Terry Gross

Writer Richard Preston talks with Barbara Bogaev about the emerging threat of biological weapons. In this week's The New Yorker magazine, Preston writes about the former Soviet Union's research into biological weapons. His new novel "Cobra" (Random House) explores the use of bio-weapons in a civilian setting. Preston also wrote the international bestseller "The Hot Zone." (Interview by Barbara Bogaev)

Film Director and choreographer Stanley Donen. At the upcoming Academy Awards he'll be given an honorary Oscar for what the Academy calls "a body of work marked by grace, elegance, wit, and visual innovation." Done directed "On the Town," "Singin' in the Rain," "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," "Funny Girl," and more.

Cinematographer David Breashears. The first American to climb Mount Everest twice; In 1996 he took his camera to film from Mount Everest's summit. It coincided with a May blizzard that left several climbers from other expeditions dead. (Chronicled by John Krakuer in his book, "Into Thin Air.") Breashears' film of his own expedition is titled "Everest," and will be released this month. (REBROADCAST from 11/11/97) (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Iranian film maker and film professor Jamsheed Akrami will discuss film making in Iran and Iran's Fajr (FAH-jer) Film Festival which took place in February. This year's festival included a juried competition for international films and was open to Iran's independent and government sponsored producers.

Jerry Strahan is the author of the memoir "Managing Ignatius: The Lunacy of Lucky Dogs and Life in the Quarter" (Louisiana State University) about his 20 years managing Lucky Dogs, Inc., a fleet of hot dog carts in New Orleans, French Quarter. Strahan writes that he works among panhandlers, prostitutes, pimps, con artists, drifters, transvestites, and more.

Brother Victor-Antoine D'Avila-Latourette cooks and tends garden at Our Lady of the Resurrection Monastery near Millbrook, New York. He's the author of several bestselling cookbooks including: "From a Monastery Kitchen" (Triumph Books), "Twelve Months of Monastery Soups" (Broadway books), as well as his introductory book to the Monastic Life: "A Monastic Year: Reflections from a Monastery" (Taylor Publishing). (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane).

A talk with The New York Times' Youssef Ibrahim who is in Baghdad where he's been reporting on the situation in Iraq. Meanwhile, U.S. Military forces remain in the Middle East, waiting for the United Nation's weapons inspections to begin in Iraq. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Dean Hamer is Chief of Gene Structure and Regulation at the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Biochemistry. He's the co-author of "Living with Our Genes: Why They Matter More Than You Think" (Doubleday). The book is about Hamer's research looking at how specific genes are linked to our behavior, traits like anxiety, thrill-seeking, and homosexuality. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Neil Jacobson is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Washington, and a pioneer in the scientific study of marital therapy. He is co-author (w/John Gottman, author of "Why Marriages Succeed or Fail") of "When Men Batter Women: New Insights into Ending Abusive Relationships" (Simon & Schuster). The book is based on their decade of research with 200 couples in which they observed the arguments of severely violent couples. Their research shatters a couple of myths: that women batter too, and that women often provoke men into battering them.

First-time author, Irene Vilar. Her book "The Ladies' Gallery: A Memoir of Family Secrets" (Vintage) is now in paperback. This memoir chronicles three generations of self-destructive behavoir: in 1954, her grandmother was imprisoned for opening fire at the U.S. House of Representatives; in 1977, her mother lept to her death from a speeding car; and in 1988, she was committed to a psychiatric hospital after attempting suicide.