The Leonard Lopate Show
More Than Meets the Eye
Monday, July 30, 2007
On today's show: Tennis ace James Blake remembers the year he lost his health, his career, and his beloved father, and shares how he got back to playing at the top of his game. Also, a writer discovers that his unassuming Teamster father had a secret enemy: Jimmy Hoffa. And, a globetrotting biologist and single mother describes raising her two boys in rainforests from Peru to Samoa. But first, we'll find out if robots with artificial intelligence are coming soon to a store near you.
More Than Meets the Eye
Robots with artificial intelligence have been a science fiction staple for decades, but now some researchers might be close to making them a reality. New York Times contributing writer Robin Marantz Henig and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Rodney Brooks describe new machines that can make eye contact, read social cues, and even help out around the house. Are they too good to be true?
Read Henig's article, "The Real Transformers."
Weigh in: What would you like a robot to do?
Click here to see robot photos by Stephen Lewis for The New York Times.
Crossing Hoffa
When Jimmy Hoffa gave the Teamsters a bad name, one card-carrying member tried to clear it. In Crossing Hoffa, Stephen J. Harper tells the story of his father, a one-time felon who had the courage to fight one of the twentieth century's most notorious thugs, no matter what the price.
Crossing Hoffa: A Teamster's Story is available for purchase at amazon.com.
Welcome to the Jungle
Eight years after the publication of Life in the Treetops, globetrotting rainforest biologist and single mother Margaret Lowman is here in the urban jungle with her son and co-author Edward Burgess. They'll share their new collection of stories filled with science and adventure from Peru to Samoa.
It's a Jungle Up There: More Tales from the Treetops is available for purchase at amazon.com.
Weigh in: How do you balance your career and your children?
Breaking Back
In his new autobiography, tennis star James Blake recounts the worst year of his life and explains how he overcame great loss to get back into winning the game he loves.
Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life is available for purchase at amazon.com.
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