Tupperware was once the cutting edge of kitchen technology — pastel plastic containers with airtight seals became icons of modern living. Today, scientists at MIT are designing the kitchen of the future — talking oven mitts and calorie-counting counter tops. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the new kitchen technology. Also, how leftovers became trash.

Michael Hawley teaches at MIT where he directs the Future Kitchen Project. He tells Jim Fleming that they're working on talking oven mitts to warn you when a pot's too hot to handle, an artificial tongue for custom seasoning, and a smart counter top. Also, Alison Clarke, a design historian and the author of "Tupperware: The Promise of Plastic in 1950s America," tells Judith Strasser that Tupperware was once the cutting edge of food technology and seemed too strange and modern when it first came out. Consumers got over it: there is now a Tupperware party somewhere in the world every 2.5 seconds.

Susan Strasser teaches history at the University of Delaware and is the author of "Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash." She tells Jim Fleming that trash is a 20th century phenomenon. Our ancestors re-used, re-cycled or sold off all sorts of scraps we now discard. Also, Judith Strasser (yes, they're sisters!) reads Shel Silverstein's poem "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out."

Chef Alice Waters tells Steve Paulson about the Edible Schoolyard Project at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. She explains why growing and preparing food is just as important to education as reading and arithmetic. Waters runs the world famous Chez Panisse restaurant and is the author of "The Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook." Also, toxicologist Carl Winters (also known as the Elvis of E. coli) directs the UC-Davis FoodSafe program, and writes and records food safety songs. We hear a few examples from his CDs "Sanitized for Your Consumption: A Menu of Musical Morsels" and "Stayin' Alive: A Hearty Helping of Food Follies and Science Serenades." You can check out his web site at http://foodsafe.ucdavis.edu/music.html

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/15/2001 - hour 2
• week of 10/24/99 - hour 2