The Kavli and Nobel Prize Laureate on his groundbreaking work finding out how our bodies ship vital molecules to where they are needed — enabling profound advances in medicine. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
What dogs and bonobos tell us about what has made humans survive and why we’d better not lose it. It’s not how fierce we are. On the contrary. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
The Kavli Prize Laureate on her research suggesting it may be possible to return aging and damaged brains to a state where they could learn as they did when young. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Reporting from the front lines of medical research with the with the skill of a storyteller while struggling to keep up with the outpouring of research on the coronavirus. “It’s like a firehose that we’re all trying desperately to drink out of.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Up until now, we’ve been smarter than our tools. But that might change drastically sooner than we know. Isn’t it time to think about that? Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
The two celebrated journalists explore the turbulent story, often forgotten, of women’s struggle to have the right to vote and what it means to us today. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
We invite Pardis back to hear her account from the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus. She’s a leader in scientific breakthroughs aimed at stopping its insidious ability to spread undetected. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
The President of MIT on how we can lead the world in technology again—and how he’s helping change the educational model so it can survive in the new world of at-home learning. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
The renowned researcher and author on emotional literacy and the strengths that lead to better relationships. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
His recent book Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, could hardly be more timely. And it has a fascinating twist, seeking links between how individuals deal with crises – with insights from his clinical psychologist wife – to how nations succeed or fail when confronted with a crisis. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Alan Guth is the man who put the bang in the Big Bang, when late one night he came up with the astonishing idea – astonishing even to him – that the universe grew from a fraction of an ounce into the entire cosmos in an incomprehensibly brief moment of time. His insight that night, the theory that became known as inflation, is now the foundation for ideas about the cosmos that are as astonishing as inflation itself, including the idea that an infinite number new universes are being created all t...
Alan talks with old friends Marlo and Phil about their interviews with 40 couples who have enjoyed long marriages. What did they find out about the happy marriages of other couples, and what did they find out about their own, as they approached their 40th anniversary? Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Jake Tapper can turn things around when he interviews politicians and government leaders. This time he does it by interviewing Alan, who usually would be interviewing him . It becomes a conversation about interviewing that throws light on how we all talk to one another. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Alan talks with the woman who’s been given the job of leading the fight to conquer all disease by 2100. They discuss whether it’s actually possible and how her life has led her from studying a tiny transparent worm to such a challenging task. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Steven Pinker and Alan explore the words we use that bind us together, even when asking someone to pass the guacamole. A conversation that explores the surprising ways we have of connecting through language – and why, despite our current crises, some things in the world really have become better. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Alan gets Loretta Swit and Mike Farrell on the horn to see how they’re doing during the lockdown. It’s like old times again. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
The co-inventor of the powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR, Jennifer Doudna describes for Alan her hopes for new treatments and possibly even cures for diseases that are today incurable. She also tells him about her efforts to make sure that ethical concerns over gene editing are addressed — and how she copes with having become a scientific superstar. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Alan checks out this year’s Kavli Prizes and discovers how figuring out why hot peppers are hot could lead to new pain killing drugs; how putting a tiny black hole in your gas tank would give you a mileage of a billion miles per gallon; and why giving a new generation of electron microscopes the ability to see atoms was a little like being able to see inside a baking cake while it’s still in the oven. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid...
He’s a Nobel and Kavli prizewinner for his role in what’s been described as one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements – the detection of ripples in the fabric of space. He can also explain what that means! Kip Thorne is deeply committed to communicating science, even bringing it before the public by working with artists and filmmakers. Including, more than once, with Alan Alda. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid...
Alan sits down with physicist Brian Greene in front of a virtual audience to talk about how Brian sees himself (and you and me) as nothing more than an ephemeral cluster of particles in a dying universe—and how that gives him a deep sense of gratitude for his own existence. Along with wonder at how other mere collections of particles can compose the 9th Symphony or write Hamlet. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid...
The little things Carl Zimmer knows a lot about are genes, parasites and viruses. And he knows how to talk about them in a way that will stay with you forever. In this episode, Alan Alda and Carl Zimmer chat about heredity, evolution and one particularly amazing parasite. But it’s not creepy. It’s fascinating. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
It’s a problem when you have so many worlds to explore at once. How long until we colonize Mars? Can we turn the Sahara Desert into a Garden of Eden oasis? How can humans live in a lava tube on the moon? Jim Green is the Chief Scientist at NASA and he's not only been pondering these questions, he's been working to make them happen. Jim likes to think big - about big ideas, big challenges, and bigger solutions! In this episode, Jim Green and Alan Alda talk about planetary exploration and how life...
Unconscious bias is a widely used term and, too often, not well understood. It can be devastating for those it impacts. And coming to grips with unconscious bias in our own thinking can be unsettling. Like many others, Alan Alda found it hard to believe that the unconscious bias test he took accurately reflected his own thinking. So, to find out more, Alan sat down with Dr. Kuheli Dutt, who is meticulous in her research into the hidden biases we all have. Dr. Dutt is the Diversity Officer at the...
Fareed Zakaria, the noted journalist, broadcaster, and author, talked with Alan Alda on this episode of Clear+Vivid back in February, before the coronavirus consumed not only our lives and livelihoods, but also any other topic of conversation. But what’s fascinating is how much Fareed's thoughts on the importance of a fulfilled life – an examined life – resonates with us now, when we are all trying to cope with a world in which everything is so uncertain. Support the show: https://www.patreon.co...
Your host, Alan Alda, has been friends with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks for over forty years. Carl and Mel have been friends with each other for seventy years. During that time, they’ve created, together or separately, some of the most memorable comedy in our lives -- from iconic movies and TV series to Broadway shows and books.Their sketches on the Sid Caesar show in the 1950s will still leave you gasping on the floor. And so will their recording of the “2000 Year Old Man” that began as improvis...
On this episode of Clear+Vivid, Alan Alda, welcomes his friend Ira Flatow to the show. Ira hosts the wildly popular Science Friday series for public radio (and it's also a podcast). What happens when you put these two passionate advocates for science communication together on one podcast? Well, you discover that they both enjoy infecting others with a passion for science — the one kind of infection we could really use right now. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid...
How do you interview an octopus for a podcast? We're pretty sure that Alan Alda's interview with Ruddy, a giant pacific octopus, who lives at the New England Aquarium is a first for a podcast. While Ruddy is a little shy and silent for our mics, Alan did find the naturalist and author, Sy Montgomery, much more communicative. Sy is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Soul of Octopus." She's an expert on creatures great and small and what we can learn about communication, observation...
She's a Golden Girl, a national treasure, and a true character of great character. The one and only Betty White joins Alan Alda this week as our special guest. At time when love and humor are needed most, we hope this heart-warming episode brings a smile to your face. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Cleo Stiller had 75 interesting conversations with men about the #MeToo movement and she's written a book about what they had to say. Her book, "Modern Manhood," is now a national bestseller. Times are changing and people are learning to relate with each other in new ways. In this conversation, Alan Alda and Cleo discuss the inventive strategies that men and women are using as they explore the tumultuous world of professional and personal relationships in the modern world. Support the show: http...
In the five years it was on the air, his television show, "Bill Nye the Science Guy," won 18 Emmys and entertained and educated millions of young people, many of whom later went on to become scientists themselves. All his life, Bill’s been passionate about communicating science, so naturally, he was the perfect guest to pair with Alan Alda, who has shared the same, lifelong drive. In this episode, Alan and Bill have a lively conversation about scientific fact, fiction, literacy, and the beauty o...
