May 20, 2013 | 54:00Ideas Beauty and the Freak AudioIdeas Beauty and the Freak May 20, 2013 | 54:00For centuries human beings have been modifying their bodies - tribal scarification, tattoos and cosmetic surgery are just a few. But when we change our bodies, do we change who we are? Sheetal Lodhia explores how changes to the body can effect changes to
May 15, 2013 | 54:00Ideas Rethinking Depression, Part 1 (Encore March 7, 2013) AudioIdeas Rethinking Depression, Part 1 (Encore March 7, 2013) May 15, 2013 | 54:00Depression. It has been called the mean reds. The blue devils. The black dog. And through history, treatments for depression have varied wildly. In the Middle Ages, depressives were caged in asylums. In Victorian England, wealthier patients were sent to seaside resorts for a change of air. In the 1930’s, procedures like lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapy were used. Psychiatry’s tools were crude and limited. No wonder then, when the Age of the Antidepressant arrived, it was considered psychiatry’s triumph. Prozac came onto the market in 1988, followed quickly by many similar drugs. But, since then, the number of people afflicted with depression has soared. Mary O'Connell explores the short and troubling history of the antidepressant.
May 14, 2013 | 54:00Ideas Return to Tripoli AudioIdeas Return to Tripoli May 14, 2013 | 54:00Libyan novelist Hisham Matar was still a boy when his family fled to Cairo in order to escape the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. He talks to IDEAS host Paul Kennedy about his recent return to a country that his imagination never left.
May 13, 2013 | 53:58Ideas Tinctor's Foul Manual AudioIdeas Tinctor's Foul Manual May 13, 2013 | 53:58Our ideas about witches may come from an extraordinary manuscript found in the University of Alberta Library. It's one of only 4 known copies. Written in the 1400s and now being re-translated from medieval French, it created the framework for witch hunts.
May 9, 2013 | 54:00Ideas Idolatry For Beginners (Encore June 20, 2012) AudioIdeas Idolatry For Beginners (Encore June 20, 2012) May 9, 2013 | 54:00At 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.
May 8, 2013 | 53:59Ideas My Brother's - And My Sister's - Keeper, Part 2 AudioIdeas My Brother's - And My Sister's - Keeper, Part 2 May 8, 2013 | 53:59Anything you can do to make someone's life better, you must do. Right? But how much do you owe to other people, and who should you help? In this series, we consider the limits and the extent of our obligations to others, as individuals and as a society.