How NASA Helped End Segregation

May 13, 2015 History, Race/Identity, Science and Technology

While NASA’s primary mission in the 1960s was to go to the moon, it also wanted to improve the economy and use its program for social change.

From Bacon to ‘Charlotte’s Web’

May 11, 2015 Culture, History

This hour, we’ll talk about the relationship between humans and pigs with Mark Essig, author of Lesser Beasts: A Snout-to-Tail History of the Humble Pig.

Alexander Graham Bell On Tape

April 30, 2015 History, Science and Technology

Anytime you check your voicemail or call Grandma, thank c. This hour, from NPR headquarters in Washington, we’ll talk about the father of the telephone — and his other pioneering works — with Carlene Stephens, curator of the National Museum of American History exhibition “Hear My Voice: Alexander Graham Bell and the Origins of Recorded Sound.”

So Long, Saigon

April 13, 2015 History, Politics

The documentary “Last Days in Vietnam” illustrates the tough choices facing American troops during the chaotic final days of the war. This hour, we’ll talk about the film with its director, Rory Kennedy, and producer Keven McAlester.

Weighty Issues

April 6, 2015 Health, History

We’ll talk about our national obsession with thinness with the author of “Body of Truth: How Science, History, and Culture Drive Our Obsession with Weight – and What We Can Do About It.”

Getting To Know Steve Jobs

April 1, 2015 History, Science and Technology

Steve Jobs is remembered as a visionary innovator whose relentless drive once alienated him from the Apple family. This hour, we’ll talk about how the arrogant genius ultimately changed the lives of billions across the world with Rick Tetzeli, co-author of “Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary Leader.”