Tagged: Inventors and Innovators

When we say that someone is a "tinkerer," we might be offering a word of praise...or a put-down. Today's edition of ST explores the positive definition of the "tinkerer," as a creative inventor or innovator.

(Please note that this show first aired back in May.) What do we mean when we call someone an "amateur"? What are we saying? As it happens, there are many answers to this question. On this edition of ST, we speak with Jack Hitt, a contributing editor to The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and public radio’s This American Life.

Our guest is Dr. Ricki Lewis, a geneticist, journalist, professor, and genetic counselor. She's also the author of one of the most widely used college textbooks about genetics --- "Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications" (now in its tenth edition) --- and her latest book, just out from St. Martin's Press, is "The Forever Fix: Gene Therapy and the Boy Who Saved It." Dr. Lewis will be a featured speaker later this week at the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society's Annual Conference, which has been happening here in Tulsa since Saturday the 26th.

On this edition of ST, which originally aired last fall, we welcome back Steven Johnson, the bestselling and award-winning author of several books on science and technology.

What do we mean when we call someone an "amateur"? What are we saying? As it happens, there are many answers to this question. On this edition of ST, we speak with Jack Hitt, a contributing editor to The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and public radio’s This American Life.