Midday on WNYC

On August 26 and 27th, scientists and students descended on Central Park and worked around the clock to tally the species of flora and fauna found there. Called the Bioblitz, this census was developed by the Central Park Conservancy and Macaulay Honor College at CUNY to measure the park’s biodiversity. Amy Berkov, a tropical ecologist and Mary Pearl, conservationist and Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College tell us about the Bioblitz's findings. 

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman tells us why he's seeking the release of documents related to the 1971 Attica prison riot.

In December 2010 Paypal, credit companies, and a number of major banks were attacked by online activists upset over the companies' decisions to block donations to Wikileaks. Today, a group of defendents dubbed the “Paypal 14” will appear in Federal Court. Reporter Aarti Shahani looks at the case and what free speech means in the era of “hacktivism.”

Acclaimed pianist and 2013 MacArthur Fellow Jeremy Denk performs some of Bach’s Goldberg Variations live in our studios. His latest album is J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations. He’ll also talk about his writing for The New Yorker.

Clara Moskowitz, an associate editor at Scientific American, talks about  the things that particle physicists most want answers to. Her article "5 Unanswered Questions That Will Keep Physicists Awake at Night” appears on Scientific American’s Observation blog.

Ben Schott explains the German language and discusses his book Schottenfreude: German Words for the Human Condition, a dictionary of newly coined words that explore the idiosyncrasies of life as only the German language can. German allows you to construct specific words for a secret love of bad foods, the inability to remember jokes, Sunday-afternoon depression, the urge to yawn, the glee of gossip, reassuring your hairdresser, delight at the changing of the seasons, the urge to hoard, or the ineffable pleasure of a cold pillow.

Piers Morgan, host of the CNN show Piers Morgan Live, discusses his childhood in England to his career as a tabloid editor to his rise to fame in the United States. Shooting Straight: Guns, Gays, God, and George Clooney offers an inside view of the real-time drama behind covering breaking news stories such as the killing of Osama bin Laden, Hurricane Sandy, and the massacre at Newtown. He talks about his love affair with America and with the news business.

Boston Globe reporters Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy discuss the astonishing criminal career of and epic manhunt for the Boston gangster Whitey Bulger. Whitey Bulger: America’s Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt that Brought Him to Justice is based on exclusive access and previously undisclosed documents, and it provides a full portrait of this legendary criminal figure—from his upbringing to his crimes to his dramatic capture in Santa Monica in June 2011,  to his trial this year.

Musician and songwriter Donald Fagen discusses his musical career in Steely Dan and as a solo artist and recounts the cultural figures that shaped him. In his memoir, Eminent Hipsters, he writes of escaping Cold War-era suburban life by reading science fiction and going  into New York City to hear jazz. He recounts his college days, his time in Steely Dan, and offers a cranky account of the ups and downs of a recent cross-country tour he made with Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald.

Chrisann Brennan talks about her relationship with Steve Jobs, which began in high school. She describes Jobs’s ascent and the toll it took on her as his girlfriend, co-parent, friend, and object of his cruelty. The Bite in the Apple: A Memoir of My Life with Steve Jobs is about her life with Jobs, an idealistic young man who was driven to change the world, about a young father who denied his own child, and a man who she says mistook power for love.

A year after Sandy, many parts of the New York arts community are still struggling to get back on their feet. Glass artist Renee Radenberg, lost her home and art studio in the storm surge. Zach Feuer is the owner of Zach Feuer Gallery, which lost roughly 700 pieces of art. Kevin Cunningham is artistic director of 3-Legged Dog Media and Theater Group, which suffered severe water damage.

WNYC's Matthew Shuerman discusses what’s changed and what hasn’t since Sandy hit New York—from waterfront development to disaster planning to how the discussion of  storm recovery in the mayor’s race.

Robert M. Fogelson tells the fascinating but little-known story of the battles between landlords and tenants in New York from 1917 through 1929. His book The Great Rent Wars: New York, 1917-1929traces the tumultuous history of rent control in New York from its inception to its expiration as it unfolded in New York, Albany, and Washington, D.C. Fogelson also explores the heated debates over landlord-tenant law, housing policy, and other issues that are as controversial today as they were a century ago.

Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi discuss Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, available for the first time in an American edition and featuring 140 recipes culled from the popular Ottolenghi restaurants and inspired by the diverse culinary traditions of the Mediterranean. Yotam Ottolenghi’s four eponymous restaurants—each a patisserie, deli, restaurant, and bakery rolled into one—are among London’s most popular culinary destinations.

Just in time for Halloween, this week’s Please Explain is all about candy! Samira Kawash tells the story of how candy evolved from a luxury good to a cheap, everyday snack. In Candy: A Century of Panic and Pleasure she explores the history and cultural history of candy and examines how candy became the most loved and loathed of processed foods.