Terry Gross

Republicans in Illinois have asked Alan Keyes to run against Barack Obama for the U.S. Senate. Keyes, a resident of Maryland, has served in a number of government posts, including U.S. ambassador to the United Nations economic and social council and assistant secretary of state for international organizations. He also hosted his own radio show.

Journalist Jon Cohen recently finished a four-part series on HIV and AIDS in Asia for the Science Magazine. In researching the series, he traveled to six countries and talked to doctors, patients, public health officials, sex workers and drug users. Cohen has been writing about the AIDS epidemic for 15 years. His book on the search for a vaccine is called Shots in the Dark.

Her new film Stander is based on the true story of Andre Stander, a young white policeman in Johannesburg, South Africa, who in the 1970s became a notorious bank robber.

Filmmakers Chris Kentis and Laura Lau talk about their new film Open Water. The movie is based on the true story of an Australian couple who went scuba diving and then were left stranded by their charter boat. The low-budget film was shot on hand-held digital cameras, without a crew, and with real sharks. In fact the filmmakers placed the two actors in the water along with the sharks, with the help of a shark handler.

Graham Allison is an expert on nuclear weapons and national security. In his new book, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, he argues that avoiding a catastrophic nuclear event needs to be a higher priority for the U.S. government.

Filmmakers Josh Marston and Orlando Tobon discuss Maria Full of Grace, their film about a Colombian girl who swallows pellets of narcotics and travels on a plane to New York. In real life, Tobon runs a travel agency that arranges transport back to Colombia for dead smugglers, who have died when the pellets burst.

Lisa Scottoline's Killer Smile was inspired by a secret in her family's past: Her immigrant-Italian grandparents were listed as "enemy aliens" during World War II, and the FBI raided their house. But her grandparents did nothing wrong and were never accused of anything.

Dr. Mark Hochberg is the CEO of the College of Physicians in Philadelphia, a private medical society that was founded in 1787 that includes the fourth largest medical historical library in the country, and the Mutter Museum. He'll talk about his colleague Gretchen Worden.

Dowd's new book collects more than 100 of her columns from the New York Times. Bushworld begins with George H.W. Bush and continues with the presidency of George W. Bush. Dowd won a Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for her commentary on the Clinton impeachment.

Franks, formerly the commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command, led the American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. He says the United States did not anticipate the insurgency that followed the invasion of Iraq, and he warns against underestimating Osama bin Laden. He's written a new memoir, American Soldier.