Joining me via Skype to discuss the nomination of Bronx-born Sonia Sotomayor to the highest court in the land is Dahlia Lithwick, a senior editor at Slate.com, and Jenny Rivera, CUNY School of Law professor and director of CUNY's Center on Latino and Latina Rights and Equality.

In our second segment, I had the pleasure to meet Maggie Haynes who manages the combat stress recovery programs for the Wounded Warrior Project, and student fundraiser Julie Zucker, who used the Facebook social-networking site to raise a small fortune for vets with TBI. Julie sent the funds she raised to ReEmind, a TBI group founded by journalist Bob Woodruff.

Finally, this week I got the chance to discuss the power of attention management with Winifred Gallagher, author of the wonderful self-help book "Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life", and Dr. Charles Schroeder, from the Cognitive Neuroscience and Shizophrenia Program at the Nathan S. Kline Institute of Psychiatric Research.

Brian kicks off this week's show with a Recession FAQ segment for couples. Sitting in with Brian is couples therapist and Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services Advanced Training Program faculty member Holly Brown. Holly shares some secrets with Brian on how to get along during tough times.

Also joining Brian this week is Jeffrey Yang, cultural journalist and editor in chief of Secret Identities: The Asian-American Superhero Anthology.

Finally, Brian was joined in the studio this week by Columbia PhD candidate and NASA astronomy ambassador Cameron Hummels and Derek Pitts, Chief Astronomer at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.

Plus, a computer animation sample from a British amateur astronomer who goes by the name Invader Xan. Here's a link to some more videos on his YouTube channel.

For more information about Columbia's Astronomy and Astrophysics program visit their public outreach website

NASA's YouTube channel and live feed.

This week Brian kicks things off with a Recession FAQ segment on the collaborative workspaces now available to New Yorkers. He is joined by New Work City founder and local coworking advocate Tony Bacigalupo.

Brian is joined by Huntington Chevrolet owner Greg Williams and National Association of Minority Auto Dealers president Damon Lester to discuss the impact the auto industry reorganization is having on those in the trenches.

In our final segment, Zipcar's general manager in New York Joel Johnson joins Brian in the studio while PhillyCarShare founder Eli Massar checks in from Philadelphia via Skype to talk about some of the differences between non-profit and for-profit car-sharing services.

Plus, a final web video pick that shows how even the lowly pizza box is worthy of a makeover.