Lu Olkowski

A generation of Chinese artists left the country in the 1980s and 90s. Some found great success in the west, but China still looms large in their minds. Lu Olkowski talks with artists about why calligraphy and ink drawing seem so 21st century.

If you know any kids in grade school, you know this thing: it’s made of little plastic rods folded together into a spikey ball. When you pull out the segments, the Hoberman Sphere opens up into a big ball, three times its original size. And now a big ...

The CBS animated series Creature Comforts features the voices of real people in real conversations, set to various animals. Radio producer Lu Olkowski recorded her own parents, Bob and Kathy Olkowski, for the show. Kathy was hoping she and her husband would be represented as little clay lovebirds; ...

Astrophysicist Michael Salamon, who works at NASA's Universe Division, says Walt Whitman –- and a lot of other poets -- misunderstood the beauty of the heavens. Give him a few minutes with Whitman, Salamon says, and the poet would have some revising to do. Produced by

A creative community called LVHRD, pronounced "live hard," hosts Iron Chef-like contests for creative professionals.Lu Olkowskiattended a special LVHRD challenge: two teams of landscape architects going head to head, designing in cheese.

Trombonist J. Walter Hawkes, who now plays with Norah Jones, almost quit music. He was going to pursue a more regular-guy path in computer programming. But then a horrible accident changed his life path. Produced by Lu Olkowski.

People often depict scientists as coldly rational. Physicist Michael Salamon, who works at NASA's Universe Division, takes issue with that. He explains why Walt Whitman misunderstood the beauty of the universe, and why Maxwell's Equations are like a sexual experience. Produced by Lu Olkowski.

Did you ever wonder who decides the color of your shampoo bottle? As part of our on-going series about creativity and science, Lu Olkowski talks with a polymer chemist who creates pigment formulas for plastics at the Engelhard Corporation.

Don Ingber is a cell biologist from Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital. One day he saw a piece of modern sculpture and—Eureka!-he was inspired to make a major breakthrough in biology. Lu Olkowski reports on the unlikely epiphany.

Fisher-Price called the PXL-2000 "the first camcorder for kids." It turned out to be the only one: children weren't interested. But, as Lu Olkowski found out, some aspiring film directors were.

The entertainment industry demands that performers have flawless, youthful, and unlined faces. Actress and teacher Heather Rashe just finished her dissertation about actresses and their anxieties about aging. She told Lu Olkowski about what’s at stake for women who perform in front of a camera.

A beautifully designed tractor is the kind of farm equipment that’s guaranteed to induce childlike awe in even the slickest city dweller. Lu Olkowski visited a few farmers in upstate New York and asked them why these machines inspire so much devotion. 

One of the best known personality tests is the Thematic Apperception Test, which asks patients to imagine a story based on a picture of an ambiguous scene. The "TAT" is undergoing its biggest overhaul since its creation 70 years ago, which means psychologists are having to think deeply about ...

First-time director Zana Briski’s documentary Born into Brothels is short-listed for this year’s Oscars. A few years ago Briski, a photographer, found herself giving photography lessons to children living in the brothels of Calcutta’s red light district. She told Lu Olkowski about the challenges of trying to change ...

A beautifully designed tractor is the kind of farm equipment that’s guaranteed to induce childlike awe in even the slickest city dweller. Lu Olkowski visited a few farmers in upstate New York and asked them why these machines inspire so much devotion. 

In 1985 photographer Andrea Modica had taken a teaching job in upstate New York when she first met Barbara who was six years old. She continued to photograph Barbara for the next 16 years. Produced by Lu Olkowski.

Fisher Price called the PXL-2000 “the first camcorder for kids.” It also turned out to be the only one. Children weren’t interested, but some directors were.

(Originally aired: July 4, 2002)

Fisher Price called the PXL-2000 “the first camcorder for kids." It also turned out to be the only one. Children weren’t interested, but some directors were.