WYPR: Midday with Dan Rodricks Podcast

It used to be eggs came two ways: brown and white. But today consumers have a larger choice: free-range, organic, cage free and “all natural.” We’ll talk about the burgeoning egg industry and the backyard hen movement with our guests: Cathy Hudson, who raises chickens in Howard County and is an activist for the backyard movement;and Jesse Laflamme, whose Nellie’s Eggs sells cage-free eggs from 50 small, family farms. (Original Air Date: May 1st)

In gentrified city neighborhoods across America, including Baltimore, many middle-class parents face a crucial question: Should we send our kids to a public school, a private school or a charter school -- or should we just move to the suburbs? Where can children get a good education in a racially and economically diverse setting, and how important is that? Education policy expert Michael J. Petrilli faced that question and has written a book about what he calls The Diverse Schools Dilemma. Petrilli, a former education official under George W. Bush, is executive vice president at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, an education think tank. He lives in Maryland. (Original Air Date: January 10th)

Author Po Bronson explores what compels us to compete, why our culture is driven toward competition, and the hidden factors behind every sort of win and loss — from bringing home Gold in Olympic swimming to bombing the SAT. Bronson is the co-author of Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing. (Original Air Date: March27th)

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Michael Moss surveys the giant processed foods industry and its complicity in the U.S. obesity epidemic, now effecting one in three adults and one in five children. Moss is the author of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. (Original Air Date: March 25th)

Former USA Today reporter Maria Goodavage takes war coverage in a different direction by sharing the stories of military dogs and the roles they played over the years in combat. Goodavage is the author of "Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes." (Original Air Date: January 31st)

Spring has most certainly sprung, and for the many green thumbs that means getting in the garden once again. Baltimore Sun columnist Susan Reimer is back for another Midday gardening hour. She’ll share her tricks for getting the best results and why we’re in what she calls an “impatiens crisis.” (Original Air Date: April 30th)

Temple Grandin, an inventor, speaker, and author, is one of the most well-known people living with Autism in the world. She’ll be joining us to share her life story, as well as the latest research on the disorder. Grandin is the author of The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum.

A look at the affect the year 1913 had on American history with a panel of guests including Marin Alsop of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Charles Emmerson, author of 1913: The World Before the Great War.

When’s the last time you heard violin music? Actually, the violin is heard so regularly that you don’t even think about it. Historian David Schoenbaum has done extensive research on the origin and evolution of this common and indispensable instrument. He is the author of "The Violin: A Social History of the World’s Most Versatile Instrument." (Original Air Date: March 13th)

Is big business to blame for such public health crises as diabetes and obesity? Author Wenonah Hauter examines food, farm policy and public health in "Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America." Hauter is an organic farmer in Virginia and executive director of the Washington-based watchdog organization Food & Water Watch. (Original Air Date: February 11th)

Booze. Iffy. Cool. Lunatic fringe. Maryland-based author and language maven Paul Dickson has assembled an entertaining glossary of words and phrases coined over the years by American presidents. Dickson is the author of Words from the White House: Words and Phrases Coined or Popularized by America's Presidents. (Original Air Date: April 4th)

A look at what makes certain ideas, videos, commercials and products quickly gain popularity in the modern age with Jonah Berger, author of "Contagious: Why Things Catch On." Berger is an assistant professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. (Original Air Date: April 10th)

In a new memoir, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams writes that ordinary people are capable of achieving extraordinary things. She joins us to share how she went from a small-town girl with working-class roots to an internationally recognized human rights advocate known for her work banning landmines. Her book is, My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize. (Original Air Date: April 29th)

This hour, we take a look at U.S. military leadership from WWII and Gen. George C. Marshall to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus. Leading us through this discussion is Thomas Ricks, a veteran journalist and former Washington Post Pentagon correspondent, who argues that today’s military leadership is far inferior to what it was in the past. Ricks is the author of the controversial new book “The Generals: American Military Command from WWII to Today.” (Original Air Date: February 18th)

University of Maryland theoretical physicist Sylvester “Jim” Gates was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Obama. Prof. Gates directs the University’s Center for String and Particle Theory; he was the first African-American to ever hold an endowed chair in physics at a major U.S. research university. He joins us to discuss his ideas about the universe, with Midday on Science contributor John Monahan. (Original Air Date: April 8th)