Big Ideas (Audio)
322 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 10 years ago - ★★★★★ - 76 ratingsBig Ideas offers lectures on a variety of thought-provoking topics which range across politics, culture, economics, art history, science.... By nature of its lecture format, pacing and inquisitive approach, it is the antithesis of the prevailing sound-bite television norm. The simple, bold concept is a victory of substance over style. Big Ideas airs Saturdays and Sundays at 5:00 PM EST on TVO - Canada's largest educational broadcaster.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Grandest Challenge Symposium Pt 2 featuring James Orbinski
November 03, 2012 04:35 - 18.1 MBOur second installment of The Grandest Challenge Symposium features James Orbinski, author of An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-First Century. Following Dr. Orbinski's lecture he is joined in conversation by moderator Gillian Findlay.
Dr. James Maskalyk, author of Six Months in Sudan
November 03, 2012 04:30 - 10.3 MBDr. James Maskalyk, author of Six Months in Sudan: A Young Doctor in a War-Torn Village, speaks at The Grandest Challenge Symposium and is interviewed by moderator Carol Off.
Abdallah Daar and Peter Singer on The Grandest Challenge
November 03, 2012 04:30 - 7.87 MBTaking it's name from the book The Grandest Challenge: Taking Life-Saving Science from Lab to Village, this symposium features the book's authors, Dr. Abdallah Daar and Dr. Peter Singer.
Doug Richards on Stretching: The Truth
November 03, 2012 04:00 - 15.6 MBDoug Richards from the Physical Education & Health department at University of Toronto St. George on Stretching: The Truth. Richards discusses the science and the fiction of the benefits of stretching prior to exercise.
Iain McGilchrist on the divided brain's impact on our world
October 27, 2012 04:30 - 17.7 MBDr. Iain McGilchrist is a renowned psychiatrist and author. Drawing from his book, "The Master and his Emissary", McGilchrist explores how the divided brain is shaping modern civilization. His lecture was delivered at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 7, 2012.
Don Kurtz on Stellar Seismology
October 20, 2012 04:30 - 19.4 MBDon Kurtz, of the University of Central Lancashire, discusses asteroseismology in a lecture entitled Songs of the Stars: The Real Music of the Spheres. He explains how sound waves are helping to locate distant Earth-like planets, study solar storms and explain what happens in the core of stars.
Rebecca MacKinnon on Internet Freedom and Security
October 13, 2012 04:30 - 19.2 MBRebecca MacKinnon, co-founder of Global Voices, discusses her book Consent of the Networked which examines issues of internet freedom and security. MacKinnon looks at Internet regulation in China, how Social Media affected the Arab Spring and the fight over SOPA.
William D. Phillips: Time and Einstein in the 21st Century
October 06, 2012 04:30 - 19.3 MBWilliam D. Phillips, who works with the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, demonstrates the cooling potential of liquid nitrogen, the laser-based technique known as "optical molasses" and shows how magnetic bottles can help science built more accurate atomic clocks.
Northrop Frye on An Approach to the Bible
October 06, 2012 04:30 - 15.9 MBRenowned literary theorist Northrop Frye presents the first lecture in his course on The Bible and Literature. The lecture is entitled "An Approach to the Bible".
Northrop Frye on The Shape of the Bible
October 06, 2012 04:30 - 13.7 MBRenowned literary theorist, Northrop Frye, delivers the second lecture in his famous course on The Bible and Literature. The lecture is entitled "The Shape of the Bible".
Michael Persinger on Psychotropic Drugs
October 06, 2012 04:00 - 14.3 MBDr. Michael Persinger, (Laurentian University - Neuroscience) winner of the 2007 Best Lecturer Competition, on Psychotropic Drugs.
Andrew Coyne Q & A
September 29, 2012 04:30 - 5.53 MBFollowing his lecture on Post-Economic Politics in Canada, National Post columnist Andrew Coyne fields questions from the audience. This event was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada (LRC).
Chris Turner on How to Thrive in the Sustainable Economy
September 29, 2012 04:30 - 19 MBChris Turner discusses his book The Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy. Citing German energy policy and business examples such as Walmart, Turner explains how sustainability makes excellent business sense.
Leon Kass on Why Not Immortality?
September 22, 2012 04:30 - 17.3 MBDr. Leon Kass, Chair of the President's Council on Bioethics, examines the ethical dilemmas surrounding stem cell research. Dr. Kass addresses the philosophical question: Why not immortality?
Arthur Herman: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World
September 15, 2012 04:30 - 15.4 MBArthur Herman on his book "To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World".
Leroy Hood: From Reactive to Proactive Medicine
September 08, 2012 04:30 - 18.6 MBLeroy Hood, of the Institute for Systems Biology, on Emerging Technologies and the Transformation from Reactive to Proactive Medicine.
Liam Kennedy on The Irish Famine and the Jewish Holocaust
September 01, 2012 04:30 - 14.2 MBLiam Kennedy of the School of History at Queen's University (Belfast) delivers a lecture entitled, Cry Holocaust: The Great Irish Famine and the Jewish Holocaust.
Vaclav Smil on Energy Transitions
August 25, 2012 04:30 - 9.35 MBVaclav Smil of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, University of Manitoba, discusses Energy Transitions in this lecture which was part of the Waterloo Global Science Initiative (WGSI)Equinox Summit, hosted by the Perimeter Institute.
Jane Goodall on Chimpanzee and Human Emotions
August 18, 2012 04:30 - 18.9 MBPrimatologist Jane Goodall delivers a lecture on the similarities between chimpanzee and human emotions, preserving the environment, and hope.
Nick Mount on Nabokov's "Lolita"
August 11, 2012 04:30 - 17.3 MBUniversity of Toronto English Professor Nick Mount on Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita". The lecture was part of his Literature for Our Time series and was delivered at Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto, on Feb. 12th, 2009.
H. Jay Melosh on What Killed the Dinosaurs
August 04, 2012 04:30 - 18.6 MBWhat killed the dinosaurs? And is humanity headed for a similar fate? These questions are addressed by H. Jay Melosh, a Professor of Theoretical Geophysics at the University of Arizona, in this lecture entitled, Death of the Dinos: Giant Impacts and Biological Crises. With the help of sophisticated computer simulations Melosh presents his "hot" new theory on the KT extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago.
Ian Buruma on Death of Metropolis
August 04, 2012 04:30 - 11.4 MBWriter and academic, Ian Buruma on Death of Metropolis: Why are Some Hostile to Cities?
Natalia Toro on Fundamental Physics at the LHC
July 28, 2012 04:30 - 16.4 MBNatalia Toro explains how complex collision data from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is being digested and examined and how it may set the course for the science of the future. Her lecture was delivered at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, Ontario, on September 18, 2011.
Seth Lloyd on Programming the Universe
July 21, 2012 04:30 - 17.8 MBSeth Llyod is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His talk, "Programming the Universe", is about the computational power of atoms, electrons, and elementary particles.
Adam Gopnik on Christian Writers and Liberal Readers
July 14, 2012 04:30 - 23 MBAdam Gopnik, staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, discusses W. H. Auden, William Emerson and Lewis Carroll in a lecture entitled, The Morning Star is the Evening Star: Christian Writers and Liberal Readers.
Alain de Botton on Status Anxiety
July 07, 2012 04:30 - 13.4 MBAlain de Botton discusses his book Status Anxiety which examines our fears over what others think about us and about how we are judged to be either a success or failure.
Robert Morrison on Islam and Science
June 30, 2012 04:30 - 14.9 MBRobert Morrison, Associate Professor of Religion at Bowdoin College, on Islam, Science and the Importance of History. Morrison cites Islamic religious scholars from historical times and from the present in order to show how Islam and science are compatable.
Paul Steinhardt on Impossible Crystals
June 23, 2012 04:30 - 18.7 MBPhysicist Paul Steinhardt discusses the creation of "Impossible crystals": quasi-crystals with five-fold symmetry previously believed impossible.
Andrew Coyne on Post-Economic Politics in Canada
June 16, 2012 04:30 - 14 MBNational Post columnist, Andrew Coyne, presents a lecture entitled Post-Economic Politics in Canada. In Coyne's opinion, the state of the economy, contrary to popular belief, will not be the defining issue in our public policy debates. His lecture was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada and was delivered at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto on May 14th, 2012.
Simon Winchester on his book The Meaning of Everything
June 09, 2012 04:30 - 21.5 MBSimon Winchester discusses his book The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Marc D. Lewis Questions and Answers
June 02, 2012 04:30 - 5.17 MBMarc D. Lewis answers questions following his lecture based on his book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain.
Dr. Marc D. Lewis on Memoirs of an Addicted Brain
May 26, 2012 04:30 - 16.8 MBDr. Marc D. Lewis discusses the story and the science behind his book Memoirs of an Addicted Brain. Lewis is a professor at the Behavioral Science Institute, part of Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Lewis's book documents the years he spent addicted to drugs including morphine and heroin, and links his first-hand drug experiences to his current behavioral science research into the interaction between drugs and brain chemistry.
Lisa Harvey-Smith on the SKA mega-telescope
May 19, 2012 04:30 - 17.7 MBLisa Harvey-Smith of CSIRO discusses the mega-telescope known as the Square Kilometre Array. CSIRO, the Australian Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation, is part of the continent-spanning next-generation radio telescope project which is due to be completed in 2019.
Allen J. Frances on the overdiagnosis of mental illness
May 12, 2012 04:30 - 19.8 MBPsychiatrist and author, Allen J. Frances, believes that mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed. In his lecture, Diagnostic Inflation: Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?, Dr. Frances will outline why he thinks the DSM-V will lead to millions of people being mislabeled with mental disorders. His lecture is part of Mental Health Matters, an initiative of TVO in association with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). The lecture is followed by a short Q & A.
Dr. Iain McGilchrist on The Divided Brain
May 05, 2012 04:30 - 18 MBRenowned British psychiatrist and author, Iain McGilchrist, delivers a lecture entitled Our Mind at War. Drawing from research in his latest book, The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World, Dr. McGilchrist explains how an overreliance on ways of looking at the world characteristic of the left hemisphere may be partially responsible for the increase in mental illnesses globally, including depression. His lecture was produced in collaboration with the ...
Zach Hall on Neuroethics
April 30, 2012 17:00 - 20.8 MBZach Hall, Dean of Research at the School of Medicine, University of Southern California, on Neuroethics: A Challenge for a New Age. His lecture was delivered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto on November 12, 2003.
Kay Redfield Jamison on Understanding Suicide
April 30, 2012 17:00 - 18.3 MBPsychologist Kay Redfield Jamison on Understanding Suicide. Her lecture, drawing on research from her book, Night Falls Fast, was delivered at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto in the year 2000. It first aired on Big Ideas on February 3, 2001.
Dr. Norman Doidge on neuroplasticity
April 30, 2012 17:00 - 19.2 MBPsychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and best-selling author, Dr. Norman Doidge, on his book, The Brain that Changes Itself, an examination of the most important breakthrough in neuroscience: the discovery of neuroplasticity. His lecture was delivered at the University of Toronto on March 29th, 2008.
Marc Fournier on Domination and Depression
April 30, 2012 17:00 - 14.6 MBPsychology professor, Marc Fournier, on Domination and Depression. His lecture was delivered at University of Toronto-Scarborough as part of the 2008 Big Ideas Best Lecturer competition.
David Healy on Psychopharmacology
April 30, 2012 17:00 - 18.3 MBPsychiatrist David Healy with his lecture Gripped by a Python: How Pharmaceutical Companies Control the Medical Marketplace. The lecture was delivered at Bethune College in Toronto on February 27, 2003.
Graeme Gibson on our human connection to nature
April 28, 2012 04:30 - 12.7 MBGraeme Gibson, author of The Bedside Book of Beasts, and recipient of the Order of Canada, explores the ways we humans relate emotionally, imaginatively, and physically to the natural world. Entitled Echoes of a Working Eden, his lecture also addresses the damage done to us by our abandonment of Nature. It was produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada.
Francis Broun on Artemisia
April 21, 2012 04:30 - 18.6 MBArt historian Francis Broun discusses the work of the 17th century painter Artemisia Gentileschi. In this podcast, Broun explores why Artemisia, who was widely respected in her own time, was forgotten and why she has recently been returned to her rightful place as a groundbreaking painter.
Ian Hacking on The Biosocial Being
April 14, 2012 04:30 - 16.7 MBPhilosopher Ian Hacking delivers the 2011 Ioan Davies Memorial Lecture entitled Who Are You? The Biosocial Being. The lecture took place at York University on November 14, 2011.
Romeo Dallaire and Stephen Lewis on Child Soldiers
April 07, 2012 04:30 - 19.3 MBDrawing on their vast experiences and first-hand knowledge, distinguished humanitarians Senator Romeo Dallaire and Stephen Lewis, enter into a dialogue about the issues that they have committed their lives to: the eradication of the use of child soldiers and stopping the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. Their discussion, moderated by journalist Anna Maria Tremonti, was organized by PEN Canada.
Daniel Kahneman on The Machinery of the Mind
March 31, 2012 04:30 - 16.3 MBDaniel Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, on The Machinery of the Mind. Kahneman is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Public Affairs at Princeton University and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics.
Darin Barney on Citizenship in the Technological Republic
March 28, 2012 15:00 - 17.5 MBMcGill University professor, Darin Barney, delivers the 2007 Hart House Lecture entitled One Nation Under Google. His lecture looks at many important issues, including how we are used by technology and how technology challenges citizenship. Barney is the Canada Research Chair in Technology & Citizenship.
George Dyson on the Origins of the Digital Universe
March 24, 2012 04:30 - 18.1 MBScience historian and author (Darwin Among the Machines) George Dyson on the Origins of the Digital Universe. The talk focuses on the work done at The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton New Jersey by such renowned scientists as John von Neumann and Kurt Godel.
Alberto Manguel on The Screen of Hal
March 22, 2012 04:30 - 18.2 MBAlberto Manguel delivers the final lecture in the 2007 Massey Lecture series, entitled The Screen of Hal.
John Duffy on the emerging politics of technology
March 17, 2012 04:30 - 21.2 MBJohn Duffy, advisor to former Prime Minister Paul Martin and founder of StrategyCorp, tackles the subject of The Emerging Politics of Technology in a lecture produced in collaboration with the Literary Review of Canada. Duffy has spent years pondering the role of technology in our thinking about policy and politics. And he believes that the politics of technology is at the forefront of Canada's public policy debates. But is technology beyond political and democratic control? And if not, ...
Graham Farmelo on Paul Dirac and Mathematical Beauty
March 03, 2012 04:30 - 18.6 MBAdjunct Professor of Physics at Northeastern University in Boston, Graham Farmelo, on Paul Dirac and the Religion of Mathematical Beauty. Apart from Einstein, Paul Dirac was probably the greatest theoretical physicist of the 20th century. Dirac, co-inventor of quantum mechanics, is now best known for conceiving of anti-matter and also for his deeply eccentric behavior. For him, the most important attribute of a fundamental theory was its mathematical beauty, an idea that he said was "almost a...