Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - podcast cover

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Alan Aldawww.stitcher.com
Learn to connect better with others in every area of your life. Immerse yourself in spirited conversations with people who know how hard it is, and yet how good it feels, to really connect with other people – whether it’s one person, an audience or a whole country. You'll know many of the people in these conversations – they are luminaries in our culture. Some you may not know. But what links them all is their powerful ability to relate and communicate. It's something we need now more than ever.

Episodes

Marcia Rieke: Peering Back to the Cosmic Dawn

Next month her camera will be hurled a million miles into space, from where it will be seeking the first stars in the universe. On board the James Webb Space telescope, her infrared camera will also be checking the atmospheres of planets beyond the solar system, looking for signs of life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 16, 202138 min

The LaPook Effect: Empathy for doctors

Jon LaPook, Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News , is on a mission to help doctors be more empathetic with patients. And his communication skills are turning out to be contagious. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 09, 202145 min

Karl Deisseroth: Lighting up The Brain

With the invention of new ways to explore the brain, Karl Deisseroth has revolutionized neuroscience – work that has just now been recognized with the highest honor in medical research, the Lasker Award. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 02, 202141 min

Lee McIntyre: Talking to Science Deniers

Taking a deep dive into the alternative reality of people convinced that the earth is flat, Lee McIntyre learned valuable lessons about how – and how not – to talk to those who persist in denying science. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 26, 202141 min

Marin Alsop: A Woman Who Leads

The first female conductor of a major American symphony orchestra, Marin Alsop explains to Alan just what a conductor contributes to a performance; how her right and left hands have different roles; why oboists have to be treated differently from horn players; and the success of an innovative program to bring the joys of classical music to kids. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 19, 202142 min

Scott Small: The Point of Forgetting

An eminent physician caring for patients with memory loss, Scott Small was a surprised as you will be to discover that not all forgetting is bad – in fact it’s vital to your being “smarter, better and happier". Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 12, 202139 min

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer: When Politics are a Peril

The authority of the court to be a check on the other two branches of our government, Justice Breyer says, rests on its ability to be regarded by the people as completely impartial. That trust was hard won and is in danger when the court becomes political. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 05, 202143 min

Roger Rosenblatt: A Writer on Writing

Alan and his friend, best-selling author Roger Rosenblatt, explore what makes a good piece of writing. Turns out to be very similar to what makes a good life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 28, 202143 min

Mayim Bialik: How Acting Led to Science and Science to Acting

With a schedule impossible for anyone not named Mayim Bialik, she shares with Alan how acting and science have intertwined throughout her extraordinary career – as sitcom star, neuroscientist, podcaster and now movie director. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 21, 202143 min

Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees

After finding himself the subject of a trivia parlor game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the actor turned the concept of how we’re all connected into a philanthropic project that enables us all to help those we may not even realize we’re connected to. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 14, 202144 min

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 14 Trailer

Alan and Executive Producer Graham Chedd chat about and play excerpts from Alan’s conversations with some of the guests in the new season, beginning next week. Guests include actors Kevin Bacon and Mayim Bialik; the first woman conductor of a major orchestra, Marin Alsop; and author and old friend of Alan’s, Roger Rosenblatt. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 07, 202136 min

Dennis Overbye: Reporting the Universe

Few people have the same knack for explaining the unexplainable as Dennis Overbye, who for over 20 years has been illuminating the mysteries of the universe – and the minds of the scientists trying to understand those mysteries – in the pages of the New York Times. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 31, 202136 min

Robert Lefkowitz: A Soldier of Science

Nobel prizewinner Bob Lefkowitz tells the story of an extraordinary group of young physicians chosen to work at the National Institutes of Health during the Vietnam War. Their brief time there transformed medical research and saved millions of lives. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 24, 202146 min

Hank Greely: The Experiment that Shocked Science

When a Chinese doctor changed the genes of two baby girls he thought he’d be acclaimed. Instead, his experimental treatment alarmed scientists and ethicists around the world. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 17, 202144 min

Jacqueline Novogratz: More Than Money Alone

Jacqueline Novogratz has recognized the need among the poor for something more than just money: dignity. Employing a new kind of capitalism, her company, Acumen, has invested $128 million to build more than 128 social enterprises across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. These companies have leveraged an additional $611 million and brought basic, critical services like affordable education, health care, clean water, energy and sanitation to more than 300 million people. Su...

Aug 10, 202145 min

Michio Kaku: Seeking the Mind of God

The physicist and best-selling author argues that “the mind of God” can be found in “a symphony of strings – cosmic music resonating through hyperspace.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 03, 202141 min

Cynthia Kenyon: Living Longer?

Her breakthrough discovery of a gene that doubles the lifespan of a tiny worm offers the possibility of extending the lifespan of people. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 27, 202142 min

Paul Rudd: In the Moment with Ant-Man

Paul Rudd and Alan Alda talk acting, from being spontaneous and "in the moment," to odd ways to learn lines. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 20, 202145 min

Sue Black: Forensic Supersleuth

She finds justice among the bones. Like helping to convict the genocidal murderers of Kosovo. And, she's just been made a Baroness! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 13, 202148 min

Dan Lieberman: Why You Hate Exercise

Don’t feel bad about taking the elevator instead of the stairs. Blame evolution for not preparing you for voluntary physical activity. But, says anthropologist Dan Lieberman, there are ways to make exercise rewarding as well as healthy. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 06, 202144 min

Herman Pontzer: Burn Those Calories Better

Studying the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers has led to the surprising discovery that dieting simply to lose weight misses the real benefits of cutting calories. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 29, 202138 min

Helen Mirren: Queen of Stage and Screen

The wonderful Helen Mirren is as honest and searching in conversation as she is in the rich characters she’s brought to us in performance after performance. She’s just as thoughtful and fun as you’d expect her to be. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 22, 202144 min

Neil Shubin: Why Would a Fish Have Fingers?

And if it comes to that, wrist, elbows, and lungs? Neil Shubin found that fish in 375 million-year-old rocks in the Canadian Arctic. It was the earliest known evidence of what Neil calls the Great Transition, when life was about to emerge from water to land. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 08, 202144 min

Anna Deavere Smith: She’s Been Hundreds of People

Using her voice, her body, and a close observation of speech patterns, Anna Deveare Smith has chronicled our times with staged portraits of the people who lived them. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 01, 202142 min

John Colapinto: Speaking of the Voice…

Journalist John Colapinto blew out his voice singing too loud and too long in a rock band. The good news is that it inspired him to find out what happened – and that led to a terrific book about that remarkable instrument, the human voice. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 25, 202146 min

Does your doctor care about you?

A searing experience with an apparently uncaring doctor when she was young helped make Dr. Jillian Horton a passionate advocate for a radical rethinking of how doctors are trained. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 18, 202143 min

How to Explain Almost Everything

Bill Bryson loves finding out about stuff – like how much the earth weighs and why you have a spleen – then letting the rest of us know what he’s learned in books that are delightfully clear and vivid – and funny. In conversation with Alan, he tells why and how he does it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 11, 202144 min

The Empathy Diaries

In her new book, The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir, Sherry Turkle movingly—and candidly—weaves together events in her own life with her dawning understanding of the way technology can weaken human connections. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 04, 202145 min

Space Rocks

Brian May, famed guitarist and founder of the rock group Queen, is also Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist. His research on the dust that swirls around the solar system and his fascination with 3-D imaging has led to his working with NASA on projects ranging from tracking asteroids to the Perseverance mission on Mars. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Apr 27, 202144 min