Terry Gross

28-year-old Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar's new film, a horror film called The Others, stars Nicole Kidman. It his first English language feature. His first film Tesis (Thesis) won seven Goyas, the Spanish equivalent of the Oscars, in 1997. His second movie, Abre los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) has been remade in the US. The film, Vanilla Sky, was made by Cameron Crowe and stars Tom Cruise.

Science and natural history writer Hannah Holmes. Her new book is The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things. (John Wiley & Sons) Among the interesting facts youl find in the book is this: within a juice glass sitting in the sun, you would find 25,000 microscopic pieces of dust, at a minimum. Holmes is also a regular contributor to the Discovery Channel Online.

Writer Julie Fenster. She written a new book about the coincidence and circumstance that led to the first use of ether, making surgery painless for the first time. The breakthru day — known as Ether Day — was Oct. 16, 1846. One of the men behind it was a Boston dentist, William Morton, who was also a conman and an opportunist. Fenster tells the story in her new book, Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made it (HarperCollins). Fenster is a columnist for American Heritage and a contributor to the New York Times.

In 1945 the USS. Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific. Nearly 900 men ended up in the water, but after four days fighting hypothermia, dehydration and sharks, only 317 crewmen survived. A talk with two of the survivors: Paul Murphy, Chairman of the Indianapolis Survivors Organization, and Harold Bray. Their story was told in the 1958 book Abandon Ship! The Saga of the USS. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster by Richard Newcomb which has just been republished (Harper).

South African journalists Mondli Makhanya talk about race and racism in their country in light of the upcoming U.N. conference on World Racism, which will be held in South Africa. Barrell is editor of Johannesburg Daily Mail & Guardian. Until his appointment as editor last year he was political editor of the M&G. Mondli Makhanya is the Political Editor of the Sunday Times.

We remember the world best known player of the mouth organ, Larry Adler. He died recently at the age of 87. He got started on vaudeville, and went on to perform with Fred Astaire, George Gershwin, Jack Benny and many others. When George Gershwin first heard Adler play Rhapsody in Blue on the mouth-organ he said, "It sounds as if the goddamned thing was written for you." Adler also played classical music and performed with a number of symphony orchestras. Adler moved to England after being blacklisted during the McCarthy hearings.

Filmmaker Joseph McCarthy. His new short is “The Brave Man.” It’s a retelling of the Battle of Brooklyn set in modern times. Sixteen red cars (mostly Ford Tauruses) represent the British. The actions of one man, General William Alexander, prevented a British victory that day in 1776. The film stars Graeme Malcolm as Alexander. The low-budget short is still not fully funded. McCarthy is also a creator of corporate promotional films.

Cancer researcher John Mendelsohn, M.D. is the president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas. We will talk about new developments in cancer treatment. Mendelsohn created a new cancer drug, known as C225. The drug shows great promise in treating a number of cancers by halting the growth of cancer cells. There has been an explosion in the number of cancer drugs in recent years.

Writer Simon Winchester wrote the best seller The Professor and the Madman. His new book is The Map That Changed the World (HarperCollins) about William Smith, an obscure British 19th century engineer obsessed with creating the first geological map. His map, hand-painted in 1815, paved the way for modern geology, but Smith was swindled out of the recognition and profits due him until a nobleman intervened.

An interview with film director Francis Ford Coppola, recorded at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Film critic Roger Ebert talks with Coppola about the re-edited version of his 1979 epic Apocalypse Now. The new cut includes an additional 49 minutes of material. It is currently showing in New York and L.A., and opens in other cities over the next couple of weeks.