Terry Gross

Bruce McEwen is a pioneering expert on the ways in which the brain influences the body. He is the author of ""The End of Stress As We Know It" (with Elizabeth Norton Lasley, published by Joseph Henry Press). The book examines the response of the body to stress, what happens when the body's stress response turns against us, and how to keep that from happening. Dr. McEwen is head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University in New York City.

She is the Foreign Affairs/U.N. Correspondent for The Boston Globe. She's about to go into a special training camp for journalists planning on covering a possible U.S. war with Iraq. She's also reported on the war on terrorism from Afghanistan. Her recent book, The Key to My Neighbor's House: Seeking Justice in Bosnia and Rwanda, is now out in paperback.

Film critic and historian David Thomson's latest book is The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. It is an updated version of his Biographical Dictionary of Film, which was first published in 1975. Some of the entries have been revised and new entries have been added. Thomson has taught film studies at Dartmouth College and has served on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival. He is a regular contributor to The New York Times, Film Comment, Movieline, The New Republic and The Independent.

His new book is Dice: Deception, Fate & Rotten Luck. It's a collection of essays about the history of dice and the many ways of cheating at the game. The New York Times says of Jay, "He's a master's master." His other books include Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women and Jay's Journal of Anomalies. He's appeared in a number of David Mamet films and his one-man shows include Ricky Jay & His 52 Assistants and Ricky Jay: On the Stem.

He starred in HBO's parody of talk-shows, The Larry Sanders Show. It featured Shandling as a veteran talk-show host. His guests included Robin Williams, Howard Stern, and, actual talk show host, David Letterman playing themselves. The show went off the air in 1998, but reruns of the show are currently airing on the network Bravo. Shandling also starred in It's Garry Shandling's Show. Shandling also appears in the new Seinfeld documentary, Comedian,which shows in theaters now.

This interview was recorded before his Seinfeld fame. Comedian, a new documentary following Seinfeld on a recent stand up tour, is showing in theaters now. The hit TV show, Seinfeldwhich catapulted the comedian to fame, won 6 Emmy Awards before ending its run in 1999. Seinfeld is also author of the bestselling book SeinLanguageand a new children book, Halloween.

Now the host of The Tonight Show, Leno talks about his struggling years as a stand-up comic (with other comics like Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, and Steve Martin). He also talks about taking over The Tonight Show. He is author of the book Leading with my Chin. Leno appears in Comedian, the Jerry Seinfeld documentary in theaters now.

She's the chief diplomatic correspondent. Wright has just returned from Iran, Iraq and Kurdistan. She'll talk about the future of the Persian Gulf if the U.S. goes to war with Iraq and ousts Saddam Hussein.

She's an associate professor of Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Her area of expertise is the privatization of security and military services.

Journalist Ellen Ruppel Shell has written a new book, The Hungry Gene: The Science of Fat and the Future of Thin. Shell is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly and has written for The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian, Discover and other publications. She's an associate professor and co-director of Knight Center for Science Journalism at Boston University.