Monday, September 3
WIRED FOR CULTURE
Human beings have a unique evolutionary history. We are at the mercy of neither biology nor luck. We survive by learning from each other. Evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel tells us humans are successful because we are “wired for culture.

Tuesday, September 4
SELKIRK'S GRANT
The War of 1812 wasn't the only important event that year in nascent Canada. That fall, the Earl of Selkirk established a small colony in what would become southern Manitoba. IDEAS host Paul Kennedy tells the story of how that tiny settlement changed Canada, introducing new ideas of what the west could be, including an early version of a multicultural Canada.

Wednesday, September 5
DANCING IN THE DARK: THE INTELLIGENCE OF BEES
Bees are remarkable among insects. They can count, remember human faces, create mental maps and communicate through dance routines performed entirely in the dark. But are they intelligent? Even creative? Bee aficionado Stephen Humphrey, along with a hive of leading bee researchers and scientists, investigates the mental lives of bees.

Thursday, September 6
LEGENDS I: AN INUIT JOURNEY
Ancient stories depicting life and creation from traditional Inuit oral legends, retold, dramatized and recorded in Iqaluit, Nunavut. CBC Radio’s Legends Project compiles traditional oral stories, legends and histories of Canada’s Inuit and First Nations, gathered in communities across the country.

Friday, September 7
MOSES ZNAIMER’S IDEACITY, Part 1
ideacity is a three day festival of talk, produced and hosted by Moses Znaimer. The focus this year was optimism and pessimism. This episode features talks by Jeff Rubin, former CIBC Chief Economist and author of The End of Growth: But Is It All That Bad?; Rex Weyler, ecologist, activist, writer and a co-founder of Greenpeace; Mara Hvistendahl, science journalist and author of Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls and the Consequences of a World Full of Men. Part 2 will air on Friday, September 14.

Monday, September 10 - Tuesday, September 11
RISK
On the simplest level, we take risks to derive benefits. If the benefit outweighs the risk, we’ve made a good decision. But decisions are subject to bias, even those of experts. How do we live with uncertainty and make good decisions? Vancouver broadcaster Kathleen Flaherty talks with risk takers, risk managers and risk assessors to find out.

Wednesday, September 12
BUYING INTO BIODIVERSITY
The 2012 Muskoka Environmental Summit brings together prominent scientists and influential policy makers to discuss critical questions about biodiversity and the environment. IDEAS host Paul Kennedy moderates the plenary panel discussion.

Thursday, September 13
A SERPENT’S TALE
World religions and ancient mythology are replete with snake imagery and folklore. Whether we fear them, love them, pray to them, keep them as pets or eat them to increase virility, snakes have fascinated humans for millennia. IDEAS contributor Hassan Ghedi Santur discusses the mysterious evolutionary history of snakes and their fearsome reputation. Along the way, he confronts his own case of ophidiophobia - you guessed it: the “abnormal fear of snakes.”

Friday, September 14
MOSES ZNAIMER’S IDEACITY, Part 2
This episode is about seeking faith. Speakers include Eric Weiner, journalist, traveler and the author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World; Jana Riess, author of Flunking Sainthood; and Gretta Vospler, United Church Minister and author of With or Without God: Why The Way We Live is More Important Than What We Believe. Part 3 will air on Friday, September 21.

Monday, September 17
ICEBERG SHIP HABBAKUK
1942: Hitler’s U-Boats are ravaging merchant ships that Britain depends on for its survival. Enter a plan, for a gigantic warship, to help the Allies win the Battle of the Atlantic. It will be built in Canada and made from … ice! Richard Longley tells the story of iceberg ship Habbakuk, in all its icy eccentricity.

Tuesday, September 18
WACHTEL ON THE ARTS
A monthly IDEAS feature with CBC Radio’s celebrated arts journalist Eleanor Wachtel. Each month, she takes an in-depth look at what’s new, exciting and important in film, opera, the visual arts, theatre, dance and architecture.

Wednesday, September 19
MAD IDEAS AND SWEET DREAMS FOR A BETTER WORLD
All great literature is about the human condition. The Pulitzer Prize winning writer and social activist, Upton Sinclair, believed stories could provoke social change. “Art is propaganda” he said. The French writer Emile Zola said, “if you shut up truth, and bury it underground, it will but grow.” Can literature provoke social change? Zola and Sinclair said yes. IDEAS producer Mary O’Connell invites some contemporary writers to talk about the goal of writing for a better world.

Thursday, September 20
IDOLATRY FOR BEGINNERS
At a time of widespread obsession with everything from money to celebrity to the latest in techno gadgetry, does the idea of idolatry have more than religious significance? IDEAS producer Frank Faulk explores the meaning of idolatry in a secular age.

Friday, September 21
MOSES ZNAIMER’S IDEACITY, Part 3
Wall Street, money and… meat are the subjects of this episode.
You’ll hear Roger Martin, Dean of The Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and author of Fixing the Game and The Responsibility Virus; David Wolman, contributing editor at Wired and author of The End of Money; and Daisy Van Der Schaft, biomedical researcher and engineer, and advocate of artificial meat. Part 4 will air on Friday, September 28.

Monday, September 24
STRETCHING THE CANVAS
Calgary artist John Will's greatest work of art may be John Will himself. He is a trouble-maker, scamp, and rapscallion. Jim Brown takes us on a guided tour of Will's latest: the first-ever visual art show created for radio.... through the life of a bohemian extraordinaire.

Tuesday, September 25
THE SWORD BROTHERS, Part 1
Christians against Muslims, the Crusades that began in the eleventh century were wars for control of the Holy Land. The Crusaders themselves were a hybrid of warrior and priest, defending the pilgrim, attacking the Infidel. These Military Orders were also the first multinational corporations, and until their eventual destruction and diminishment, the Knights Templar, the Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights held unparalleled power, enough to threaten whole kingdoms and the Papacy itself. Philip Coulter tells the story. Part 2 airs Wednesday, October 2.

Wednesday, September 26
THE SIGNAL OF NOISE
Once long past, listening gave clues for survival. Now we listen unconsciously, blocking noise and tuning in to what we want to hear. Yet the unwanted sounds we filter out tell us a lot about our environment and our lives. Broadcaster Teresa Goff listens for the messages in our walls of sound.

Thursday, September 27
WHERE IS THE INTERNET?
Can you come up with an answer? Most of us can’t. And those who do have an answer–those in the field–often respond in technical language and with explanations that are intellectually counterintuitive. Barbara Nichol asks experts in the field a simple question: where is the Internet?

Friday, September 28
MOSES ZNAIMER’S IDEACITY, Part 4
From the 2012 ideacity Conference: David Eagleman, neuroscientist, and author of Incognito: the Secret Lives of the Brain discusses uncertainty; Pico Iyer, travel writer and author of The Open Road and The Global Soul speaks about our need for stillness; and Marlene Zuk, biologist and author of Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love and Language from the Insect World on what insects can and can’t teach us about human sexuality. Part 4 will air on Friday, October 5.