Athena Aktipis on The Cheating Cell: How Evolution Helps Us Understand And Treat Cancer.
Cancer has been part of life since the origins of evolution.
Apr 16, 2020
At length with Steve Scher. - The House of Podcasts
Interviewer and journalist Steve Scher holds in-depth conversations with authors, thinkers and artists about social. scientific and cultural issues.
Series 2 of the podcast is supported by Town Hall Seattle.
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Episodes
At Length with Alva Noë
Baseball inspires poets and scribes to wax on about some essential baseball-ness that reflects larger values. Maybe baseball is not simply a game, but something grander, a philosophy that might help people order the broader human experience? Alva Noë is a writer and a philosopher who thinks about baseball. His latest book is Infinite Baseball: Notes from a Philosopher at the Ballpark
Sep 06, 2019
At Length with Charles Fishman, "One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us To The Moon."
We think of the astronauts, those brave people who took a ride on a giant rocket ship into the unknown on their way to the moon. Charles Fishman got to thinking about the more than four hundred thousand working people who actually invented the space program, switch by switch, stitch by stitch, making the dream a reality.
Jun 23, 2019
At Length with Neal Stephenson, "Fall; or, Dodge in Hell"
What will the digital world of the future be like? Will humans, or our eternally humming digital simulacra, live in heaven or hell?
Jun 03, 2019
At Length with Rachel Louise Snyder, author of "No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us."
Journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has looked at domestic violence around the world in her new book “ No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us.”
May 21, 2019
At Length with Dr. Sandro Galea, "Well: What We Need To Talk About When We Talk About Health."
health, according to Dr. Sandro Galea, isn’t going to actually occur, for individuals or societies, if we stay focused at that level of attention and care. Health should be considered how everyone lives in their neighborhoods, the opportunities that exist in education and employment. Sandro Galea is an innovator in epidemiology. He is Dean and Professor at Boston University School of Public Health ....
May 07, 2019
At Length with Mary Norris, author of "Greek To Me: Adventures of The Comma Queen
After a career of carefully editing so many accomplished writers, language and punctuation remain a joy to Marry Norris, renowned New Yorker Copy Editor. Her first book, “Between You and Me: Confessions of AComma Queen,” was nominated for a Thurber Prize for American Humor. In her follow up, “Greek To Me: Adventures of The Comma Queen ,” Norris shares her love for the Greek language, culture and land....
Apr 20, 2019
Copy of At Length with Hedrick Smith, Winning Back Our Democracy
A broken democracy, perhaps like a broken clock, can be right sometimes. Journalist Hedrick Smith’s new film, “Winning Back Our Democracy,” profiles citizen activists around the United States who are making a difference. As one Florida activist put it, if it can happen in their state, maybe community by community, an end to gerrymandering and a commitment to one person one vote can become a reality.
Apr 12, 2019
At Length with Hedrick Smith, Winning Back Our Democracy
A broken democracy, perhaps like a broken clock, can be right sometimes. Journalist Hedrick Smith’s new film, “Winning Back Our Democracy,” profiles citizen activists around the United States who are making a difference. As one Florida activist put it, if it can happen in their state, maybe community by community, an end to gerrymandering and a commitment to one person one vote can become a reality.
Apr 05, 2019
At Length with Siri Hustvedt
Siri Hustvedt talks about scholarship, teaching story to psychiatry residents and her new book about memory and time in her new novel, “Memories of the Future.”
Mar 20, 2019
At Length with Frans De Waal
“Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell us About Ourselves” by Frans De Waal raises a troubling question that challenges humans place in the world. If animals, from mice and fish to apes and birds, have emotional intelligence, can recognize happiness or distress in themselves and in others, then aren’t we humans obligated to at least allow them to live decent lives. Science, unyoked from the stimulus-response view of animals as automatons is discovering that animals order their worl...
Mar 08, 2019
At Length with Arne Duncan
Arne Duncan served as President Obama’s Secretary of Education. His assessment of the nation’s efforts to educate children and of his own tenure in federal office is “How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education.”
Dec 12, 2018
At Length with Octavio Solis, "Retablos."
Octavio Solis is an award-winning working playwright immersed in the culture and politics of our time. His plays tell the stories of rural America, of Latino America, of border America. He comes to Town Hall Seattle December 4th, the Rainier Arts Center, to read from his new book, a collection of short dream-like stories of his life growing up along the US Mexico Border, “Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border.”...
Dec 01, 2018
At Length with Marie Wong Part 2
An extended walk through Seattle’s Chinatown/International District with scholar Marie Wong. “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels” is the Seattle University professor’s historical examination of this vibrant Seattle neighborhood. The interview came out of an assignment for Seattle Magazine, published in the December 2018 issue....
Nov 29, 2018
At Length with Marie Wong on Seattle's International District
An extended walk through Seattle’s Chinatown/International District with scholar Marie Wong. “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels” is the Seattle University professor’s historical examination of this vibrant Seattle neighborhood. The interview came out of an assignment for Seattle Magazine published in the December 2018 issue focused on Wong’s work and the future of the ID.
Nov 29, 2018
At Length with Rob Reich on the Failures of Philanthropy
Through their wealth, philanthropists influence society. Is that fair? As it is currently set-up, Rob Reich says it isn’t. Reich (pronounced “reesh”) is a professor of political science and faculty co-director for the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford. He has written “Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy And How it Can Do Better.”
Nov 27, 2018
At Length with Alex Rosenblat in Uberland
Uber has disrupted the taxi industry around the world. But its way of doing business may be reshaping other industries. Alex Rosenblat is a technology ethnographer, a social scientist who learns from strangers and analyzes the technologies they use that shape their place in society. She took hundreds of rides with hundreds of drivers around the US. She found that drivers are not actually free-wheeling entrepreneurs but constrained workers managed and manipulated by algorithms. Her book, “Uberlan...
Nov 23, 2018
Peter Sagal At Length
Peter Sagal, the very funny host of NPR’s News quiz “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” has written a serious and funny book about his attraction to the physical and psychological benefits he gets from running. Sagal talks about his history with running, his hair-raising experience at the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, and the way running helped him as his marriage and family came apart.
Nov 08, 2018
Chris Hedges At Length
Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Truthdig columnist and RT TV talk show host Chris Hedges reports on what he sees as a declining empire, where oligarchs rules, people are disenfranchised, poorly served by their media and racing towards global climate disaster. He is talking about America.
Oct 21, 2018
David Reich At Length: Who We Are and How We Got Here
The origins of humanity have become less uncertain as scientists like David Reich and his colleagues extract ancient DNA from the bones of our distant ancestors. The fast moving science is revealing our common ancestry and our surprising relationships with ancient humans. Reich notes there is much more knowledge to come as more tests are done on ancient bones in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Oct 18, 2018
Save the Bees, Save the Planet
People need bees. Since the first wasp got a taste for pollen 125 million years ago, bees and flowers have co-evolved in a way that brings almonds and apricots to our tables. But honeybees, as well as the less well known but equally critical miner, leafcutter, sweat and mason bees are in trouble, getting slammed by climate change, habitat loss and pesticide use. To figure out how to protect them, biologist Thor Hanson studies them. He is author of the new book, “Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of...
Oct 08, 2018•Season 2Ep. 2
"The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life" by David Quammen
“The Tangled tree: A Radical New History of Life,” looks new scientific understanding that tangles up human understanding of the tree of life. Award winning science writer David Quammen says maybe life is more like an elaborate topiary.
Aug 18, 2018
Plant A Seed, Build A Community- Seattle Pollinators Week.
Ray WIliams and Allison Rinard are urban farmers. Their goal is to bring communities together around flowers and food.
Jun 15, 2018
Our Towns: A 10,000-Mile Journey Into The Heart of America
The next time you fear for the state of the union, turn your attention to small cities across America. James Fallows and Deborah Fallows say it is in Erie, Pennsylvania and Fresno, California that a brighter American future is being forged. The Fallows new book, Our Towns: A 100,00 mile journey into the heart of America , reads like a call for hope and a playbook for struggling regions across the country. The Fallows spent the last five years piloting a single engine prop plane around the countr...
May 10, 2018
Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America
It is very hard to stamp out a weed.
Jan 29, 2018
Beeronomics: How Beer Explains The World
Next time you're contemplating the fate of the world over a pint of ale, take a few moments to consider that amber nectar's own role in shaping society.
Jan 26, 2018
The Wizard and The Prophet, by Charles C. Mann
Will we innovate our way out of looming crises in climate, water, food and energy? Will cutting back and living within our means save us? Or are we like most species, devouring our resources until it is too late? Charles Mann explores the arguments and the values behind two ways of viewing the future- that innovations will save us or that reducing our impact will.
Jan 23, 2018
"I Like it Live": Feliks Banel and the Allure of Live Broadcasting
From the 1920’s until television permanently settled into our living rooms in the late 1950’s, radio blasted out comedies, variety shows, adventures and dramas to waiting listeners. Radio launched performers like Jack Benny and Fred Allen into stardom. It offered established stars like Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart and Frank Sinatra an audience during lulls in their film careers. Radio became a second platform for Hollywood screenplays like “The Bishops’ Wife,” a 1947 holiday mov...
Nov 17, 2017
Dan Ariely Has A Few Rules To Help You Think About Money
At Length features interviews by Steve Scher with artists, authors and scholars visting Town Hall Seattle Our irrational behavior interferes with our best efforts to curb spending and increase saving. Dan Ariely has come up with some rules of thumb that can help us make better decisions. Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter is co-written with lawyer and comedian Jeff Kreisler. Dan Ariely is a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke University. He is ...
Oct 05, 2017•47 min
What Russia's Return To Totalitarianism Might Teach America
At Length is a podcast featuring interview with visiting scholar and authors to Town Hall Seattle. How far removed is Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, from the Czars of old and the Soviet Premiers of the past century? What is the source of his grip power in Russia? What happened along the path to democracy envisioned after the end of the Soviet Union? What does the resurgence of this totalitarian state, adept in the use of modern digital tools of political warfare, tell us about status of d...
Oct 05, 2017
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