Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
323 episodes - English - Latest episode: 12 days ago - ★★★★★ - 3.3K 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
Helen Mirren: Queen of Stage and Screen
June 22, 2021 03:30 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MBThe 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
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 13 Trailer
June 15, 2021 03:30 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBAlan and Clear+Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd preview the new season. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Neil Shubin: Why Would a Fish Have Fingers?
June 08, 2021 03:30 - 43 minutes - 40.4 MBAnd 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
Anna Deavere Smith: She’s Been Hundreds of People
June 01, 2021 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MBUsing 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
John Colapinto: Speaking of the Voice…
May 25, 2021 03:30 - 45 minutes - 42.2 MBJournalist 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
Does your doctor care about you?
May 18, 2021 03:30 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBA 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
How to Explain Almost Everything
May 11, 2021 03:30 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBBill 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
The Empathy Diaries
May 04, 2021 03:30 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBIn 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
Space Rocks
April 27, 2021 03:30 - 44 minutes - 40.7 MBBrian 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
He Put the Dark in Energy
April 20, 2021 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38.5 MBSomething is pushing the Universe apart. We don’t know what it is, but Michael Turner named it: Dark Energy. This cosmologist’s way with words helped raised the public profile of what Michael calls the greatest question in all of science. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Getting to Here and Now
April 13, 2021 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBThe wonderful Laura Linney really knows how to relate, on stage and off. The way actors have to be present for one another can be a good model for how we relate in life, too. But it’s not always easy. Like, what do you do when the other actor doesn't relate back? Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Making the End a Beginning
April 06, 2021 03:30 - 42 minutes - 39 MBIn a moving and frank conversation – punctuated by laughter – Alan talks with Rabbi Steve Leder about the unavoidable subject, which people usually avoid — only adding to their loss. Their talk is inspired by Rabbi Leder’s new book, The Beauty of What Remains: How Our Greatest Fear Becomes Our Greatest Gift. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
From DaVinci to CRISPR
March 30, 2021 03:30 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBWalter Isaacson’s latest exploration of the lives of creative geniuses focuses on Jennifer Doudna, the co-inventor of the revolutionary gene editing tool CRISPR. Alan explores with Isaacson his fascination with people who have changed the world, from Leonardo to Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 12 / Science Clear+Vivid - Season 2 Trailer
March 23, 2021 03:30 - 32 minutes - 30.5 MBA look ahead at the people we have in the new seasons of both C+V and SC+V, starting next week. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Deborah Tannen – The Stories We Tell
March 16, 2021 03:30 - 41 minutes - 38.5 MBDeborah Tannen, author of the hugely influential best seller, You Just Don’t Understand, swaps stories with Alan about conversations that went wrong; and talks about her new book, Finding My Father: His Century-Long Journey from World War I Warsaw and My Quest to Follow Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Ash Sanders and Sarah Ventre – Life in a Cult
March 09, 2021 04:30 - 44 minutes - 40.9 MBEmbedding themselves in a fundamentalist Mormon community, journalists Sarah Ventre and Ash Sanders wove together the stories of both those in thrall to its all-powerful prophet and others seeking escape. They take Alan behind the scenes of their gripping and evocative podcast Unfinished: Short Creek. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Reisa Sperling – Making Alzheimer’s a Memory
March 02, 2021 04:30 - 39 minutes - 36.7 MBPropelled by events in her own life, Reisa Sperling is working hard to defeat this disease that cruelly destroys brains and crushes families. As we live longer lives, more of us are in danger of contracting Alzheimer’s. But Reisa’s work is exciting. And so are the signs that we’re making progress. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Sanjeev Bhaskar – The Joy of Blooming Later
February 23, 2021 04:30 - 42 minutes - 39 MBThe British actor, Sanjeev Bhaskar, started his career later in life and is glad he did. He didn’t try to portray human experience until he actually had some. It’s led to useful wisdom, both on the stage and off. Fans of Masterpiece Theatre will recognize him as the co-star of the crime drama Unforgotten. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Rebecca Wragg Sykes – Our Neanderthal Kin
February 16, 2021 04:30 - 40 minutes - 37.8 MBThey walk among us. Some percentage of the genes of many modern humans have been handed down to us from Neanderthals. Alan, who has about 2% of those genes, is more than a little excited to hear from expert Rebecca Wragg Sykes how Neanderthals looked, lived and loved. Her new book is Kindred. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Malcolm Gladwell – Those Dangerous First Impressions
February 09, 2021 04:30 - 43 minutes - 40.7 MBFirst impressions are supposed to tell us a lot, and they often do. Problem is, as Malcolm Gladwell explains in his latest book Talking to Strangers, sometimes what they tell us is wrong – dangerously wrong. Even deadly. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Emily Levesque – The Romance of the Night Sky
February 02, 2021 04:30 - 43 minutes - 40.5 MBA passionate astronomer and a vivid writer, Emily Levesque describes a life of watching what’s out there in the universe so vividly, you may want to run out and get a telescope. Her new book is The Last Stargazers. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Eric Lander – Decoding Life
January 26, 2021 04:30 - 42 minutes - 39.7 MBRecently nominated as the first presidential science advisor with a seat in the cabinet, Eric Lander talks with Alan about his leading role of the Human Genome Project and how the insights it’s revealed into diseases as different as Covid-19 and cancer are leading to treatments, and even cures, that he never imagined possible. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Penn Jillette – Magic, Tricks, and Us
January 19, 2021 04:30 - 43 minutes - 40.4 MBWhen we see a magic trick, is the magician fooling us, or are we fooling ourselves? Penn Jillette, the talking half of the magic team Penn and Teller, tells Alan how tricks are a test of how we process reality. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Robert Stickgold – Why do we dream?
January 12, 2021 04:30 - 42 minutes - 39.2 MBWe not only need to sleep, we need to dream, too. Robert Stickgold explains why we must go to the movies every night when we sleep – it’s to make sense of our waking world. And it’s all in his book When Brains Dream. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Anthony Fauci - The Soldiers of Science who saved our lives
January 05, 2021 05:00 - 46 minutes - 43.2 MBThey did their military service, not in Vietnam, but in the world's largest research hospital – and over the years their work has saved millions of lives. You’ve probably never heard this story, even though someday yours may be a life that is saved by the Soldiers of Science. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 11 Trailer
December 29, 2020 04:30 - 33 minutes - 31.3 MBAn in-depth preview of the upcoming eleventh season of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Two Actors Talk Acting
December 22, 2020 04:30 - 41 minutes - 37.7 MBTwo old friends who have played together on stage and on camera have a chat. And not only discover new things about each other’s approach to acting, but also share their joy of connecting on stage – and the role the audience plays in those moments of spontaneity that make a live performance magical. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
How oskar the gene invented sex
December 15, 2020 04:30 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBA leading scientist who studies how genes make bodies, Cassandra Extavour almost became a musician and still sings professionally. She works with an extraordinary insect gene called oskar. Hundreds of millions of years ago oskar borrowed a fragment of a bacterial DNA that made sexual reproduction possible in the vast majority of animals– including you, me, and scientists who sing. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
How Oscar the gene invented sex
December 15, 2020 04:30 - 43 minutes - 40.1 MBA leading scientist who studies how genes make bodies, Cassandra Extavour almost became a musician and still sings professionally. She works with an extraordinary insect gene called Oscar. Hundreds of millions of years ago Oscar borrowed a fragment of a bacterial DNA that made sexual reproduction possible in the vast majority of animals– including you, me, and scientists who sing. Support the show: https://www.aldacommunicationtraining.com/podcasts/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...
Testaments to Writing
December 08, 2020 04:30 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBThe author of The Handmaid's Tale and its sequel, The Testaments, lets us in on her process of storytelling, involving both a “panoramic view ” and rolling revisions: “I’m more of a downhill skier – just get to the end and then you can go back and see where you screwed up along the way, count the trees you’ve hit.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
The Ever Fonky Lowdown
December 01, 2020 05:00 - 39 minutes - 36.2 MBIn his new album, The Ever Fonky Lowdown, Wynton Marsalis offers a passionate musical take on what ails our democracy. His conversation with Alan also ranges over his early career, his dedication to education and why Louis Armstrong really was the greatest. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
What poker can teach us about life
November 24, 2020 04:30 - 43 minutes - 40.3 MBIn exploring the role that chance plays in our lives – and how to understand and control it – psychologist and author Maria Konnikova set out to learn how to play poker, a game she knew nothing about. She succeeded so well that she won hundreds of thousands of dollars on the professional poker circuit. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
How to Make Funny People Funnier
November 17, 2020 04:30 - 43 minutes - 39.8 MBAs a 12-year-old, multiple Emmy winner Alan Zweibel decided that Rob in TV’s The Dick van Dyke show led the life he wanted to live. Since then he’s written for funny people from Borscht Belt comedians, to the cast of Saturday Night Live, to stars like Billy Crystal and Larry David. It’s all in his new book Laugh Lines. In a way, his life has been a history of modern comedy. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Life on Venus?
November 10, 2020 04:30 - 42 minutes - 39.6 MBShe studies what may be the most disgusting molecule known to humankind. And that’s made Clara Sousa-Silva a key member of the team that may have detected life in the clouds of Venus. Her foul (and lethal) molecule has been discovered in those clouds – and the only current explanation for its presence is that it is being made by living organisms. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Can we save the planet?
November 03, 2020 04:30 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBHaving experienced 30 years of frustration since writing the first popular book setting out the facts of climate change, Bill McKibben is now hopeful that – maybe in the nick of time – there is enough momentum for action that the planet as we know it may be saved from destruction. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
What makes you happy?
October 27, 2020 03:30 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBIt may not be what you think. With insights from studying unhappy students at Yale University, where she is a professor of psychology, Laurie Santos teaches Yale’s most popular class – and is now sharing those insights on how to be happier in her podcast, the Happiness Lab. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown
October 20, 2020 03:30 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBJohn Lithgow talks with Alan about his new book of satirical verse and drawings – and the joys and challenges of writing satire at a time when events themselves can defy belief. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Dr. Fauci looks forward
October 13, 2020 03:30 - 1 hour - 60.9 MBSix months after he first briefed Alan on the then novel coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci explains both why it turned out to be so unpredictable and dangerous and the gains science has made in understanding how to bring it under control. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Leslie Vosshall – Why Mosquitoes Choose You
October 06, 2020 03:30 - 44 minutes - 41.5 MBFemale mosquitoes need your blood to live and breed. So figuring out who among us attracts them and why can not only help in avoiding annoying bites but also help stop the spread of deadly diseases. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Goldie Hawn – She’s Got Your Brain on Her Mind.
September 29, 2020 03:30 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBThe celebrated and beloved actress on her successful mission to help schoolkids use their brains better. And how they become better students and more collaborative classmates. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
James Rothman – on Discovering the ‘FedEx trucks’ in our Cells
September 22, 2020 03:30 - 38 minutes - 35.1 MBThe Kavli and Nobel Prize Laureate on his groundbreaking work finding out how our bodies ship vital molecules to where they are needed — enabling profound advances in medicine. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods – on Humanity’s Essential Ingredient
September 15, 2020 03:00 - 45 minutes - 42 MBWhat dogs and bonobos tell us about what has made humans survive and why we’d better not lose it. It’s not how fierce we are. On the contrary. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Carla Shatz – Making an Old Brain Young
September 08, 2020 03:00 - 44 minutes - 41 MBThe Kavli Prize Laureate on her research suggesting it may be possible to return aging and damaged brains to a state where they could learn as they did when young. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Sharon Begley – on Keeping up with Covid
September 01, 2020 10:00 - 43 minutes - 40.3 MBReporting from the front lines of medical research with the with the skill of a storyteller while struggling to keep up with the outpouring of research on the coronavirus. “It’s like a firehose that we’re all trying desperately to drink out of.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Max Tegmark – When Our Machines Are Smarter Than Us
August 25, 2020 03:30 - 45 minutes - 41.2 MBUp until now, we’ve been smarter than our tools. But that might change drastically sooner than we know. Isn’t it time to think about that? Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Lynn Sherr & Ellen Goodman – She Votes!
August 18, 2020 03:00 - 43 minutes - 40 MBThe two celebrated journalists explore the turbulent story, often forgotten, of women’s struggle to have the right to vote and what it means to us today. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Pardis Sabeti – Racing Against Covid, Racing Against Time
August 11, 2020 13:00 - 41 minutes - 38.7 MBWe invite Pardis back to hear her account from the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus. She’s a leader in scientific breakthroughs aimed at stopping its insidious ability to spread undetected. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Rafael Reif – on the Greatest Threat to Our National Security
August 04, 2020 03:30 - 43 minutes - 40 MBThe President of MIT on how we can lead the world in technology again—and how he’s helping change the educational model so it can survive in the new world of at-home learning. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Brené Brown – on Empathy, Courage and Where They Come From
July 28, 2020 03:00 - 45 minutes - 41.7 MBThe renowned researcher and author on emotional literacy and the strengths that lead to better relationships. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid
Jared Diamond – How it Can All Fall Apart
July 21, 2020 11:22 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBHis recent book Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, could hardly be more timely. And it has a fascinating twist, seeking links between how individuals deal with crises – with insights from his clinical psychologist wife – to how nations succeed or fail when confronted with a crisis. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid