Town Hall Seattle Science Series
345 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 days ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsThe Science series presents cutting-edge research about biology, physics, chemistry, ecology, geology, astronomy, and more. These events appeal to many different levels of expertise, from grade school students to career scientists. With a range of relevant applications, including medicine, the environment, and technology, this series expands our thinking and our possibilities.
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Episodes
180. Don Stuart with Addie Candib: No Farms, No Food
May 03, 2022 19:39 - 1 hour - 61.6 MBFarmers and environmentalists haven’t always seen eye-to-eye about the best ways to manage agricultural landscapes, but America’s farms are vital to preserving ecosystems and a stable climate. How might the two come together to unite for the common good? In No Farms, No Food, longtime farm, fisheries, and environmental policy advocate Don Stuart took readers inside the political and policy battles that determine the fate of our nation’s farmland. Stuart traced the history of agriculture co...
179. Elena Conis with Sally James: The Rise, Fall, and Toxic Return of DDT
April 26, 2022 23:27 - 1 hour - 62.3 MBIn the 1940s, the insecticide DDT was widely used to combat insect-borne human diseases like malaria and control insects in agricultural applications, gardens, and inside homes. In the 1950s, it became evident that the pesticide was causing extensive health and environmental damage. In 1962, Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring alerted the public to the long-lasting dangers of pesticide use. And in 1972, the United States EPA issued an order for DDT’s cancellation due to adverse environmenta...
178. Jane McGonigal with Margaret Morris: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything
April 19, 2022 20:30 - 1 hour - 55.9 MBThe COVID-19 pandemic — one of the most disruptive events in human history — has made it more challenging than ever to feel prepared, hopeful, and equipped to face the future with optimism. How do we map out our lives when it feels impossible to predict what the world will be like next week, let alone next year or next decade? Humans aren’t particularly fond of uncertainty, but what if we had the tools to help us feel more secure and shape our futures? Future forecaster and game designer J...
177. David Bainbridge—Paleontology: An Illustrated History
April 12, 2022 22:21 - 57 minutes - 53.3 MBHumans have been stumbling upon the remains of ancient animals since prehistoric times, long before fossils were routinely dug up, named, and pieced together into “whole” prehistoric skeletons. The word dinosaur wasn’t established until the mid-19th century – practically yesterday, considering the massive span of the geologic time scale. From bits and bones from unknown creatures emerged tales of giant dogs, dragons, sea serpents, and myriad other creatures. Absurd as these legends might see...
176. Jack E. Davis with Deborah Jensen: A Cultural and Natural History of the Bald Eagle
April 05, 2022 20:54 - 1 hour - 56.4 MBThe majestic bald eagle can be spotted throughout most of North America at various points during the year. Here in Western Washington, we’re lucky to spot them all year-round — no doubt thanks to an abundance of tall trees for nesting and open bodies of water that provide a source of food. They are revered birds, sacred within Indigenous traditions, and associated with wisdom, bravery, and protection. Only a few decades ago, the future of bald eagles was tenuous. In the late 19th and early...
175. David Haskell with Lyanda Lynn Haupt: The Evolution of Sound
March 29, 2022 20:01 - 1 hour - 64.2 MBOur world constantly vibrates with sound, from the delicate flap of an insect’s wings to the thunderous roar of a rocket launching into space. There’s the spring chorus of frogs. The sputter of a creek and the whoosh of a sudden breeze. Songs, music, and speech. But the sounds of today aren’t necessarily the same sounds that our ancestors encountered. How have sounds changed? What might be missing from our present and future sonic experiences? In his new book, Sounds Wild and Broken, biolo...
174. Charlotte Coté with Dana Arviso: Stories of Indigenous Food Sovereignty from the NW
March 22, 2022 22:48 - 1 hour - 61.1 MBIn the dense rainforest of the west coast of Vancouver Island, the Somass River (c̓uumaʕas) brings sockeye salmon (miʕaat) into the Nuu-chah-nulth community of Tseshaht. C̓uumaʕas and miʕaat are central to the sacred food practices that have been a crucial part of the Indigenous community’s efforts to enact food sovereignty, decolonize their diet, and preserve their ancestral knowledge. In A Drum in One Hand, a Sockeye in the Other, Charlotte Coté shared contemporary Nuu-chah-nulth practic...
173. Vidya Krishnan with Amber Payne: The Past, Present, and Future of Tuberculosis
March 15, 2022 18:40 - 58 minutes - 54.5 MBTuberculosis might seem like a disease of the past in the West, but globally it remains a persistent and costly threat across all age groups. According to the World Health Organization, over 1.5 million people died from TB in 2020 — could it be on track to re-emerge as the next global public health crisis? According to medical science journalist Vidya Krishnan, the disease could be mounting a “frightening comeback.” In her new book, Phantom Plague, Krishnan traced a century of TB’s histor...
172. Matt Richtel: The New Science of the Immune System
March 08, 2022 18:37 - 58 minutes - 54.3 MBThe human immune system is nothing short of remarkable: it helps our bodies ward off bacteria and viruses, heals wounds, and maintains the balance needed to keep us alive. The good news? Our immune systems are no longer threatened by the plagues and common diseases of the past. The bad news? Our bodies face an array of distinctively modern challenges; threats like fatigue, stress, and exposure to toxins, which place undue pressure on a system that typically keeps us healthy. Could the result...
171. Dr. Carl L. Hart with Professor Jennifer Oliva: Drug Use for Grown-Ups
March 01, 2022 19:18 - 1 hour - 59.5 MBIs it possible for drug use to be part of a responsible, balanced, and happy life? Dr. Carl L. Hart, a prominent neuroscientist and professor of psychology at Columbia University, believes so; but he didn’t always see it that way. Dr. Hart grew up in Miami at a time when drugs like crack cocaine were blamed for his city’s problems. Initially, his research aimed to prove that drug use led to bad outcomes. But what he found was unexpected: the facts didn’t support the ideology, the truth was...
170. Robin George Andrews: What Volcanic Eruptions Can Reveal About Our Planet
February 23, 2022 00:09 - 57 minutes - 53.1 MBVolcanoes have long fascinated curious humans of all ages. Here in the Seattle area, our beloved Tahoma (Mount Rainier) and the four other active volcanoes in the Cascade Mountain Range are beautiful but ever-present reminders of Washington’s location in the “Ring of Fire,” a 25,000-mile arc of volcanic activity that follows the rim of the Pacific Ocean. Volcanoes are quite literally our neighbors; how can we get to know them better and understand their role in shaping and reshaping our plan...
169. Howard Frumkin with Joseph Winters: A Roadmap for Protecting Nature to Protect Ourselves
February 15, 2022 23:42 - 55 minutes - 51.6 MBIt’s no secret that human health and the health of Earth’s systems — in particular, the air, water, biodiversity, and climate — are inextricably linked. It’s also no secret that Earth’s systems are changing in ways that can feel daunting and unwieldy. But with all great change comes great opportunity, and the emerging field of Planetary Health offers glimmers of hope rooted in actions, strategies, and a deepened understanding of our interconnectedness. In Planetary Health: Protecting Natur...
168. Lynda V. Mapes: The Natural History of the Orca and the Threats to Their Survival
February 08, 2022 11:00 - 58 minutes - 54.6 MBIn July of 2018, Orca whale J35, also known as “Tahlequah,” gave birth to a calf off the coast of British Columbia. When the calf died shortly after birth, the world grieved alongside J35 as she carried the calf for 17 days across 1,000 miles before finally releasing it and rejoining her pod. Grief that transcends species is an extraordinary thing; it sparked a revival awareness of the critical need to preserve orcas, the chinook salmon they feed on, and their habitat — together, core elemen...
167. Neal Stephenson: Termination Shock
February 01, 2022 20:18 - 1 hour - 61.1 MBBestselling author Neal Stephenson is known for delivering novels with poignant and incisive reflections on our present and future. He’s also no stranger to the Town Hall stage and has joined us in the past to discuss his novel Fall and collaborative work with Nicole Galland, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., among others. Stephenson returned to the Town Hall stage to discuss his newest thriller, Termination Shock. In his speculative vision of the not-too-distant future, sea levels are rising...
166. Hannah Zeavin with Dr. Margaret Morris and Dr. Orna Guralnik—The Distance Cure: A History of Teletherapy
January 27, 2022 20:10 - 58 minutes - 54.6 MBWhen you think of therapy in a traditional sense, what comes to mind? Television shows, movies, and comics love to paint a stereotypical scene: a bespectacled therapist asks poignant questions and jots down notes on a legal pad; meanwhile, the patient reclines on a sofa and spills their thoughts and emotions into the void of the room. It might be easy to assume that therapy has always involved a person-to-person conversation, but in her new book The Distance Cure, scholar and author Hannah Z...
165. Dr. MeiLan K. Han with Dr. Albert Rizzo: A Doctor’s Guide to Lung Health
January 25, 2022 11:00 - 54 minutes - 50.9 MBOn average, a person takes around 20,000 breaths each day; yet most of us never notice the rhythmic rush of air flowing in and out, keeping our bodies oxygenated and alive. And as many asthma or respiratory distress sufferers will attest, you don’t want to notice. But things are happening all around us that threaten our blissful ignorance of breathing — wildfire smoke, indoor and outdoor pollution, and Viruses like COVID-19, to name a few — and they will continue to impact us unless we take ...
164. Dr. Jack Gilbert with Dr. Sean Gibbons: The Promise of the Human Microbiome
January 21, 2022 23:06 - 59 minutes - 55.4 MBPrebiotics and probiotics. Fecal microbiota transplants. Optimizing a diet personalized to you. These microbiome-themed topics are all around us in the media, but microbiome research remains a fairly nascent field of study and wasn’t on many people’s radars even 10 years ago. UCSD Professor Dr. Jack Gilbert and Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) Assistant Professor Dr. Sean Gibbons came together to tackle this exciting area of research. What have we learned over the past few years? What ...
163. Beth Shapiro with Carl Zimmer: The Perks of Meddling with Nature
January 18, 2022 23:47 - 1 hour - 58.2 MBHuman beings are extraordinary meddlers. We’ve been shaping the world around us since the last ice age, and the longer we’re around, the better we become at resetting the course of evolution. From domesticating animals to CRISPR, a revolutionary new gene-editing tool that garnered a Nobel Prize in 2020, humans haven’t stopped tinkering and probably never will. There’s an understandable nervousness around human interference; what are we potentially destroying, or at least mucking up, when w...
162. Saul Griffith with David Roberts: A Realistic, Optimistic Plan for our Clean Energy Future
January 13, 2022 23:36 - 1 hour - 67.7 MBWe know we have to do something about climate change, and we know we need to move immediately. The mere thought of it tends to make people freeze in their tracks from sheer overwhelm. Thousands of ideas exist, but there’s no clear, collective plan. Try as some people might, jumping on a rocket to the next planet isn’t the answer. But what if we don’t need groundbreaking new inventions to move the needle on climate change? What if most of the innovations already exist? Could we build a bett...
161. Michael Lenox and Rebecca Duff with Nick Licata: Decarbonizing the Global Economy by 2050
January 12, 2022 01:26 - 1 hour - 74.8 MBThe year 2050 once felt like a far-off speck on a distant horizon. But with less than three decades left before we reach the halfway point of the 21st century, that faraway mote doesn’t feel quite so distant. Is it possible to avoid the worst effects of climate change by then? What efforts can we focus on to truly make an impact? In The Decarbonization Imperative, Professor Michael Lenox and Rebecca Duff described the urgent situation we’re in and why the year 2050 is so significant. They...
160. Kyle Harper—Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History
January 07, 2022 22:38 - 44 minutes - 41.7 MBEscaping infectious disease and managing its spread has long been at the forefront of the human mind; it’s certainly taken front and center in the minds of today’s humans as the globe continues to wade through the COVID-19 pandemic. In an especially timely and fascinating look at the story of disease past and present, historian Kyle Harper explained the evolutionary past of humanity’s uniquely dangerous disease pool in Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History. Disea...
159. Bartow J. Elmore—Seed Money: Monsanto’s Past and Our Food Future
January 04, 2022 23:27 - 1 hour - 60.3 MBWhether we can see it or not, the impacts of Monsanto— the agrochemical giant best known for creating the herbicide Roundup and the genetically engineered seeds that resist it— are everywhere. Monsanto has shaped and reshaped the farms that provide food to people worldwide; and while we might not be able to see the breadth of the company’s impacts, we’re most certainly eating them. In Seed Money, Bartow J. Elmore investigated how the future of food remains tethered to Monsanto, despite a t...
158. Michelle Millar Fisher, Amber Winick, and Zoë Greggs: Things that Make and Break Our Births
December 21, 2021 21:33 - 55 minutes - 51.4 MBWhen it comes to human reproduction, particularly from a Western perspective, there’s no shortage of physical things involved. Pregnancy tests. Maternity clothing. Pacifiers. Baby carriers. Reproduction and parenting involve a plethora of objects, each designed with a purpose in mind and each contributing to the reproductive experience, for better or for worse. Historians and authors Michelle Millar Fisher and Amber Winick explored the stuff of reproduction in their new book, Designing Mo...
157. Bill Schutt—Pump: A Natural History of the Heart
December 17, 2021 11:00 - 1 hour - 65.5 MBWe’ve pondered the puzzles of the human body for millennia, questioning the function of both the visible parts and the parts hidden away behind layers of skin, muscle, and bones. When it comes to the human body— and the bodies of many other living creatures— the heart is an organ that’s long been central to our understanding of life. How did humans get from mummifying the heart separately from the body in order to weigh the soul inside it, as ancient Egyptians once did, to the modern ability...
156. Paige Harden: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality
December 14, 2021 20:32 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBAll human beings are 99.9 percent identical in their genetic makeup. All our differences are found in the remaining .1 percent. Our DNA makes us different in our personalities and in our health, and both matter when it comes to educational and economic success in our current society. In The Genetic Lottery, clinical psychology professor Paige Harden aimed to reclaim genetic science from the legacy of eugenics and dismantle dangerous ideas about racial superiority. She argued that we must a...
155. Allison Cobb with Clayton Aldern—Plastic: An Autobiography
December 10, 2021 11:00 - 52 minutes - 48.8 MBPlastic is everywhere, and it lasts forever. But humans have a hard time grasping “forever”— the scope is far greater than our comprehension. That’s precisely the problem that Allison Cobb explored in her new book, Plastic: An Autobiography. Cobb aimed to give shape to behemoths like climate change, nuclear technologies, and racism, using plastic waste as the thread that connects them all. She insisted that the current design of manufacturing and retail, which relies on a cycle of consuming...
154. Martin Williams: When the Sahara Was Green
December 07, 2021 23:55 - 55 minutes - 51.7 MBThe Sahara desert, once upon a time, wasn’t a desert at all. It was green. It was a pleasant place, fed by rivers and lakes. It was home to crocodiles, hippos, turtles, and fish of all stripes. Prehistoric hunters and gatherers came to the lush land, as well, to partake of its rich bounty. It’s now the largest hot desert in the world, equal in size to the United States. Temperatures can reach upward of 130 degrees and sand dunes can climb to nearly 600 feet in height. All this begs the quest...
153. Seth Kantner with Bellamy Pailthorp: What Caribou in Alaska Reveal About Climate Change and Ourselves
December 03, 2021 23:25 - 1 hour - 62 MBThe web of life is sometimes freezing. Take, for instance, what’s happening in the Alaska Arctic. In one of the largest remaining wilderness ecosystems on the planet, the frigid place is home to the Western Arctic Caribou Herd, and is also a hotspot to study the effects of climate change. What becomes of the caribou if climate change continues unabated? Further, what becomes of those that live, and depend, on the caribou, like the indigenous Iñupiat people, if the caribou disappear? The inte...
152. Thor Hanson: Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid
December 01, 2021 00:57 - 59 minutes - 55.2 MBWhat’s a little lizard to do when another ferocious hurricane comes tearing through its homelands? Grow larger toe pads to grip more tightly. Where are the long-spined urchins going? South, to find cooler homes. How come the aggressive butterflyfish isn’t fighting anymore? The coral they loved is no longer worth fighting for. Thor Hanson, who last appeared at Town Hall to talk about bees, is back with a story, ultimately, of hope. Climate change is a disaster and is wreaking havoc the worl...
151. Dr. Nir Barzilai with Dr. Lee Hood: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity
November 17, 2021 00:50 - 1 hour - 62.6 MBMethuselah lived to 969 years old, according to the Bible. In our recent age, Jeanne Calmet holds the title of the oldest person who ever lived. She lived to be 122 years and 164 days old. There’s a woman in Japan, Kane Tanaka, who is currently 118. Jiroemon Kimuri, also from Japan, is the oldest man of all time, living to 116 years and 54 days. How did they do it? How do some people avoid the deterioration and weakness that plagues many of their peers decades early? Is it luck, or something...
150. Paul A. Offit with Larry Corey: The Long and Risky History of Medical Innovation
November 09, 2021 23:46 - 56 minutes - 52.3 MBWant to have a tooth pulled? There’s a risk in doing so. Need to have an X-ray because you broke your femur? There’s a risk in doing that, too. Chemotherapy? Having your appendix removed? Getting the COVID-19 vaccine? There’s risk in all of it. From risk, however, can come innovation and solutions. In You Bet Your Life, Dr. Paul Offit gave a long-ranging peek into how medical treatments come to be. It’s made, in part, through risk. From the first blood transfusions 400 years ago to the h...
149. Darren Naish: A Brief Compendium of Dinosaur Lore
November 02, 2021 08:00 - 50 minutes - 47.3 MBBarney is a friendly purple Tyrannosaurus rex. Dino, everyone’s favorite pet from The Flintstones, is a “Snorkosaurus.” Godzilla is a “Godzillasaurus.” Dinosaurs have fascinated us all for as long as we first discovered dinosaurs. From Jurassic Park to the sitcom The Dinosaurs, we’ve been enthralled by Stegastauruses, Velociraptors, Brontosauruses, and all the other long-long reptiles of millennia ago. But what do we actually know of these ancient creatures? And what can we still learn? Plen...
148. Leigh Cowart with Dan Block: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose
October 26, 2021 23:03 - 59 minutes - 55.2 MBLove isn’t the only thing that hurts. Leigh Cowart knows. Eating the world’s hottest pepper hurts. Ballerinas dancing on broken bones hurts. A sideshow performer electrocuting themself hurts. Ultramarathon running, jumping into an icy lake, and tattooing all hurt. Why are we doing all of this to ourselves on purpose? This question, and many others, are answered in Leigh Cowart’s scintillating new book, Hurts So Good: The Science and Culture of Pain on Purpose. Masochism, Cowart’s learned, ...
147. Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley: The History and Future of Quarantine
October 19, 2021 22:32 - 59 minutes - 54.8 MBQuarantining during COVID certainly wasn’t the first time we’ve had to restrict our movements to prevent the spread of disease. Far from it. Take, for instance, that time in the 14th century when the Black Death decimated populations (killing off, some suggest, 60% of the entire European population). And take some other alarming maladies like yellow fever, tuberculosis, Ebola, and cholera. With Until Proven Safe, Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley offered a survey of the uses and abuses o...
146. Lee McIntyre: How to Talk to a Science Denier
October 12, 2021 23:17 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBWe’re not to blame for climate change. It’s a part of the natural cycle. The earth is flat. The round Earth conspiracy is orchestrated by NASA and other government agencies. No one should get the coronavirus vaccine. Bill Gates wants to use it to implant microchips in people. This is, of course, all bunk. But how can we change the minds of people who believe it to be true? Lee McIntyre offered thoughts and suggestions to try and reach, communicate, and change the minds of science deniers...
145. Dr. Meg Lowman: Discovering the Eighth Continent in the Trees Above Us
October 06, 2021 00:34 - 50 minutes - 46.8 MBThere aren’t many in this world who can be called a real-life Lorax. In fact, there’s just one: Dr. Meg Lowman. Lowman was nicknamed that by National Geographic for her enthusiasm and knowledge of all things trees. A true tree hugger, Lowman, executive director of the TREE Foundation, has been up in the branches and crowns for decades, learning and sharing that enthusiasm and knowledge about the arboreal world all around and above us. With her new book, Arbornaut: A Life Discovering the ...
144. Rupa Marya and Raj Patel with Brady Walkinshaw Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice
September 28, 2021 12:00 - 1 hour - 57.2 MBWhy do Black people have a higher death rate than white people from COVID-19? Why do the working class have higher instances of respiratory diseases? If someone is saddled with debt, what does that do to their bodies? Inflamed illuminates the hidden relationships between our biological systems and the injustices of our political, social, and economic systems. Dr. Marya and Patel took us on a tour through the human body – our digestive, endocrine, circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, imm...
143. Giulio Boccaletti: Water—A Biography
September 21, 2021 17:35 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MB“If there is magic on this planet,” anthropologist Loren Eiseley said, “it is contained in water.” Humans have been trying to contain that magic for millennia. Giulio Boccaletti knows this more than most anyone. With Water: A Biography, Boccaletti showcased the revealing history of how the distribution of water has shaped human civilization. We all need water to survive. It is essential to every plant and animal on this earth. Boccaletti offered up a wide-ranging environmental and social h...
142. Christopher W. Leahy: A Brief Compendium of Avian Lore
September 14, 2021 21:26 - 56 minutes - 52.8 MBThere are bird nests that you can eat. Some birds go “anting,” a behavior in which they rub ants all over their feathers and skin. A mockingbird can emit up to 200 distinct noises. These facts, and many more, are encapsulated in Christopher Leahy’s new book, Birdpedia: A Brief Compendium of Avian Lore. Leahy highlights his A to Z treasury of bird facts with captivating stories and illuminating insights on most all things bird related. From revealing why birds are named the way they are, to...
141. Emma Marris with Jane C. Hu: Freedom and Flourishing in the Non-Human World
August 25, 2021 02:05 - 57 minutes - 53.2 MBProtecting wild animals and preserving the environment are two ideals so seemingly compatible as to be almost inseparable. But in reality, between animal welfare and conservation science there exists a space of underexamined and unresolved tension: wildness itself. When is it right to capture or feed wild animals for the good of their species? How do we balance the rights of introduced species with those already established within an ecosystem? Can hunting be ecological? Are any animals tru...
140. Dana Bourland with Clayton Aldern: A Call to Action on the Housing and Climate Crisis
July 01, 2021 00:54 - 57 minutes - 53.4 MBAmerican cities are currently faced with a two-pronged challenge: dealing with our climate crisis, and managing the lack of housing that is affordable and healthy. Our housing is not only unhealthy for the planet, green affordable housing expert Dana Bourland believes, but is also putting the physical and financial health of residents at risk, with full time minimum wage workers unable to afford a two-bedroom apartment in any US county. She argued that we need to move away from a so-called g...
139. Dr. Temple Grandin with Dr. Jim Heath—The Outdoor Scientist: The Wonder of Observing the Natural World
June 23, 2021 01:59 - 1 hour - 70.3 MBIn the hundreds of walks that you’ve taken this past year, to get out of the house and flee from screens, have you noticed things around you that you have questions about but don’t have the tools to answer? Maybe you’ve wondered how exactly that mushroom got there or thought again about the mysterious migratory patterns of birds. Join New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned scientist and autism spokesperson Dr. Temple Grandin to hear about her newest book The Outdoor Scientist: ...
138. Audrea Lim with Elizabeth Alvarado: Stories and Lessons from America’s Unsung Environmental Movement
June 15, 2021 23:04 - 45 minutes - 42.3 MBAs the world’s scientists declare a “climate emergency,” the fight to protect our planet’s ecological resources and the people that depend on them is more urgent than ever, argues journalist Audrea Lim. But she believes that the real battles for our future are taking place far from the headlines and international conferences, in mostly forgotten American communities where the brutal realities of industrial pollution and environmental degradation have long been playing out. She joined us, ...
137. Shankar Vedantam with Ross Reynolds: The Power & Paradox of the Self-Deceiving Brain
June 09, 2021 02:36 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBHave you ever asked someone, “How are you?” while not really caring about their actual response? And why would you need to, when we are conditioned to rarely respond to this question honestly? This is an example of deception and self-deception, and it happens in little and big ways around the world every single day. While this example may seem innocuous, self-deception has caused harm—to us, to our communities, to the planet. But if it is so bad for us, why is it so ubiquitous? The Hidden Br...
136. John Feffer: Is a Better World Possible After COVID?
May 25, 2021 23:35 - 55 minutes - 51.7 MBMany believe that COVID-19 has exposed everything that’s wrong with decades of the world’s governments betting on militarism, competition, and wealth creation. But is a better world really possible after this crisis? Author John Feffer collected insight from dozens of the world’s leading thinkers and activists to answer this question, and he joined us to discuss the opportunity for transformative change. Offering an analysis of our current moment, collected in his book The Pandemic Pivot,...
135. Dr. David Sinclair with Dr. Lee Hood: Why We Age—And Why We Don’t Have To
May 12, 2021 00:00 - 1 hour - 64.7 MBIs aging a disease? How old does your body say it is? How can we live longer, healthier lives? Dr. David Sinclair, Harvard professor of genetics and bestselling author, joins ISB co-founder and genomics pioneer Dr. Lee Hood for a conversation about the very latest in aging research. David A. Sinclair, Ph.D., A.O. is a Professor in the Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Insitute, and co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School. He is best k...
134. Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac with Brady Walkinshaw: The Stubborn Optimist’s Guide to the Climate Crisis
May 05, 2021 01:05 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBIn 2015, the United Nations gathered for the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference. What resulted is arguably the most significant global agreement on the reduction of climate change: The Paris Agreement. On Earth Day 2016, 174 countries signed the agreement, including the United States (which withdrew in 2020 but officially rejoined in February). But what exactly does the Paris Agreement do? And what are the consequences if those ambitious goals are not attained? Two leaders on ...
133. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein with Jaleesa Trapp: Dark Matter, The Physics of Melanin, & Dreams Deferred
April 27, 2021 20:17 - 54 minutes - 50.4 MBDr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is one of the leading physicists of her generation. She is also one of fewer than 100 Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics. Her vision of the cosmos is vibrant, buoyantly non-traditional, and grounded in Black feminist traditions. The star theoretical physicist joined us in conversation with STEM educator and PhD student Jaleesa Trapp to take us on a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos–and present a call for a m...
132. Peter Kaufman with Cable Green: Open Knowledge & Being a Citizen in the 21st Century
April 20, 2021 19:54 - 57 minutes - 52.9 MBPopes and their inquisitors, emperors and their hangmen, commissars and their secret police–throughout history, all have sought to stanch the free flow of information. Efforts have ranged from being burned for attempting to translate the Bible, to dictionaries and encyclopedias being forbidden, to works of literature and science and history being trashed and pulped, and beyond. With this long tradition that still persists to this day, how do we create a universe of truthful and verifiable in...
131. Christopher A. Bail: Defeating Political Tribalism with Social Media
April 15, 2021 01:17 - 58 minutes - 54.1 MBIn an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. But user behavior suggests that these platforms are also powering deep social divisions online. What is the truth? What can we do to find a balance? Sociologist Christopher Bail joined us to challenge common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, with support from his book Breaking the Social Me...