Latest Developmentalscience Podcast Episodes

How Facing Big Feelings Can Help Build Mental Health

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - August 17, 2023 00:29 - 52 minutes
In this episode, Ron talks with psychologist and bestselling author Dr. Lisa Damour about how strong emotions during adolescence–good and bad–can be opportunities for youth to build positive coping strategies that can help them thrive as adults.  

Social Adaptivity: Developing Positive Relationship Skills in a Rapidly Changing World

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - May 29, 2023 08:28 - 43 minutes
Host Ron Dahl talks with guests Thao Ha, Gustavo Carlo, and Yalda Uhls about how emotionally charged relationships during adolescence can help us learn to navigate personal relationships, find our role in our communities, and handle intense emotions throughout our lives.

Our Youth’s Perspective, part 3: Developing Values, Goals, and Identity

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - February 02, 2023 22:01 - 17 minutes
In the third and last episode of “Our Youth’s Perspective,” a three-part miniseries of the Adaptivity podcast, YNSCA member Tomi Dugbo talks with Prof. Joanna Williams, Co-Director of the National Scientific Council on Adolescence, about developing our own values, goals, and identities separate ...

Our Youth's Perspectives part 2: Exploration and Risk Taking

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - January 27, 2023 19:27 - 18 minutes
In the second episode of “Our Youth’s Perspective,” a three-part miniseries of the Adaptivity podcast, YNSCA member Michael Nguyen talks with Adaptivity host and CDA founding director Dr. Ron Dahl about the importance of trying new things and taking risks during our adolescent years.

Our Youth's Perspectives part 1: Decision Making and Emotional Regulation

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - January 20, 2023 00:41 - 19 minutes
In the first episode of “Our Youth’s Perspective,” a three-part miniseries of the Adaptivity podcast, YNSCA member Mahisa Mannan talks with UCLA CDA Co-Executive Director Adriana Galván about learning to make difficult decisions and regulate our emotions during our adolescent years.  

Epic Journeys: What we can learn from adolescence across species

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - December 16, 2022 17:10 - 52 minutes
Host Ron Dahl talks with best-selling author and evolutionary biologist Barbara Natterson Horowitz and anthropologist Rachna Reddy about adolescence across the animal kingdom–and how a cross-species perspective can help us better understand, and support, the human journey from childhood to adole...

Rooted in Connection: Reimagining the Foster System for Adolescents

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - April 04, 2022 16:00 - 45 minutes
The foster care system in the US is not designed to support what we now know about positive adolescent development. But it could be. Host Ron Dahl talks with experts Sixto Cancel and Leslie Leve about how we could reimagine the system to align with what science tells us youth need to thrive.

This is Me: Race and Identity in Adolescence

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - October 03, 2021 19:00 - 49 minutes
We talk with Harvard physics major Jara Wilensky, high school math star Noor Harwell, and Dr. Joanna Lee Williams about being Black women in science and how we form our identities in our adolescent years.

When Mattering Really Matters

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - March 01, 2021 23:18 - 24 minutes
We talk with adolescent climate activist Jayden Foytlin, Cornell Professor Anthony Burrow, and San Francisco youth making a difference for their peers about the hunger to matter during adolescence, and how adults can support youth to develop a sense of purpose that can carry through for a lifeti...

When Screen Time is the New Normal

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - July 25, 2020 14:39 - 20 minutes
Experts weigh in on how tech use during COVID-19 is affecting adolescents, and what caretakers and educators can do to support their well-being.

Guts, Drama, and the Swirl of Emotions

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - July 25, 2020 14:38 - 20 minutes
We talk with bestselling graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier about feeling things deeply during adolescence—and why that’s so important.

Guts, Drama and the Swirl of Emotions

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - July 25, 2020 14:38 - 20 minutes
We talk with bestselling graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier about feeling things deeply during adolescence—and why that’s so important.

Scary but Thrilling: The Science of Taking Risks

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - July 25, 2020 14:37 - 26 minutes
We explore why adolescents need new and risky experiences—  from skateboarding to asking someone out on a date.

Adaptivity Trailer

Adaptivity: The Science of Adolescence - July 24, 2020 23:34 - 1 minute
Taking risks. Falling in love. Figuring out who we are. Adolescents are constantly learning, and adapting—in ways that are often misunderstood. Join developmental scientist and pediatrician Dr. Ron Dahl explore the science of adolescence on Adaptivity, a new podcast by the Center for the Develop...