Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
335 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 3.4K ratingsLearn 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.
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Episodes
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 22 trailer
August 01, 2023 03:30 - 19 minutes - 17.4 MBAlan 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 comedian Robert Klein; writer Elizabeth Rush; and neuroscientist Nancy Kanwisher.
Dan Dennett: Fake People Aren’t Funny
July 25, 2023 03:30 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBCounterfeit people, the seductively appealing Deep Fakes made possible by AI, are just the beginning of what the distinguished philosopher Dan Dennett says is a threat to humanity. This spring, he joined hundreds of other thought leaders in signing a starkly scary statement: AI threatens to make us extinct.
Steve Sloman and Phil Fernbach: How Do You Know That?
July 18, 2023 03:30 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MBMost of us don’t know most things. Yet most of us also think we understand a lot (OK, not quantum mechanics or Federal Reserve policy). We are all living with what Sloman and Fernbach argue is an Illusionof how much we know: a knowledge illusion. And this is fueling the fracturing of society.
Aomawa Shields: When an Actor is Starstruck
July 11, 2023 03:30 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBTorn between astronomy and acting, she has landed in the sweet spot: leader of a research team judging other planets for their hospitality for life, while using the skills she learned as an actor to connect with and encourage a new generation of girls to become – as she was – entranced by the stars.
Alan Lightman: Can Science Explain Spirituality?
July 04, 2023 03:30 - 38 minutes - 35 MBA physicist whose world has no room for spirits, but who has experienced many eerily transcendent moments – both in nature and in his work – sets out to understand the unexplainable.
Steve Israel: Disagreeing Without the Hate
June 27, 2023 03:30 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBA member of the US House of Representatives for 16 years before retiring – unindicted and undefeated as he likes to say – Steve Israel knows the value of good communication, and the cost to us all when it’s missing.
Dan Levitt: You Are Stardust. Really
June 20, 2023 03:30 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBEvery atom in your body – and there are more than all the grains of sand in the world – came from outer space, many of them created moments after the Big Bang that began it all. Dan Levitt tells the stories of the remarkable people who figured out how all those atoms got into you.
Adam Gopnik: The Joy of Getting Good at Something Hard
June 13, 2023 03:30 - 42 minutes - 38.9 MBThe New Yorker essayist explores the mystery of mastery as he tackles skills he believed he could never learn. Including boxing, figure drawing and – in his 50s – driving.
Brenna Hassett: Why We Are Weird
June 06, 2023 03:30 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBOf all the attributes that make us humans unique – or in archeologist Brenna Hassett’s view, weird – the weirdest of all is our extraordinarily long childhood. In her delightful book, Growing Up Human, she explores the many tricks evolution has invented to lengthen our childhoods, including her favorite: Grandmas.
Michael Turner: The Dazzling Cosmos
May 30, 2023 03:30 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBWhen funding for the James Webb Space Telescope was in doubt, cosmologist Michael Turner argued passionately that it would transform our understanding of the origin and fate of our universe. Today, with the spectacular images being taken by the Webb exceeding even its designers’ dreams, Turner is “awed and ecstatic.”
Daniel Libeskind: His buildings speak for themselves
May 23, 2023 04:45 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBThe prizewinning architect has designed some of the world’s most dramatic, daring, and memorable buildings. Inspired by optimism, wonder, music, and light they challenge their visitors to experience them as a story.
Eric Topol: A Covid Reckoning
May 16, 2023 03:30 - 40 minutes - 37.1 MBWith the national state of emergency for Covid-19 now officially over, we invited physician and author Topol to reflect on his experience writing a regular online newsletter attempting to counter the misinformation flooding the internet. Called Ground Truths, it takes an unsparing dive into what went right and what went wrong over the last three years.
Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 21 trailer
May 09, 2023 03:30 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBAlan 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 architect Daniel Libeskind; bioarchaeologist Brenna Hassett; and a return visit from congressman Michael Turner.
Ken Duckworth: Navigating mental illness
May 02, 2023 03:30 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBChief medical officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Dr Duckworth has written a guide for those with mental health problems that along with advice from experts tells of the lessons to be learned from people and families who are themselves struggling to live with mental illness.
Susan Goldin-Meadow: Thinking with your hands
April 25, 2023 03:30 - 37 minutes - 34.4 MBDecades spent studying the way we use our hands when we talk has convinced Susan Goldin-Meadow that not only do gestures help our listeners understand us; gestures help us understand ourselves. They help us think, and as children, even to learn.
Valerie Fridland: English evolves, like it or not
April 18, 2023 03:30 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MBAnnoyed by all those likes and so’s and you knows, not mention ahs and ums? In her delightfully titled book Like, Literally, Dude, Valerie Fridland argues that we should stop grumping about language tics and recognize that they are inevitable – and actually useful.
Dava Sobel: The Women Who Brought the Stars to Earth
April 11, 2023 03:30 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBStarting in the late 19th century, a group of women at the Harvard Observatory pored over hundreds of thousands of glass photographic plates bearing images of billions of stars. It was the beginning of a revolution in understanding what stars are made of and how far away they are.
Judd Apatow: Funny, With a Side of Feeling
April 04, 2023 03:30 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MBFor decades now, he’s been building a comedy empire as writer, director and producer of a string of movies and TV series. Judd Apatow explores his early experiences soaking up the comedy writing of others and how he came to understand that the richest kind of humor is personal.
Kieran Setiya: Facing up to Life
March 28, 2023 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBLife is hard. But drawing on the insights of philosophers ancient and modern, Keiran Setiya has written a witty and hope-filled book chronicling his own realization that, even with chronic pain, while his life may not be perfect, it can still be richly rewarding.
Nita Farahany: The Battle For Your Brain
March 21, 2023 04:00 - 42 minutes - 38.6 MBHer new book takes a deep dive into neurotechnology – the ability to read and record your brain waves. While there are many potential benefits – Nita herself uses a simple device to help control her migraines – she is alarmed at the prospect of others, be they employers or governments, being able to peer into your mind.
Liev Schreiber: The Ukrainian Connection
March 14, 2023 03:30 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBInspired by his Ukrainian grandfather, Liev has launched a campaign to fund humanitarian relief for the people of Ukraine. His several trips there included a meeting with a fellow actor, now president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Alan chats with the bots
March 07, 2023 15:10 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBMike Farrell makes a guest appearance to perform with Alan the first new MASH scene in 40 years – a scene written by a chatbot. Most of Alan’s other guests are themselves chatbots, including one that falsely claims to be a person and another that insults him horribly when Alan seeks advice.
Kevin Kelly: Help Wanted – AI Whisperers
February 28, 2023 04:30 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MBAlan is a little obsessed with chatbots, and he’s become only too aware that these products of artificial intelligence can become seriously – even dangerously – stupid. What’s urgently needed, argues tech guru Kevin Kelly, are people with a particular talent – the ability to coax chatbots into being useful – AI whisperers.
Sy Montgomery: For the love of hawks… and turtles
February 21, 2023 04:30 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MBHer almost uncanny ability to connect with creatures from rhinos to octopuses led her to a love affair with one of the planet's swiftest and fiercest predators. Meanwhile Sy Montgomery has been in a nurturing relationship with a collection of creatures who are the hawks’ polar opposites – turtles.
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 20 trailer
February 14, 2023 04:30 - 37 minutes - 34 MBAlan 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 naturalist Sy Montgomery; comedian Judd Apatow; and founding executive editor of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly.
Cassandra Quave: Hunting Plants That Heal
February 07, 2023 05:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBA childhood illness robbed her of a leg, but that hasn’t stopped her from trekking through jungles, swamps and mountains in search of medicinal plants. Her hope: that her discoveries may lead to new medications to counter the rising threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
Sara Seager: Is There Life Out There?
January 31, 2023 05:00 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBPioneering a new way to search for signs of life on planets circling other suns, Sara Seager battled through a devastating personal loss to see her method vindicated by NASA’s powerful new space telescope.
Pamela Adlon: Getting Better All the Time
January 24, 2023 04:30 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBShe wrote, produced, directed and starred in the hit series “Better Things” for five years. Nominated multiple times for multiple awards, she recently directed her first movie. She trades reminiscences with Alan, who’s known her since she was a kid.
Karen Bakker: The Sounds of Life
January 17, 2023 04:30 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBHer new book lets us eavesdrop on the chatter between creatures – even plants – that our ears can’t detect. And reveals how new technologies, including AI, are opening the possibility of our being able to converse with other animals.
Daniel Lubetzky: On a Mission to Spread Kindness
January 10, 2023 04:30 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBThe founder of the multi-billion-dollar nutrition bar company KIND has rolled out "Starts With Us," a non-partisan movement working to overcome cultural extremism by fostering curiosity, compassion and courage as daily habits.
Kathy Kleiman: The six women who programmed the first modern computer
January 03, 2023 04:30 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBBuilt during WWII, the world’s first electronic computer, the ENIAC, was an engineering marvel. But at 80 ft long and 6 ft tall it was mute until it was brought to life by six young women mathematicians who figured out how to program it.
Thomas Boothby: On a Tough Little Guy With Secrets
December 27, 2022 04:30 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBYou need a microscope to see them, but tardigrades aren’t only nature’s ultimate survivors – they hold secrets that may make vaccines more available and help astronauts live in space.
Alison Gopnik: Making AI more childlike
December 20, 2022 05:00 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MBThe renowned expert on how babies learn about the world through curiosity and exploration is now collaborating with artificial intelligence researchers to make AI systems smarter by being more like children.
Les Johnson: Sailing to the Stars
December 13, 2022 04:30 - 40 minutes - 37.3 MBThe NASA engineer piggybacked a tiny spacecraft on the giant new moon rocket launched just last month. His spacecraft was to spread gossamer wings and sail to an asteroid. But Les Johnson’s dreams are of sailing people to the stars.
Kate Klonick: Can Social Media Not Be So Anti-Social?
December 06, 2022 04:30 - 41 minutes - 38 MBKate watched up close as Facebook struggled to moderate its content. And that makes her the perfect guest to unravel the chaos surrounding Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone: Married – and loving it.
November 29, 2022 04:30 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MBThe dynamic couple is writing, producing and acting in hit movies and TV series all while being the parents of two daughters. Alan wonders if this requires special communication skills!
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 19 trailer
November 22, 2022 04:30 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBAlan 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 Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone; programmer and leader in internet law Kathy Kleiman; and NASA technologist Les Johnson.
Lindy Elkins-Tanton: What’s at the Core?
November 15, 2022 05:00 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MBIn her riveting memoir, A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman, Lindy Elkins-Tanton writes of the unconventional path she has taken to becoming the leader of a deep space mission that may reveal secrets of a place we can never visit – the core of our own planet.
James Zimring: Fuzzy thinking and the Big Whopper
November 08, 2022 04:30 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MBToo many of us instinctively feel that a quarter pound hamburger is bigger than a third of a pound. And that’s just one of the mistakes we make in too quickly sizing up situations — sometimes jumping to disastrous conclusions.
Scott Hershovitz: Little Kids Asking Big Questions
November 01, 2022 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38 MBThe philosopher's kids were asking surprisingly deep questions, so Scott Hershovitz was inspired to write a book, subtitled Adventures in Philosophy with My Kids. Their adventures are surprisingly entertaining.
Gregory Berns: Does your dog know you better than you know yourself?
October 25, 2022 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MBNeuroscientist Greg Berns, who scanned dogs' brains to find out if they love their humans, now has a new book, The Self Delusion, that challenges what we humans know about ourselves.
John and Julie Gottman: Welcome to the Love Lab
October 18, 2022 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38 MBDecades of research with thousands of couples have enabled husband and wife John and Julie Gottman to predict whether relationships will prosper – or wither. And why.
Kate Marvel: Human fingerprints on Hurricane Ian
October 11, 2022 03:30 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBAfter exactly predicting the almost unprecedented damage Ian would cause, climate scientist Kate Marvel argues the time for questioning the role of global warming in triggering extreme weather events is over. The case is closed. It’s time for action.
Jay Baruch: In the ER, your story matters
October 04, 2022 03:30 - 39 minutes - 36.4 MBPhysician Jay Baruch has learned from experience that diagnosing a patient in the emergency room requires more than clinical tests. It requires listening to their story.
Ken Auletta: Power and Abuse in the Movie Business
September 27, 2022 03:30 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBHow was Harvey Weinstein able to continue his abuse of women for so long – over four decades? Journalist Ken Auletta explores the enabling “culture of silence” in his book Hollywood Ending.
Charles Limb: To be Creative Don’t Think So Hard
September 20, 2022 03:30 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MBCombining his passion for music with his ability to peer inside the brain as it’s working, neuroscientist Charles Limb finds that creativity needs reasoning to get out of the way.
Francis Collins: Bridging Science and Faith
September 13, 2022 03:30 - 44 minutes - 40.7 MBHead of the National Institutes of Health for 13 years and now interim science advisor to President Biden, Francis Collins is that rarity in the scientific community – an outspoken evangelical Christian. For him, science is “getting a glimpse of God’s mind.”
Molina, Garber and Alda: Together Again
September 06, 2022 03:30 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBThe actors Alfred Molina and Victor Garber and Alan reminisce about the play that first brought them together 24 years ago – an experience that changed their lives.
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 18 trailer
August 30, 2022 03:30 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBAlan 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 neuroscientist Charles Limb, philosopher Scott Hershovitz, and former director of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Phillip Dettmer: The World in a Nutshell
August 23, 2022 03:30 - 35 minutes - 32.1 MBA high school dropout who went on to create the immensely popular YouTube channel Kurtzgesagt (In a Nutshell) ignites curiosity about science in unique ways.