WILL-AM

The 21st Show

Illinois has an official state bee: The Black and Golden Bumblebee. What sets this species of bees apart from others and what is the state of pollinators across Illinois? 

The 21st Show

Hundreds of Illinoisans have gotten sick this summer from the gastrointestinal disease cyclosporiasis. Two infectious disease specialists discuss what’s happening, who’s at risk, and what the role is of government in food safety.
 

Weather Realness

He’s back! Ed Kieser, former chief meteorologist at WILL radio returns to Illinois airways. We learn more about his career and his 1996 tornado forecast.

Weather Realness

Illinois has around 60 species of mosquitoes. Learn how climate and weather impacts them and if they pose a risk to public health. 

The 21st Show

Actor Jonathan Butler-Duplessis attended high school and college in Champaign. After more than a decade in regional theater, he made his Broadway debut in Hamilton. He discusses his life, growing up in the C-U area, and his work.

The 21st Show

Roughly 1,000 Black men were trained in Tuskegee, Alabama to serve as Army aviators in World War II. Nearly 100 were killed — and of those, 27 went missing. Most were never recovered, leaving a trail of unresolved grief that would haunt their families for decades.

Their stories are the subject of a new book called “Forgotten Souls: The Search for the Lost Tuskegee Airmen" by Cheryl Whitlow Thompson. An award-winning investigative journalist, Thompson is currently a reporter and editor at NPR. She's also a native of Chicago and earned two degrees from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The 21st Show

The author of Growing up in Public: Coming of Age in a Digital World shares how to manage a generation that operates online all the time.

The 21st Show

Palestinian Aziz Abu Sarah and Israeli Maoz Inon have written a book called “The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land.” They discuss why they choose peace over vengeance and how their personal losses motivate their advocacy. 

The 21st Show

He's a Normal, Illinois native who went to U. of I. and ended up writing music for Sesame Street.

She's the puppeteer behind Abby Cadabby — and she just won an Emmy for it.

They also happen to be married.

Composer Paul Rudolph and puppeteer Leslie Carrara-Rudolph joined The 21st Show to talk about what makes Abby special, how to write music for Muppets, making instruments from found objects, and how puppetry can reach children who've been through tough times.

The 21st Show

It’s the official policy of the U.S. government to work toward putting people on Mars. Debates about that usually focus on cost and national priorities. Less considered is what life on Mars would do to the people who go there.

That, however, is the subject of a new book by scientist Scott Solomon. It’s called Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds. Solomon was raised in Champaign, attended University High in Urbana, and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.