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Jonathan Weiner
Genetic Control
Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
How much of our personalities are truly within our control? What is currently known about how the genes we inherit affect our behavior? The science that studies these questions is now called molecular biology. Looking at life from the genes up, molecular biology has given us insight into the hard links between genes and behavior. Seymour Benzer, a pioneer scientist who studied the genetics of fruit flies, is the hero of a book called “Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior," by Jonathan Weiner. Weiner, who won the Pulitzer prize in 1995 for his work on the finches of the Galapagos Islands, provides a current analysis of Benzer’s genetic studies and raises questions about molecular biology the 21st century.
Jonathan Weiner recommends “The Missing Moment,” by Robert Pollack.
Originally Broadcast: May 26, 1999
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Dennis del Castillo
Mercedes Lu
Peruvian Environmental Issues, 1998
In this edition of Radio Curious, we visit Dennis del Castillo and Mercedes Lu, two environmental activists from Peru. I met with them in Lima, Peru on February 5th, 1998. Dennis del Castillo, who holds a Ph.D. from Mississippi State University in soil science and in this interview describes contemporary environmental problems in the Peruvian Amazon Basin. In the second half of this program we visit with Mercedes Lu, a scientific technician, who described some of the problems resulting from copper mining that occurs along the coast of southern Peru. We began our conversation when I asked Dennis del Castillo to describe the potential of the Peruvian Amazon Basin.
Dennis del Castillo recommends “The Losing Ground,” by Erik P. Eckholm.
Originally Broadcast: April 3, 1998
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Marta Morena Vega
One Religion People Forced to Migrate Brought to the Americas
The Altar of My Soul
Religious beliefs normally follow people as they migrate, including people who are forced to migrate. The people forced to migrate to the western Hemisphere during the slave-trading period carried their beliefs and belief systems to the diaspora of their new world. The Santeria religion, also know as Lucumí, is a belief system that originated in Africa later brought to the Americas and is still practiced in widely separated communities of the western hemisphere. Marta Moreno Vega, a Santeria Priestess, and university professor in New York City is the author of “The Alter of My Soul.” Her book is a story of the Santeria or Lucumí religion, its traditions, how they were brought from Africa and are practiced now. I spoke with Marta Moreno Vega by phone in November of 2000, and we began when I asked her to tell us about the Santeria religion and how it differs from other religions.
Marta Morena Vega recommends “Face of The Gods: Art and Altars of Africa and the African Americans,” by Robert F. Thompson.
Originally Broadcast: November 7, 2000
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Maria Stewart
Sandra Kamusukiri
A Visit With a Free Black Women - Boston 1840
Maria W. Stewart, as characterized by professor and scholar Sandra Kamusakiri, was a free black woman who lived in Boston, MA, from the 1820s to the early 1840s. She was the first American born woman to lecture in public on political themes and likely the first African-American to speak out in defense of women’s rights. A forerunner to Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, she was intensely religious and regarded as outspoken and controversial during her time. For more than a century, Maria W. Stewart’s life contributions remained obscured, illustrating the double pressures of racism and sexism on the lives African-American women. I met with Mariah W. Stewart in the person of Professor Sandra Kamusukiri during the 1996 Democracy in America Chautauqua, held in Ukiah, California.
Maria Stewart recommends "The Fair Sketches of Women," by John Adams and "The Bible."
Originally Broadcast: November 27, 1996
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John Sutter
David Fenimore
A Visit With John Sutter
John Sutter was an émigré from Switzerland who came to California to establish his New Helvicia in the land of opportunity, located in what is now close to Sacramento, California. A man with vision and organization, and a liking to drink, Sutter built an economically thriving Anglo-American settlement outpost in what was then Mexican California. The economy was based on livestock and lumber and used forced Native American labor. The discovery of gold in 1849 at a mill owned by Sutter started the gold rush that ultimately led to his undoing, ruining him financially as the mass of humanity tramped through the lands he then claimed to own, on their rush to the gold fields. John Sutter was portrayed by historian David Fennimore and was part of “Rediscovering California at 150” the California sesquicentennial initiative produced by the California Council for the Humanities.
John Sutter recommends “Ivanhoe,” by Sir Walter Scott and “Report Concerning North America,” by Godfried Duden.
Originally Broadcast: February 20, 1998
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Glenn Langer
Enhancing Education and Heart Disease
Understanding Disease, How Your Heart, Lungs, Blood, and Blood Vessels Function and Respond to Treatment
In this two-part series with Dr. Glenn Langer, former Professor of Medicine, specializing in Cardiology, at UCLA we discuss the Partnership Scholars Program and heart disease. In the first interview Dr. Langer describes the Partnership Scholars Program and how attention and exposure to new ideas can create a whole new world for children, whose life experiences might otherwise be forever limited. In the second program, we discuss folklore, literature, psychology as they relate to cardiology and the heart. Dr. Langer is the author of “Understanding Disease, How Your Heart, Lungs, Blood, and Blood Vessels Function and Respond to Treatment,” a book attempting to demystify medicine. Both parts of this program were originally broadcast in October of 2000.
Glenn Langer recommends “Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea,” by Gary Kinder and “Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography,” by Marion Meade.
Originally Broadcast: October 24, 2000 and October 31, 2000
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Saul Diskin
Identical Twins
The End of the Twins, a Memoir of Losing a Brother
Ever wondered what it would be like to have an identical twin—how alike would you be to that person? How much of an individual would you be? Saul Diskin and his identical twin brother Marty grew up together in New York City where Saul and Marty were inseparable. As adults, they began to live separate lives, Saul in Phoenix and Marty near Boston. In 1991, Marty, who had suffered from leukemia for 20 years, needed a bone marrow transplant, which he received from Saul. In his extraordinarily intimate book, “The End of the Twins, a Memoir of Losing a Brother,” Saul Diskin chronicles the rich relationship beginning with their early childhood and ending well past Marty’s death in 1997, shortly before their 63rd birthday.
Saul Diskin recommends “Entwined Lives,” by Nancy Segal and “Cosmology and Creation: The Spiritual Significance of Contemporary Cosmology” by Paul Brockelman.
Originally Broadcast: September 22, 2001
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Benjamin Franklin
Ralph Archbold
Visit with Benjamin Franklin
This conversation with Benjamin Franklin, as portrayed by Ralph Archibald who shares a birthday with Benjamin Franklin, was recorded in the summer of 1994 in two parts. The first was recorded on a walk to where Benjamin Franklin lived and worked, and the second was recorded at the City Tavern, both Philadelphia landmarks in Franklin’s life and now. Benjamin Franklin is, perhaps, the most noteworthy and animated of the Founding Fathers. His contributions to science, common sense, and, most importantly, this nation of ours set him apart from most other figures in American history.
Originally Broadcast: July 18, 1994 and July 25, 1994
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Prof. Alberto Kattan
Argentinan Environmental Issues in 1993
The late Professor Alberto Kattan, a Professor of Law at Buenos Aires University and one of the foremost litigators of environmental issues in Argentina, is my guest on this archive edition of Radio Curious. In our conversation originally broadcast in March 1993, we discussed the future of the penguins that he was and endeavoring to protect, dolphins, the use of 245T, and problems with the tobacco industry in Argentina.
Originally Broadcast: March 7, 1993
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Dr. Donald Perry
A Ride Through a Rain Forest in Costa Rica
Life Above the Jungle Floor
In the middle of the Costa Rican rain forest, about an hour west of San Jose, Costa Rica, on the east side of the continental divide, you can find the Rain Forest Aerial Tram located on a private rain forest reserve. It’s a series of small, open-air cars that hold about five people each held together by a three kilometers long cable. The tramcars carry visitors through, above and below this portion of the Central American rainforest canopy. The Rain Forest Aerial Tram was the brainchild of Dr. Donald Perry, a biologist trained at the University of California at Los Angeles, who, beginning in 1970, has specialized in the study of the flora and fauna of the Central American Rainforest. In April of 1995, I visited the Rain Forest Aerial Tram with Dr. Perry.
Dr. Donald Perry recommends "Life Above the Jungle Floor," by Dr. David Perry.
Originally Broadcast: April 1, 1995
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