Word of Mouth Past Shows

Today on Word of Mouth, is a green world a safer world? One analyst says alternative energy won’t solve the planet’s geopolitical conflicts. And British high school students learn about telepathy and near-death experiences in the classroom. Plus, researchers are studying robins to uncover how West Nile virus is spread. We’ll follow a reporter to a suburban backyard to see if robins can infect each other in close quarters. Plus, after a booming few decades, the growth of self-storage facilities is on pause.

Today on Word of Mouth, private companies and the Japanese government plan to send solar satellites into orbit and beam the energy back to earth. Is it science fiction or the next green thing? And a journalist goes back to school for free, using MIT's OpenCourseWare program. We find out if learning physics and Romanian online is worthwhile. And hip-hop artists in Myanmar oppose the military regime with subversive rap. Plus, we’ll look at what gets lost when online communities like Geocities are shut down. And we revisit a conversation with choreographer Bill T.

This Labor Day, Word of Mouth is stepping away from the microphone to bring you a look at dream jobs of the new millennium. We’ll meet a robotics engineer, a video game designer, and a special effects creator working in Bollywood. We’ll hear from people pursuing their passions and career paths with purpose, like a hydro-electric engineer, bringing electricity to remote areas of Fiji. Spectrum Radio traveled to four continents to profile people whose innovative careers are engineering the 21st century.

Today on Word of Mouth, between email, Twitter, online games and shopping, there’s plenty to keep people busy online. For those who can’t get themselves to unplug, the first Internet rehab center in the U.S. is now open. We’ll talk to the director of the program. Plus, very short stories written for iPhone screens - are we looking at the future of fiction? And scientists search for the genetic origins of perfect pitch – the ability to name a note on hearing it. Plus, we get behind the scenes with teens making the "fresh greens" series on the environment.

Today on Word of Mouth, a pragmatic approach to preserving the Brazilian rainforest: paying landowners not to slash-and-burn. Plus, biodynamic wine. We’ll find out what happens when winemakers use lunar cycles and animal talismans to harvest. And, we check in with a pair of radio producers scouring America’s small towns to hear what’s really happening down on Main Street. Plus, from Faulkner to Hitchcock, former poet laureate Robert Pinsky joins us for some literary takes on small-town life.