Finding the perfect mate has always been hard, but don't worry, a technological cupid is at hand. In Japan, a new electronic device is beeping when a possible love connection is nearby, and a lot of people think the future of dating lies in love tags. In the hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, finding love in the in the 21st century. Also how the brain melts the heart, the pros and cons of arranged marriages, and Bridget Jones' diary.

Helen Fielding talks with Jim Fleming about her fabulously successful character, Bridget Jones. Introduced in Bridget Jones's Diary, her adventures continue in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. Fielding says the character combines the madcap with a dash of real life. Also, Michelle McDonald is the designer of the "Matchstick." It's a small electronic gizmo that lights up when you're near someone with similar interests. McDonald tells Steve Paulson how it works.

Antony Bielensohn tells Jim Fleming about SpeedDating, the solution to the problem of meeting suitable social companions dreamed up by a Jewish group in Los Angeles. People gather and experience 7 or 8 mini-dates in one evening. Also, novelist Chitra Divakaruni tells Steve Paulson that the attitudes toward love, courtship and arranged marriages are very different in India from those in the West. She says most rural marriages in India are arranged. Divakaruni's latest novel is Sister of My Heart.

Writer bell hooks (no upper case letters!) Talks with Judith Strasser about the human need for love, and what happens to young people who are deprived of love. bell hooks' latest book is All about Love. Also, psychiatrist Thomas Lewis tells Jim Fleming about A General Theory of Love. The book spells out Lewis' scientific explanation of how brains in love communicate with each other and even change their structure.

Distribution dates:

• week of 07/15/2001 - hour 2
• week of 03/19/2000 - hour 2