UChicago Law professor Claudia Flores has spent a career advocating for human rights of vulnerable populations around the world, from East Timor to Mexico. But her latest work revealed the hidden abuse of migrant children detained at the U.S. border and separated from their parents in a report titled, “I’m going to take you back to the river so you can die.” Flores discusses her report produced in partnership with the ACLU, the history and future of immigration policy in the U.S., and her career...
Sep 17, 2018•19 min•Ep. 10
UChicago Law professor Geoffrey Stone has an intimate knowledge of the Supreme Court. From his time as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan where he witnessed the decision Roe v. Wade firsthand, to his decades writing on issues of free speech, to helping shape the University of Chicago’s own policy on free expression, Stone is an expert when it comes to the First Amendment. But in all his years studying the highest court in the United States, Stone says he has never been more...
Sep 05, 2018•24 min•Ep. 9
A special Convocation edition podcast from the UChicago Podcast Network, featuring the full speeches given by Class Day speaker Valerie Jarrett, distinguished senior fellow in the University of Chicago Law School former senior adviser to President Obama; and Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Jun 12, 2018•41 min•Ep. 9
A special Convocation edition podcast from the UChicago Podcast Network, featuring an interview with student speaker Andrea Popova, followed by the complete speeches from Andrea and fellow graduates Mark Meyer and Priscilla Daboni.
Jun 12, 2018•23 min•Ep. 8
Richard Thaler has been dubbed one of the "founding fathers" of behavioral economics, bridging the gap between psychology and economics, and in 2017 he received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his work. It has been a long and unusual journey for Thaler, who has made a career out of disrupting economic assumptions, as well as writing two best-selling books and appearing in the 2015 Oscar-nominated film "The Big Short." On this episode of Big Brains , Thaler discusses how a bowl of cashew...
Jun 04, 2018•44 min•Ep. 8
When UChicago alumnus Michael Polsky first ventured into the field of renewable energy in 2003 with his company Invenergy, he thought they had missed the boat. “When we got into renewables in earnest, I thought we were too late,” said Polsky, MBA’87, believing people were well ahead of him in building clean energy projects. Today, he said we’re barely in “the third inning” of the renewables game. The founder and CEO of Invenergy, one of the largest renewables company in North America, Polsky, be...
May 21, 2018•23 min•Ep. 7
Wendy Freedman spent part of her career measuring the age of the universe. Now she’s working on a project that may very well give scientists a chance to glimpse into its birth. Freedman, the John & Marion Sullivan University Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics, works in the field of observational cosmology, measuring the expansion rate of the universe. In 2001, she and a team of scientists found that the universe is around 13.7 billion years old—far more precise than the previous estimate in t...
May 14, 2018•23 min•Ep. 6
From the smallest proteins of cells to entire ecosystems, nature might be the most sophisticated engineer on earth. Researchers like UChicago molecular biologist Rama Ranganathan are trying to uncover the basic design principles that govern biology and apply them to human engineering. He calls the field “evolutionary physics,” and the goal is to unlock the secrets of evolutionary history. On this episode of Big Brains , Ranganathan shares his pioneering research on evolutionary physics, and expl...
May 07, 2018•25 min•Ep. 5
To say Augusta Read Thomas is prolific is an understatement. A past Grammy Award winner and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, Thomas has been hailed as “a true virtuoso composer” by The New Yorker , and her work has been performed more than almost any other living composer. Thomas, the University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the College, champions classical music as co-curator of the Chicago Ear Taxi Festival and works with new musicians as founder and director...
Apr 30, 2018•26 min•Ep. 4
Health care expansion. It's one of the most contentious issues in American politics. Katherine Baicker is Dean of the Harris School at the University of Chicago and one of the leading scholars on the economics of health care. Her research from the groundbreaking Oregon Medicaid Experiment has helped uncover the true costs and benefits of health care expansion. On this episode of Big Brains , Baicker shares the findings from the Oregon Experiment, and provides insights into how to improve health ...
Apr 23, 2018•27 min•Ep. 3
Evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin spent six years in the Arctic searching for a fossil that could be a missing link between sea and land animals. In 2004, Shubin discovered Tiktaalik roseae , a 375-million-year old creature that was part fish, part land-living animal. On this episode of Big Brains , Shubin shares the story behind his discovery of Tiktaalik, what it has meant for the understanding of human evolution, and how it has impacted the future of genetic research. Subscribe to Big Brains...
Apr 16, 2018•28 min•Ep. 2
Big Brains tells the stories behind the pioneering research and breakthroughs reshaping our world. The show is produced out of the University of Chicago and hosted by Paul Rand.
Apr 05, 2018•1 min•Ep. 1
