June 23, 1977 - University of North Dakota medical professor Theodore Reiff at the annual Governor's Citizens Council on Aging Conference at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter. Reiff spoke on how to prolong life. He began his remarks with a technical description of four theories of why we age. Later in his speech he focuses on what our culture has not done to prolong life.
October 10, 1977 - Dr. Jean Houston, Director of the Foundation for Mind Research with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, speaking at symposium on human potential sponsored by the Science Museum of the Minnesota. Houston discussed altered modes of thinking, human consciousness, and the effects of technology on the human personality.
November 12, 1977 - On this regional public affairs program, Dorothy Hozza of the Minnesota Energy Agency; and Barb Weinschenker of the Center for Local Self-Reliance in Minneapolis, discuss financial incentives for home energy conservation.
November 29, 1977 - Rabbi Seymour Siegel, professor of ethics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, speaking at a forum on biomedical ethics organized by the Minnesota Inter-religious Committee for Biomedical Ethics, and sponsored by a grant from the Minnesota Humanities Commission in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities. Siegel’s speech was entitled, "Human Experimentation and Informed Consent". To what lengths should researchers go to gather data using humans as subjects? How much should a potential human subject be told about the experiment he or she is to take part in? These and related questions were topics of speech.
December 13, 1977 - Dr. Raymond Moody, author of the book "Life After Life," speaking about his theory that people who have nearly died and then revived often relate extraordinary experiences which suggest consciousness after death.
January 9, 1978 - Joel Barker, former director of the Future Studies Department of the Science Museum of Minnesota speaking at the Southwest State University in Marshall. Barker spoke about our attitude toward the future. Barker was also the director of the National Teachers Futures Workshop for the past three years.
July 4, 1978 - Bruce Hilton, a Methodist minister, speaking on bioethics at North Dakota State University. Hilton talks about birth, life and death. Topics include moral dilemmas in medical technology growth and genetic engineering.
July 12, 1978 - Dr. Ronald Cranford, of Hennepin County Medical Center; and Mr. John Markert, the Executive Director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, discuss the concept of brain death, and the problems in defining death. Both men have testified before the Minnesota legislature on the brain death issue, and Dr. Cranford was a consultant on the recent Stacey Ellison case in St. Paul in which the child was "brain dead" though still breathing with the help of a respirator. Cranford has been active in work to arrive at a definition of death. John Markert has opposed efforts to allow the use of brain death as a legal definition for determining when life has ended.
July 14, 1978 - Dr. Robert Good, President of Sloan-Kettering Cancer Institute, talks with MPR medical reporter Rich Dietman about cancer research. Good begins by describing recent advances in the treatment of cancer. He also speaks of antigens, compounds that cause the production of antibody; a substance which the body uses to fight and destroy matter it judges to be foreign and a threat.
July 19, 1978 - Isabel Wolf, nutritionist from University of Minnesota, discusses public attitudes about nutrition with Dan Olson. Wolf also answers listener questions.