Feather Thief, Reichstag Fire, Horseshoe Crab Blood, Earth Day

The Museum Heist That Netted . . . Bird Feathers Guest:  Kirk Wallace Johnson, author,  “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession and the Natural History Heist of the Century”  A thrilling tale of a major museum heist of rare bird feathers. Featuring a Hollywood-style break-in and an unlikely cast of otherwise genteel characters.  To catch the author on his book tour, click here.  Eight-five Years Later, the Reichstag is Still Burning Guest: Benjamin Hett, Professor of History, Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, author, "Burning the Reichstag" The Reichstag fire in 1933 resulted in both an ending and a beginning for the country of Germany. Ending was the democratic Weimar republic, but just beginning was Nazi rule. How did arson aid the Nazis in starting their dictatorship over Germany, and why does the Reichstag fire matter today? Your Life Depends on Horseshoe-Crab Blood Guest: Jay Bolden, Senior Consultant Biologist, Eli Lilly and Company Horseshoe crabs have been around since the dinosaurs.  They lived through the mass extinction that killed almost everything else, not to mention the subsequent 65 million years.  And yet, possibly the strangest experience they’ve been subjected to is that of being pulled out of the ocean by soft, fleshy hands, lined up in buildings miles from shore, and drained of their blood.   Nurturing Nature in Urban LA Guest: Irma Muñoz, President, Mujeres de la Tierra Los Angeles is famous for tough streets, bad air, frozen freeways and fake body parts, so the idea of connecting with nature in the heart of LA's urban neighborhoods may sound counterintuitive. We celebrate Earth Day today by talking with a woman whose job is to help women and children do just that.