At Night With Dan Riendeau

A landmark case in the United States Supreme Court will soon decide to what degree the shape of a smart phone can be patented and how much an infringer will have to pay. Tim Holbrook, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law

A team of researchers are tunneling into the darkest recesses of the ancient pyramids. But instead of shovels and picks they are using cutting edge computer imaging technology in an attempt to solve a nearly 4-thousand year old mystery: How were the pyramids built in the first place? Mehdi Tayoubi, President & co-founder of Scan Pyramids     

American the Anxious  In her mid 30’s journalist and filmmaker Ruth Whippman moved from her native Britain to California and discovered a culture obsessed with being happy – though few if any were actually achieving that lofty goal.  North America’s happiness mania, Whippmann argues, is paradoxically making us miserable. Ruth Whippmann, author of Ameica the Anxious: How our pursuit of happiness is creating a nation of nervous wrecks.  

There are Canadian troops fighting right now on the outskirts of Mosul in Western Iraq but you wouldn’t know it by watching the evening news or reading the newspapers.  There are no Canadian journalists covering our troops in this war because the government hasn’t allowed it – an inordinate, and in the view of my next guest, unjustified level of secrecy. Michael Den Tandt, Columnist for Post Media     

Donald Trump may be incoherent and erratic but that’s probably better than Hillary Clinton’s clear ideological adherence to the worst instincts of American foreign policy.  That’s the opinion of one former Regan official writing today at the Huffington Post.  Doug Bandow served as a Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan

The third and, mercifully, final debate in this interminable US election concluded last night. Nicky Woolf, reporter for Guardian US  

As is usual when a monarch passes the media fawned over the King of Thailand after his death last week at the age of 88.  What is often missed in the coverage of the Thai Monarchy is how it has presided over monstrous human rights abuses not the least of which is the tendency to jail anyone who speaks ill of the King. Andrew Mcgregor Marshall, journalist and author 

Chuck Berry turned 90 years old yesterday and to mark the occasion he announced that he would be releasing a new album next year - his first in nearly 40 years.

In her new book former Edmonton Sun crime reporter Pamela Roth takes a second look at some of the Alberta capitals most troubling cold cases. Pamela Roth, author of Deadmonton: Crime stories from Canada’s murder city                                                                              

In 1988 the CBC began airing what would turn out to be the weirdest, most transgressive and totally hilarious show in Canadian history.  The story of how the Kids in the Hall came to be is told in the new book This is a book about the Kids in the Hall. John Semley, Author  

It's been nearly two weeks since Hurricane Matthew tore through western Haiti. Hundreds are dead and the homes of more than 120-thousand families were damaged or destroyed. Jonathan M. Katz, Journalist and author of The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster.

The Iraqi Army along with Kurdish Peshmerga forces supported by American air power have begun an invasion of the city of Mosul.  The city has been held by the Islamic State since 2014. Dr. Sherifa Zuhur, Director, Institute of Middle Eastern, Islamic and Strategic Studies                                                                         Maggy Zanger, Professor of Practice, School of Journalism, University of Arizona 

In 1983 Scott Savitt arrived in China at the precise moment when the country was opening to the world for the first time in centuries.  Over the next 17 years Savitt would work as a reporter bearing witness to the enormous changes taking place in that country.  Ultimately he was jailed and then exiled from the country that he had grown to love.  Scott Savitt, author of Crashing the Party: An American reporter in China      

Pride is numbered as one of the seven deadly sins but in a new book psychologist Jessica Tracey argues that rather than being detrimental pride, properly defined, is one of the key features of what makes us human. Jessica Tracy, author Take Pride: Why the deadliest sin holds the secret to human happiness   

Bob Dylan is one of the most successful and influential msicians of the 20th century and now he can add another accolade to an already lengthy list.  Today he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first time a musician has ever been granted that honour. Geoff Edgers, Washington Post                                                   Gordon Ball, Professor of English, Washington and Lee University      

Football is still the dominant sport south of the border but dwindling attendance and TV ratings suggest the best days for the NFL may be behind us. Julian Rogers, Publisher of The Hit Job 

All the coverage of Donald Trump’s latest scandal has obscured a major development in the Middle East.  Yesterday the United States bombed a number of targets inside Yemen threatening to ensnare the US in another foreign war. Philip Stewart, Reuters 

On Saturday night Robert Plant will make his first appearance on Austin City Limits in fourteen years.  I take a look at Plant's wildly diverse and interesting career after Led Zepplein broke up in 1982.

The Saudi’s have agreed in principal to reduce their oil production a tacit admission that the price war they’ve waged for the last two years has failed to accomplish its goals. Jeffrey Jones, Reporter with The Globe and Mail

In 1963 the world’s understanding of Killer Whale was extremely limited – they were regarded as nuisances at best and dangerous monsters at worst.  That is until the first captive Orca arrived at the Vancouver Aquarium and created a sensation.  Mark Leiren-Young, author The Killer Whale Who Changed the World