This episode features Dr. Christopher Mason - an associate professor of genomics, physiology, and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine and the Director of the WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction. The Mason laboratory develops and deploys new biochemical and computational methods in functional genomics to elucidate the genetic basis of human disease and physiology. Inevitably, life on Earth will come to an end, whether by climate disaster, or by cataclysmic war, or when the sun runs...
Aug 03, 2021•59 min•Ep. 167
Dr. Eugenia Cheng is Scientist In Residence at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She won tenure in Pure Mathematics at the University of Sheffield, UK, where she is now an Honorary Fellow. Alongside her research in Category Theory and undergraduate teaching her aim is to rid the world of “math phobia”. Eugenia is also math columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a concert pianist. Emotions are powerful. In newspaper headlines and on social media, they have become the primary way of u...
Jul 30, 2021•53 min•Ep. 166
This episode features Sis and Karen Olivo discussing The Next Generation Project, an organization dedicated to distributing resources to Black and Brown Trans folks in need. Through donations and crowdfunding campaigns, The Next Generation Project raises money to provide Trans people with the access to self care and mental health services to nourish their body, mind, and spirit. Through alleviating financial burdens, TNG’s goal is to assist in shaping a future where the next generation of Trans ...
Jul 27, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 165
Lisa Piccirillo is a mathematician specializing in the study of three- and four-dimensional spaces. Her work in four-manifold topology has surprising applications to the study of mathematical knots. Perhaps most notably, Piccirillo proved that the infamous Conway knot is not, quote-unquote, “slice.” For all other small knots, “sliceness” is readily determined, but this particular knot had remained a mystery since English mathematician John Conway presented it in the mid-1900s. After hearing abou...
Jul 20, 2021•49 min•Ep. 164
Our relationship with the ocean is undergoing a profound transformation. Just three decades ago, nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild - but rampant overfishing combined with an unprecedented bio-tech revolution has brought us to the point where wild and farmed fish occupy equal parts of a complex and confusing marketplace. We stand at the edge of a cataclysm; the distinct possibility that our children's children will never eat a wild fish that has swum freely in the sea. In Four Fish ,...
Jul 16, 2021•58 min•Ep. 163
In this episode, Graham discusses his new book Home Stretch: A Novel about a small-town tragedy that reverberates throughout the lives of those involved and how shame and longing can become a legacy. It is 1987 and a small Irish community is preparing for a wedding. The day before the ceremony, a group of young friends, including the bride and groom, drive out to the beach. There is an accident. Three survive, but three are killed. In Home Stretch, Norton expertly explores the power of stigma an...
Jul 13, 2021•57 min•Ep. 162
After a successful career at Microsoft, Patrick Awuah looked back to his native Ghana and decided that the ills of the country could only by solved by educating the next generation of business and government leaders, providing them with training in critical thinking and ethics that the current generation lacked. To put his plan into action, he founded Ashesi University in Accra, West Africa's first liberal arts school. Now in its 19th year, Ashesi empowers young Africans to develop the motivatio...
Jul 09, 2021•54 min•Ep. 161
This episode features Dr. Donna Christensen & Dr. Lauren Smith who discuss the significance of Minority Health Month from its inauguration, to the work that is being done for BIPOC communities today. The Honorable Donna M. Christensen retired from the US House of Representatives in 2015 after serving nine terms over 18 years. She is the first female physician to serve as a Member in the history of the U.S Congress. Lauren Smith, MD, MPH, is the Chief Health Equity and Strategy Officer for th...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 160
Ice has been around for billions of years but it has taken less than three centuries for human growth and industry to bring it to the point of extinction. Henry Pollack, professor of geophysics at the University of Michigan for more than forty years and one of the world’s leading experts on the temperature of the Earth, argues that ice is natures best thermometer and perhaps its most sensitive and unambiguous indicator of climate change. When ice gets sufficiently warm, it melts. Ice asks no que...
Jul 02, 2021•50 min•Ep. 159
Dr. Cassandra Coburn joins us to discuss her book Enough: How Your Food Choices Will Save the Planet. Our food production systems are the single biggest cause of environmental change, while diseases linked to our eating habits are at epidemic levels and increasing. Enough uses the latest scientific research to address the vital question: can we provide a growing population with a healthy diet from sustainable food systems? Fortunately for us all, the answer is yes and the book shows exactly how ...
Jun 29, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 158
Named as one of TIME’s Most Influential People (2018), Peggy Whitson has an incredible list of record-breaking accomplishments to her name. She is the first woman to command the International Space Station, twice(!) in 2008 & 2013, the first female and first non-military Chief Astronaut, she has performed 10 spacewalks, the most of any female astronaut, and at 665 days, Dr. Whitson has spent more time in space than any other American. Moderated by Leigh Gallagher. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGo...
Jun 22, 2021•51 min•Ep. 157
In honor of International Woman's Day, Therese Caouette and Paula Bock from the nonprofit PARTNERS ASIA share the realities of human trafficking and examine proven methodologies to combat modern-day slavery. By connecting local organizations to global funding, PARTNERS ASIA is able to forge relationships with local leaders who work to serve the needs of invisible populations, such as refugees, migrants, ethnic minorities, & LGBTQ individuals who are living primarily along the Thailand-Myanma...
Jun 18, 2021•51 min•Ep. 156
Chef Marcus Samuelsson discusses his book The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food: A Cookbook . In The Rise, Chef Marcus gathers together an unforgettable feast of food, culture, and history to highlight the diverse deliciousness of Black cooking today. Driven by a desire to fight against bias, reclaim Black culinary traditions, and energize a new generation of cooks, Marcus shares his own journey alongside 150 recipes in honor of dozens of top chefs, writers, and activists—with stor...
Jun 15, 2021•51 min•Ep. 156
Daphne Miller talks about her new book Farmacology: What Innovative Family Farming Can Teach Us About Health and Healing. Family physician Daphne Miller long suspected that farming and medicine were intimately linked. Increasingly disillusioned by mainstream medicine's mechanistic approach to healing and fascinated by the farming revolution that is changing the way we think about our relationship to the earth, Miller left her medical office and traveled to seven innovative family farms across th...
Jun 11, 2021•53 min•Ep. 155
Chess Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi discusses his career and experience playing chess at the highest level. Vidit Gujrathi started playing chess at the age of 7, and has since won 4 National Youth Medals, 4 Asian Youth Silver Medals, and 3 medals in World Youth Championships. In 2006, he achieved the title of International Master after finishing second in the National Chess Championship 2008. He attained the title of ‘Grandmaster’ in January 2013. Since 2015, Vidit has been a prominent member of th...
Jun 08, 2021•43 min•Ep. 154
Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, visited Google in 2008 to discuss his book Sound Unbound, his collection and thoughts on how music, art, and literature have blurred the lines between what an artist can do and what a composer can create. In Sound Unbound , Miller asked artists to describe their work and compositional strategies in their own words. These were reports from the front lines on the role of sound and digital media in an information-based society. From August of 2008. Visit YouTube.com/T...
Jun 04, 2021•50 min•Ep. 153
Dr. Gabija Toleikyte is a neuroscientist, lecturer, and performance and wellbeing coach. She is currently a lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University. In this talk Dr. Toleikyte discusses "Why the F*ck Can’t I Change", her ground-breaking new book that gets straight to the root cause of why we form certain habits and behaviors, and shows how we can realistically stop ourselves from repeating the same mistakes. Gabija takes us on an eye-opening journey through the extraordinary human ...
Jun 01, 2021•56 min•Ep. 152
While the "national debt" has been the concern du jour of many economists, commentators and politicians, little attention is ever paid to the historical significance of debt. For thousands of years, the struggle between rich and poor has largely taken the form of conflicts between creditors and debtors—of arguments about the rights and wrongs of interest payments, debt peonage, amnesty, repossession, restitution, the sequestering of sheep, the seizing of vineyards, and the selling of debtors' ch...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 151
Author Walter Isaacson discusses his recent book "The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race", a gripping account of how Nobel Prize winner Jennifer Doudna and her colleagues launched a revolution that will allow us to cure diseases, fend off viruses, and have healthier babies. Bestselling author of "Steve Jobs" (2011), "Einstein: His Life and Universe" (2007) and more, Walter Isaacson has established himself as the biographer of creativity, innovation, and...
May 24, 2021•58 min•Ep. 150
Cheap suit. Cheap date. Cheap shot. It's a dirty word, laden with negative meanings. It is also the story of author Lauren Weber's life. As a child, she resented her father for keeping the heat at 50 degrees through the frigid New England winters, and for rarely using his car's turn signals-to keep them from burning out. But as an adult, when she found herself walking 30 blocks to save $2 on subway fare, she realized that she had turned into him. What does it mean to be cheap? When is it mature ...
May 21, 2021•53 min•Ep. 149
This episode features authors Kyle Newman, Mike Witwer, & Jon Peterson discussing Heroes' Feast: The Official Dungeons and Dragons Cookbook . The cookbook invites fantasy lovers to celebrate the unique culinary creations and traditions of their favorite fictional cultures of Dungeons and Dragons. The book includes an array of dishes delicate enough to dine like elves and their drow cousins or hearty enough to feast like a dwarven clan or an orcish horde. All eighty dishes—developed by a prof...
May 18, 2021•57 min•Ep. 148
Moderated by Program Director Heather Ramsey, the following panel discussion highlights the work of the Institute of International Education’s “Women in Technology program” focused on the regions of the Middle East and North Africa. The program, known by its acronym WIT, provides women in the MENA region access and opportunity to enhance their marketable skills and gain economic independence thru careers in technology. Since its launch in 2005, WIT has trained tens of thousands of women and supp...
May 14, 2021•41 min•Ep. 147
From the earth’s tallest peaks to the ocean floor, no part of the world is spared of climate change. Right now we are facing a disaster of global scale, our greatest threat in thousands of years - climate change. In an effort to inspire change, we sat down with experts who have built sustainable organizations and are making revolutionary efforts to combat climate change by doing everyday activities in a more sustainable way. Collectively, we can make a world of difference. About the Panelists: A...
May 11, 2021•59 min•Ep. 146
Israeli-American lawyer and novelist Ayelet Waldman came to public attention with the publication of her essay “Truly, Madly, Guiltily”, in which she describes the complex & sometimes conflicting feelings she has for both her husband & her four children. This essay provoked so much public controversy that Waldman decided to write a collection of essays about parenting and motherhood, entitled “Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace.”...
May 07, 2021•51 min•Ep. 145
This episode is with Emmanuel Acho, who discusses his book and YouTube Channel series of the same name: "Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man", which offers conversations about race in an effort to drive open dialogue. Emmanuel is a Fox Sports analyst and co-host of "Speak for Yourself". After earning his undergraduate degree in sports management in 2012, Emmanuel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns. He was then traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 2013, where he spent most of his career...
May 04, 2021•59 min•Ep. 144
Acclaimed writer and scientist Leonard Mlodinow discusses his book, "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives". Mlodinow received his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, was an Alexander von Humboldt fellow at the Max Planck Institute, and now teaches about randomness to future scientists at Caltech. Along the way, he also wrote for the television series MacGyver and Star Trek: The Next Generation. In "The Drunkard's Walk," Leonard Mlodinow shows us how r...
Apr 30, 2021•43 min•Ep. 143
Claudia Hammond is an award-winning writer and broadcaster and Visiting Professor in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Sussex. As the presenter of "All in the Mind" she is BBC Radio 4's voice of psychology and mental health. In this Talk, Prof. Hammond discusses her book "The Art of Rest: How to Find Respite in the Modern Age". Much of value has been written about sleep, but rest is different; it is how we unwind, calm our minds and recharge our bodies. Counting down th...
Apr 27, 2021•57 min•Ep. 142
"Never Again, Again, Again..." is a powerful photographic essay with text on the six major genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries: Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda and Darfur. It is the first photographic publication dealing with all six genocides, including photographs by the author, other contemporary photographers, and archival images. The book is not just a litany of the locales, dates, and death tolls, but also an unforgettable view of the victims, the perpetra...
Apr 23, 2021•36 min•Ep. 141
Pot. Weed. Grass. We all think we know cannabis. But do we? Somewhere between the illicit joints and pot brownies, the conversation stopped -- and only now is it re-taking the center stage as more states pass legislation to legalize. In Brave New Weed: Adventures into the Uncharted World of Cannabis, author Joe Dolce travels to the new frontier of cannabis, shedding light on everything you didn’t know about weed (and didn’t even think to ask). Through dispatches from Amsterdam, Israel, Colorado,...
Apr 20, 2021•47 min•Ep. 140
Game designer Elan Lee visited Google in 2019 to talk about the work that went into the record-setting Exploding Kittens Kickstarter. Exploding Kittens is an irreverent, highly-strategic card-game version of Russian roulette, and is the most funded game in the history of Kickstarter. In this Talk, Elan discusses how his groundbreaking work on Alternate Reality games such as The Beast and Ilovebees made him aware of the power of positive online communities. In addition, he describes how his analy...
Apr 16, 2021•49 min•Ep. 137
