August 6, 2012 - In this Pen Pals Lecture Series appearance, Brian Greene of Columbia University discusses his best-selling books, "The Elegant Universe" and "The Hidden Reality." He says science is about big ideas, not technical details. MPR's Stephen Smith interviews Brian Greene at the Hopkins, Minn., Center for the Arts.
August 7, 2012 - MPR’s Dan Kraker reports on researchers who are aiming to tap the wealth of information deep inside Lake Superior by sending two mechanical divers into the depths of the big, cold lake for a long period of time.
August 8, 2012 - Austin Minnesota native Amanda Hocking set out to earn a couple of hundred bucks to go see a show in Chicago one summer, but ended up becoming an internet publishing sensation and multi-millionaire. Now she's made the jump to printed books with a new series about murderous Sirens. She stresses however she's just looking for a quiet life in Minnesota.
August 22, 2012 - Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, who died in June 2012, giving a Pen Pals lecture in the Minnesota back in 2000 about the influences on his life and work. He was born Aug. 22, 1920.
August 24, 2012 - MPR’s Cathy Wurzer sits down with Minneapolis rapper Brother Ali to discuss his album “Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color” and his rejuvenating pilgrimage to Mecca.
August 30, 2012 - The Daily Circuit’s Tom Weber visits a Erin Daninger, a former Princess Kay of the Milky Way finalist, to find out what happens to a 90 lb butter head sculpture after the Minnesota State Fair ends. Weber finds himself being taken behind a famm shed, where Daninger’s butter head sits in a chest freezer…next to pulled pork. Weber checks in on other ‘heads’ as well.
August 31, 2012 - MPR’s Conrad Wilson profiles John Gagliardi, St. John’s University football coach, and his unique coaching philosophy. For decades, Gagliardi has been incorporating a different approach to practice: limited contact. While unorthodoxed in the football world, it seems to pay dividends with less injuries…and 30 conference championships, four national titles and a record 485 wins.
August 31, 2012 - MPR’s Brandt Williams reports that August is the deadliest month in Minneapolis for homicides, and most are African American men. Williams profiles a few young Black men trying to beat the odds by leaving the path that often leads to early death or prison.
September 7, 2012 - MPR’s Marianne Combs sat down with author and fiber artist Gwen Westerman, painter and sculptor Jim Denomie, actor and spoken word artist R. Vincent Moniz, Jr., and poet Heid Erdrich. The discussion included what it means to be a contemporary Native artist working in a world that still has stereotypical notions of what it means to be an American Indian.
September 10, 2012 - MPR’s Alex Friedrich reports on claims by former employees and students of Twin-Cities-based Globe University and the Minnesota School of Business, citing predatory recruiting practices, harassment of students and poor results.