Paleontologist Jack Horner discovered some of the most significant fossil records of dinosaurs, which suggest that the animals cared for their young and traveled in herds.
Former Monkees member Michael Nesmith helped pioneer the music video and created the blueprint for MTV. He now runs the home video production company, Pacific Arts Video, which he financed with an inheritance from his mother, who invented Liquid Paper.
The new film, a thriller about drug smuggling, was written by Robert Towne, who is considered by many to be the best screenwriter in Hollywood. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the movie is a sensual feast.
Rock critic Ken Tucker says that the band's new album lives up to its name: 'Til Tuesday is now no longer a band, but a vehicle for singer and songwriter Aimee Man. Tucker says the heartbreak-riddled record has an elegantly formal structure.
Hamilton says he'll always be pigeonholed as a New Yorker cartoonist; his work regularly appears in that magazine. His new novel, The Lap of Luxury, is about marrying into a rich family.
Lloyd Schwartz says that Spanish cellist's renditions of Bach are unrivaled. He reviews Casals' complete performances the composer's cello suite, as well as a more recent recording of Beethoven's trios.
Peter Sichrovsky's lives in Austria, and is the child of Holocaust survivors who grew up alongside the children of former Nazis. He is interested in how the generation after World War II dealt with their parents' experiences during this time, either as perpetrators or victims of violence. Sichrovsky's books include Strangers in Their Own Land and Born Guilty.
Smith is host of a popular PBS television program and author of the best-sellers The Money Game, Supermoney and Paper Money. His new book, titled The Roaring 80s, looks at the previous decade, which he says has been characterized by easy debt, easy spending and an amiable hands-off attitude by Washington. Smith says a camparison with another era of high living - the roaring 20s - is unavoidable.
Book critic John Leonard reviews African Madness, a new collection of travel essays by Alex Shumatoff, a New Yorker staff writer who seeks to capture the changing face of sub-Saharan African.
The British journalist reports on Washington politics for The Nation, Spectator, and Harper's. He's frustrated by the tendency of news outlets to avoid reporting facts about political figures that may seem partisan or outwardly critical. A collection of his columns, titled Prepared for the Worst, has just been published.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles the career of the late musician, who, as a teenager, first plucked America's heartstrings on the TV show "The Adventure of Ozzie and Harriet."
Saxophonist Bobby Watson learned a lot about band dynamics from performing with the acclaimed drummer. Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says Watson's new album, No Question About It, features excellent performances from all the players, but the arrangements go on a little too long before the improvising begins.
Erwitt got his start early, shortly after he left the Army. He's worked as a photojournalist and commercial photographer, and takes personal pictures as well. Erwitt's new book is called Personal Exposures.
Television critic David Bianculli reviews the new show TV 101, about a student who covers his high school's news on closed-circuit television. Bianculli says the premise and cast are excellent; he only hopes that the show can eventually live up to its potential.
Critic-at-large Laurie Stone explores the work of the AIDS activist organization ACT UP, and the artist collective associated with them, Grand Fury. In light of the recent rise of inaccurate and hateful messages about people with the disease, Grand Fury launched a street art campaign throughout New York City to educate the public.
Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his favorite songs of the moment, performed by Annie Lennox and Al Green, Lucinda Williams, Shinehead, Billy Bragg, and Fairground Attraction
Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews the new Christmas movie Scrooged, which is a modern take on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Schiff says that, while the casting of Bill Murray was inspired, the film is caught between schmaltz and humbug, and ends up being nothing at all.
Newman worked in newspapers, radio and television. He joins Fresh Air to talk about the importance of language in journalism, the voice he adopted to report on tragedies and assassinations, and how he filled airtime when the copy ran out. A new collection of his columns is called I Must Say.
