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Since its national debut in 1987, Fresh Air with Terry Gross has been a highly acclaimed and much adored weekday magazine among public radio listeners. Each week, nearly 4.8 million people turn to Peabody Award-winning host Terry Gross for insightful conversations with the leading voices in contemporary arts and issues. The renowned program reaches a global audience, with over 620 public radio stations broadcasting Fresh Air, and 3 million podcast downloads each week. Fresh Air has broken the mold of 'talk show' by weaving together superior journalism and intimate storytelling from modern-day intellectuals, politicians and artists alike. Through probing questions and careful research, Gross's interviews are lauded for revealing a fresh perspective on cultural icons and trends. Her thorough conversations are often complemented by commentary from well-known contributors. Fresh Air is produced at WHYY-FM in Philadelphia and broadcast nationally by NPR., INT.1: ANDREW WEIL. He's a doctor of holistic medicine and an ethnobotanist, which is the study of how medicinal plants are used in different cultures. REV.1: Rock historian ED WARD gets a jump on April Fool's Day by sharing what he classifies as "the worst music ever recorded." INT.2: ETHLIE ANN VARE and GREG PTACEK, authors of the book Mothers of Invention, a compilation of inventions by women. Some have been rather mundane, like Liquid Paper and drip coffee. But others include radium, the computer language COBOL and the first computer compiler. The authors are better known for their writing about rock and roll. REV.2: Book critic JOHN LEONARD reviews The Ark Sakura, a new novel by Japanese writer Kobo Abe (Koe-boe Ah-bay). Abe's other books include The Woman in the Dunes and The Ruined Map. The Ark Sakura is a surreal vision of contemporary social and environmental problems.