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Jonathan Brent, executive director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, reflects on the powerful experience of working with original archival materials. While YIVO makes millions of its 24 million items accessible online, Brent recalls the visceral impact of holding Lenin’s party card — a reminder that scholarship is both intellectual and deeply personal.

(Airs 07/11/25 @ 10 p.m.) The Legislative Gazette is a weekly program about New York State Government and politics. On this week’s Gazette: The federal tax and spending bill signed last week by President Trump will blow a $3 billion hole in the state budget, disabled advocates say what worries them most about coming cuts to Medicaid is what they don’t know yet, and rural hospitals in New York are brace for the impact of cuts from the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill.

(Airs 08/07/25 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina in conversation with John Kaehney, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Reinvent Albany, about Governor Hochul’s fight over redistricting with Texas Republicans, whether the state legislature will convene in special session to deal with federal cuts, and much more.

We explore the quirky world of units—from the 1999 Mars Orbiter disaster caused by a metric vs. imperial mix-up to the colorful ways we measure everything from chili pepper heat to cotton and paper. You'll learn why U.S. territorial waters were once based on the range of a cannon shot, how Fahrenheit’s scale reflects geometric symmetry, and why a "barrel" of oil isn’t the same as a barrel of beer. With oddball units like skeins, quires, and cords still in use, maybe it’s finally time we all bolted over to metric!

The Best of Our Knowledge explores topics on learning, education and research.It’s summertime and people are flocking to the beach.On today’s program we will talk about sharks! We will uncover why they are misunderstood and all the important information about the “perceived ultra-predator.”

On this week's 51%, we speak with journalist and author Julie Fingersh about her debut memoir Stay: A Story of Family, Love, and Other Traumas. Fingersh is the former executive director of the volunteer organization Boston Cares, and her journalistic work has appeared in The New York Times, O Magazine, and The Huffington Post. In Stay, she reflects on her decision to leave her career and become a stay-at-home mom, as well as the importance of mental healthcare and the cost of family secrets.

(Airs 12/05/24 @ 3 p.m.) WAMC’s David Guistina in conversation with Democratic New York State Senator James Skoufis about his candidacy to lead the Democratic National Committee, why the recent election results led him to make that decision, and much more.

(Airs 12/06/24 & 12/08/24 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, Barbara Lombardo, Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany and former Editor of the Saratogian, and Daily Freeman Publisher Emeritus Ira Fusfeld. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy, Barbara, and Ira talk about open government and access to information, the continuing controversy over MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and coverage of President-Elect Trump’s nominees, and much more.

In science, coincidences grab attention. Our sky has just two disks, the sun and the moon, and both appear the same size. That’s what let that amazing total solar eclipse happen this past April. And we have the best north star of the past 26,000 years. Some people think there are no coincidences, that everything is connected. This week: Coincidences.

Venus is now starting an extraordinary cycle. Also called the evening star, it’s not the least bit hard to find. It will spend the next nine months in the west after sunset, slowly growing higher and brighter.