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin.
Richard Lewontin joins David Cayley to discuss the role of metaphor of science.
Thursday, Apri 24
BOY SOLDIER CD
General Romeo Dallaire and Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierre Leone, now human rights activist and best-selling author, talk abouthow children are recruited and used as weapons of choice in conflicts around the world.
Friday, April 25
ROBIN HOOD CD
Ballads, plays and movies tell of Robin Hood stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. But did he really exist? Seth Feldman cavorts with merry scholars searching for the still elusive outlaw.
Monday, April 28
THE SEA WOMEN CD
 South Korea’s “sea women” have been harvesting commercial treasures from the ocean floor since the 4th century – abalone, sea urchin, sea snails. With only a few tools and fishing baskets slung over their shoulders, these sunburnt and wrinkled grandmothers can dive up to twenty metres on a single breath. Their dives mix dexterity, desire and death. Vancouver writer and broadcaster Gloria Chang returns to the country of her birth for an intimate portrayal of these cultural icons and to unravel a matriarchal mystery: Why do only women take to the waters?
Tuesday, April 29
SINGULARITY CD
The prolific inventor, futurist and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil, anticipates an “Age of Singularity,” when we'll be able to achieve a kind of immortality by downloading all of our essentially human qualities into a computer hard-drive. A feature interview by IDEAS host Paul Kennedy.
Wednesday, April 30
HOW TO THINK ABOUT SCIENCE, Part 19 CD
Modern societies have tended to take science for granted as a way of knowing, ordering and controlling the world. Everything was subject to science, but science itself largely escaped scrutiny. This situation has changed dramatically in recent years. Historians, sociologists, philosophers and sometimes scientists themselves have begun to ask fundamental questions about how the institution of science is structured and how it knows what it knows. David Cayley talks to some of the leading lights of this new field of study.
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