Please Explain (The Leonard Lopate Show)

Roger Clemens's Congressional testimony has put pro athletes' steroid use on center stage. On Please Explain, find out what exactly steroids and human growth hormones are, how they affect the body, and why they can be so dangerous.

Leonard speaks with Dr. Timothy Hewett of The Sports Medicine Biodynamics Center at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; and Dr. Donald Catlin, President of the non-profit Anti Doping Research Institute.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Please Explain is all about the science of love.

Rutgers anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher is author of Anatomy of Love: A Natural History of Mating, Marriage, and Why We Stray and Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love. University of Illinois at Chicago biologist Dr. C. Sue Carter is co-director of UIC's Brain Body Center.

Weigh in: Do you believe that love at first sight is an actual physical occurrence? Have you experienced it?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka Mormonism) is the fastest-growing religion in the world. On Please Explain, find out about the basic tenants of the Mormon faith...and how the church's history has influenced its culture. Also: how the recent death of church president Gordon B. Hinckley will affect the church.

Laurie Maffly-Kipp is associate professor in the Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. She's also co-editor of Proclamation to the People: Nineteenth Century Mormonism and the Pacific Basin Frontier, to be published this month by the University of Utah Press.

Stock markets around the world seem to be going haywire in recent weeks. We find out how global stock markets work, and why they’re so interconnected. John Authers is the Investment Editor for the Financial Times; David Weidner is Senior Columnist for Marketwatch.

Weigh in: Do you follow the stock market closely? How do its ups and down affect your mental health?

This year’s batch of presidential hopefuls are fighting over delegates as much as they’re fighting over voters. On Please Explain, find out who the delegates are, how the system works, and what superdelegates are.

Stephen Wayne is Professor of Government at Georgetown University and author of The Road to the White House: 2008. Elaine Kamarck of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government is currently a superdelegate, and previously was a superdelegate in 1984. She was an advisor to President Clinton and an advisor to the Al Gore presidential campaign.

The first coins were invented in the seventh century BC! Please Explain looks into the history of money...from the earliest lumps of metal, to modern-day virtual money. Numismatist Douglas Mudd is the curator of The American Numismatic Association's Money Museum and author of All the Money in the World.

What actually is anger? And what does it do to you and to others? On this week’s Please Explain, Dr. William Gerin, of the Behavorial Cardiovascular Health and Hypertension Program at Columbia Universtiy School of Medicine, and Dr. Emil F. Coccaro, Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Chicago, take your questions about anger and aggression.

Weigh in: Leave your comments and questions about anger and aggression.

What makes champagne different from other sparkling wines? Find out how the good stuff is made, and how to get the best sparkling wine at the price you can afford. Michael Aaron is the chairman of Sherry-Lehmann, the 73 year-old Park Avenue wine and spirits shop. Karen Page is co-author (with her husband Andrew Dornenburg) of several books, including What to Drink with What You Eat.

Here are some sparkling wines Karen recommends (prices are approximate):

The largest known snowflake in history measured 15 inches across! We find out about the physics and chemistry of snow and what conditions we’ll need to have a White Christmas this year. Dr. Kenneth Libbrecht is Professor of Physics at Caltech; David A. Robinson is The New Jersey State Climatologist and a Professor of Geography at Rutgers University, where he conducts research at the Global Snow Lab.

Weigh in: What’s your favorite memory or experience with snow?

When you see a blue flower, do you see the same blue flower that I do? When you feel cold is it the same sensation I feel? On Please Explain we look at the biology of consciousness...and what brain science reveals about who we are and how we experience the world around us.

Wider Than the Sky is available for purchase at amazon.com

The Quest for Consciousness is available for purchase at amazon.com

Weigh in: What would you like to know about consciousness?