Focus

Focus, or Focus 580, was WILL Radio's flagship talk program from 1981 until 2014. David Inge was the host from 1981 until his retirement in 2012. Always engaging, the program acted as a resource for citizens to directly question politicians and candidates as well as keep up on the arts, science, health, and even the latest from well-known novelists.

The Focus archive below offers thousands of great interviews and serves as a time capsule and a great resource for researchers and those just curious about how influential people spoke of important topics as they were happening.

Individual and Collective Memory Consolidation: Analogous Processes on Different Levels

Guests: Wenyi Zhang and Thomas J. Anastasio, Ph.D.

The process by which we form memories is known as consolidation: converting spare bits of information into a stable representation of events. But four University of Illinois faculty claim that this process does not only apply to individuals, but to social groups as well. This could imply the existence of collective retrograde amnesia—the loss of particular memories by an entire social group.

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The Social Conquest of Earth

Guest: Edward O. Wilson, Ph.D.

It seems that blood may not be thicker than water after all. Today on Focus, we're joined by renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson, who in his new book The Social Conquest of Earth claims that human evolution has not been driven by kin selection, but by group selection—meaning that we are not naturally predisposed to put family first. He'll discuss this and more on today's show.

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The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms

Guest: Amy Stewart.

To most people, worms may be nothing more than things to avoid on the sidewalk after a summer shower. But earthworms do much more than that: they plow the soil, fight diseases, and make fertile land out of ordinary dirt. Today's guest on Focus, writer Amy Stewart, takes us underground to investigate the numerous different species of this creature and how they contribute to the health of our planet and population.

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