RadioWest

Radiolab co-host Jad Abumrad is a genius. Back in 2011, he was certified when the MacArthur Foundation awarded him a “genius grant.” Jad thinks public radio should be more chaotic, more joyous and more lifelike. This episode was picked by Doug.

Few people were watching in August 1981 when MTV debuted on cable television. Filmmakers Patrick Waldrop and Tyler Measom have made a film about the birth and evolution of the television network that revolutionized the culture.

The Gospel of Mary, written in the name of Mary Magdalene, didn’t make it into the canon of Christian texts. It taught believers to rethink the basis of authority, the nature of sin, and it also speaks of an inner journey to true spirituality. This episode was picked by Elaine Clark.

In 1942 the Japanese army forced 70,000 prisoners to march across the Bataan Peninsula. Gene Jacobsen was among them, and he tells his story of three and a half years as a prisoner of war. This episode picked by Doug Fabrizio.

A lot of people these days are wondering how they should eat, how they should exericse, how they should use their bodies. To answer those questions, it helps to toss in another one: What is the human body adapted for? Today's pick comes from producer Benjamin Bombard.

With the show on summer break, we're sharing some memorable gems from our archives. Back in 2005, filmmaker Greg Whiteley joined us to talk about his debut documentary, a profile of Arthur "Killer" Kane, the bass player for the rock band New York Dolls who converted to Mormonism. This episode picked by Doug.

Time is money, and increasingly so is our attention. The artist Jenny Odell wants people to spend less time worrying about their productivity. Instead of doing something, she says, try doing nothing.

Thursday, we're talking about a documentary about a farm. John and Molly Chester wanted to create a place that followed the way a natural ecosystem works. But getting there, wasn’t easy.

Did you really think we'd go on hiatus without giving you a summer book show?

In his latest book, the scholar Jared Diamond looks at how nations deal with moments of crisis. He says that we can cope with these big national problems the same way we do with personal ones.