Michael M. Baden Discusses the Insights to be Gleaned from Autopsies.
Medical examiner Michael M. Baden. In his new book, Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner, Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, reviews the record of famous autopsies of the last 30 years as evidence of a pattern of bungled investigations of unnatural deaths. Baden, who has been a medical examiner for 30 years, views his profession as a historian or anthropologist who revisits ruined or questionable autopsies in the hopes of correcting history. Baden is now director of the forensic sciences unit for the New York State Police. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)
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Other segments from the episode on July 19, 1989
Bootlegger Makes it Possible to Hear Magda Olivero Sing "Adriana Lecouvreur" for the Final Time.
Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new issue of a live recording of the opera "Adriana Lecouvreur" by the Italian composer Francesco Cilea. In this performance, Cilea's favorite soprano, Magda Olivero, sings the title role. This recording was made by a fan who snuck in a tape recorder to what turned out to be Olivero's farewell performance in the role.
Mary Kay Blakely Shares What It's Like to Be in a Coma.
Writer Mary Kay Blakely. In 1984, shortly after a divorce, a recent diagnosis of diabetes, the suicide of a brother and a series of missed deadlines in her job as a journalist, Blakely collapsed into a coma. The coma lasted nine days, and when Blakely awoke, she saw the coma as a signal that the crush of commitments and societal pressures had overwhelmed her body, that "the life she planned no longer fit the woman she had become." Blakely writes about her journey back from her coma and her decision to redirect her life in her book Wake Me When It's Over.
Looking Back on the Apollo Program.
On the eve of the 20th anniversary of man's first walk on the moon, commentator Stewart Brand shares his thoughts on space exploration and how it has changed us. Brand is founder of The Whole Earth Catalog.
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