2020
December 2020
Exercised
Professor Daniel Lieberman, Human Evolutionary Biologist at Harvard University discusses his new book, Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding.
December 2020
Can We Save Journalism in America?
Respect for a free press is the cornerstone of democracy. What will it take to restore public confidence and trust in American journalism?
November 2020
How to Make Meaningful Conversation
Architect and designer Fred Dust considers ways to have constructive conversations that are critical to problem-solving in all sorts of different settings from schools to non-profits and governments.
October 2020
Trust in a Polarized Age
Are we caught in a downward spiral that must end in institutional decay or even civil war, or can we restore trust through our shared social institutions?
October 2020
A Synthesizing Mind
Long an authority on the human mind, Professor Howard Gardner’s latest book reflects on his childhood and intellectual development in addition to a review of his groundbreaking work on multiple intelligences—including his own.
September 2020
Does COVID-19 Signal the End of the American Era?
Wade Davis attracted global attention with his opinion piece in Rolling Stone raising this question: Does Covid-19 signal the end of the American era? Why did he ask this question and why has it struck a chord around the world?
September 2020
Magdalena: River of Dreams
Anthropologist Wade Davis’s latest book, Magdalena: River of Dreams brings to life the story of the great Río Magdalena, illuminating Colombia’s complex past, present, and future.
September 2020
Too Much Information—Or Too Little Substance?
Too Much Information, Cass R. Sunstein’s latest book, examines the effects of excessive information in our lives.
July 2020
Parenting While Black
Writer, poet, and teacher Clint Smith in conversation with Jude Nixon, Professor of English at Salem State University. Their discussion explores what it means to raise children during this challenging period of Black Lives Matter.
June 2020
Farming for the Future
This forum features three uniquely different farmers who are all equally passionate about smart and sustainable ways of growing our food.
June 2020
The Rise of Environmental Illness
Freelance journalist Oliver Broudy explores environmental toxicity and the community of “sensitives”—people with powerful, puzzling symptoms resulting from exposure to chemicals, fragrances, and cell phone signals.
May 2020
Living Without Working
Daniel Susskind, author and economist, teaches at Balliol College, Oxford, and his new book is A Work Without Work: Technology, Automation and How We Should Respond.
May 2020
Locked-Down Americans: Isolation and Loneliness
J. W. Freiberg’s latest book Surrounded by Others and Yet So Alone looks at the problem of chronic loneliness. So how do we surmount this current crisis and help to create healthy connections going forward, in our own lives and in the lives of our children?
May 2020
The Alchemy of Us
Anissa Ramirez is a material scientist who is passionate about getting everyone excited about science, so much so that she calls herself a “science evangelist”. In her latest book, she looks at eight world-changing technologies.
April 2020
In Search of Meadowlarks
John Marzluff outlines a personal approach to sustainable agriculture. Through an ornithologist’s lens, he observes current farming practices to see if we can broker a more harmonious relationship between our birds, farms, food and land.
April 2020
Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy
Joseph Nye, leading scholar of international relations considers presidents and their foreign policy from FDR to Trump who come up short in the morality polls.
March 2020
Nature Underfoot: Learning to live with tiny life
John Hainze, an entomologist, ethicist, and former pesticide-developer calls for greater respect and moral consideration for humans and their natural world.
February 2020
Migrating to Prison
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández takes a hard look at the immigration prison system’s origins, how it currently operates, and why.
January 2020
The Age of Illusions
Andrew Bacevich, Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at the Boston University, discusses his new book, The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory.