Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Alan Alda

Learn 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.

Matt Strassler: What Are You Made Of?

Matt Strassler: What Are You Made Of?

The answer, regrettably, is unbelievable. That is, unbelievable to most of us, because we cannot imagine a universe – including ourselves – made of waves. Quantum physicist Matt Strassler braves the task of convincing Alan he is a collection of waves, and in doing so helps Alan answer a question that’s haunted him for more than a decade.

Feb 18, • 35:54

Julie Sedivy: How Language Shapes Us

Julie Sedivy: How Language Shapes Us

Her new book, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love is an ode to the power of language to both shape us and be shaped by us. It’s informed by her own experience with languages: she spoke five before learning English as an immigrant to Canada as a child.

Feb 11, • 41:10

Mala Murthy: From a Fly’s Brain to Yours

Mala Murthy: From a Fly’s Brain to Yours

The 500 feet of wiring packed into fruit fly’s brain has been fully mapped – giving insights into how the more that 300,000 miles of wiring packed into your brain generates your thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions. These insights could also lead to novel treatments for the diseases caused when the wiring goes wrong.

Feb 4, • 37:27

Brenda Wineapple: When Evolution Was on Trial

Brenda Wineapple: When Evolution Was on Trial

In 1925, a trial in a small town in Tennessee riveted the nation. In the dock was a young man named John Scopes, charged with violating a state law outlawing the teaching of evolution. The trial exposed fault lines in society that are opening again today, a century later.

Jan 28, • 37:57

Daniel Levitin: Music as Medicine

Daniel Levitin: Music as Medicine

Music can lift our spirits, bring us to tears, spark our creativity, pace our workouts. Neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin explores all these benefits of music – and adds the recent scientific evidence that in some chronic medical conditions, music is medicinal.

Jan 21, • 40:46

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 28 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 28 trailer

Alan and Clear and Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd chat about and play clips from some of the shows coming up in season 28. A major theme of the season is language –from babies picking up clues about  their mother’s language while still in the womb, to male fruit flies singing courtship songs to female fruit flies, to a best-selling novelist second guessing some of the language she used in her best known novel.

Jan 14, • 36:32

Marcia Bjornerud: The Wisdom of Rocks

Marcia Bjornerud: The Wisdom of Rocks

Offsprings of the Earth – Earthlings – we are most of us ignorant of the 3.5 billion years of experiments our planet has been through to produce us. Yet the story is there in the rocks all around us – if only we can decipher what they have to say.

Jan 7, • 32:37

Matt Abrahams: Off the Cuff and in the Zone

Matt Abrahams: Off the Cuff and in the Zone

So much of our communication is spontaneous and yet we never really learn or are taught how to do it well – we’re just expected to do it. How to avoid being tongue-tied, whether when called upon to give an impromptu speech or when sitting next to a stranger at a dinner party.

Dec 31, 2024 • 40:22

Dean-David Schillinger: The Power of Patients’ Stories

Dean-David Schillinger: The Power of Patients’ Stories

Eliciting the story behind a patient’s visit to the hospital can lead to better diagnosis and treatment than medical tests alone – and also reveals much of what needs fixing in health care today.

Dec 24, 2024 • 37:27

Kristin Andrews: Is that spider conscious?

Kristin Andrews: Is that spider conscious?

Alan’s fleeting thought while chasing a spider around the floor sparked a conversation with an animal minds expert who argues that many more creatures than we imagine are conscious. What could this mean for our relationship with the rest of the animal kingdom – including those that annoy us and those we eat?

Dec 17, 2024 • 40:53

John Pollack: The Surprising Power of Puns and Analogies

John Pollack: The Surprising Power of Puns and Analogies

Good analogies led to cheaper cars and Apple computers; bad ones to lives wasted and lost. And while puns might not always make you smile (or grimace), they helped pave the way for written language.

Dec 10, 2024 • 39:05

Jasmin Graham: She’s Down with Sharks

Jasmin Graham: She’s Down with Sharks

As a Black graduate student disillusioned with academia, she founded Minorities in Shark Science (MISS). She now pursues her passion for sharks and outreach to a public fearful of sharks as a successful independent researcher.

Dec 3, 2024 • 35:38

Craig Foster: Life Lessons from an Octopus

Craig Foster: Life Lessons from an Octopus

For most of us who live in the “tame” modern world, a reminder of how we can refresh ourselves by experiencing the wild world – even the wild world of our backyard or city streets.

Nov 26, 2024 • 36:01

Joshua Greene: Games That Build Bridges

Joshua Greene: Games That Build Bridges

His research figuring out how our brains make moral judgments has led to two on-line games: One aimed at overcoming political animosity (and that’s fun to play!); the other to satisfy both your head and your heart when you donate to charity.

Nov 19, 2024 • 39:46

Dan Heath: In Someone Else’s (Working) Shoes

Dan Heath: In Someone Else’s (Working) Shoes

Most of us have no idea how others – even our friends and neighbors – spend their days at work. What’s it really like to be a plumber, a marriage counselor, an ice cream truck owner, an author of mystery novels? In his podcast Dan Heath talks to workers in dozens of different jobs to find out What It’s Like to Be.

Nov 12, 2024 • 38:46

Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods: How to Raise a Great Dog

Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods: How to Raise a Great Dog

The puppy kindergarten at Duke University is discovering how to spot a future great service dog while the dog is still a puppy. And it turns out that what makes a great service dog can also make your dog great.

Nov 5, 2024 • 39:39

Backstage at The West Wing

Backstage at The West Wing

How the acclaimed TV series came to be and what it has come to mean since, as recalled in a new book by cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack. Including stories you’ve probably never heard before.

Oct 29, 2024 • 39:56

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 27 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 27 trailer

Alan and executive producer Graham Chedd look ahead to season 27. In a nostalgic look back at the TV series The West Wing, Alan recalls the scariest moments of his career; we visit a puppy kindergarten to spot future service dogs; a doctor tells stories that vividly illustrate the shortcomings of the health care system; and we meet a woman who can read our history as Earthlings. All that and more…

Oct 22, 2024 • 24:54

Lynnae Quick: Could an Icy Moon Harbor Life?

Lynnae Quick: Could an Icy Moon Harbor Life?

Her doctoral thesis led to her becoming a member of the team behind yesterday’s successful launch of NASA’s Clipper mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa. Her contribution could help find out if beneath its thick ice crust, Europa is friendly to life.

Oct 15, 2024 • 36:39

Terry Szuplat: Speak Your Mind

Terry Szuplat: Speak Your Mind

For eight years he wrote speeches for President Obama. Today he applies much of what he learned then in helping others with public speaking – how to craft a speech, how to connect with the audience, how to overcome the sheer terror of standing in front of dozens or hundreds of people.

Oct 8, 2024 • 38:46

Steve Martin: Portrait of the Artist

Steve Martin: Portrait of the Artist

He’s had a legendary life as a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, banjo player, even magician. As Steve talks about these threads in his life, a picture emerges of the thoughtful side of this remarkable entertainer.

Oct 1, 2024 • 38:31

Ayana Johnson: We Can Do This!

Ayana Johnson: We Can Do This!

A clarion call to those of us acutely aware of the peril facing our planet yet feel powerless to help save it. Ayana Johnson urges us to stop fretting about what “I” can do and instead think about what “we” can do, by joining our own skills and passions with those of others – and have fun doing it. Then, she asks in her provocative new book, What If We Get It Right?

Sep 24, 2024 • 40:30

Frank Barry: Taking the Lincoln Highway to America

Frank Barry: Taking the Lincoln Highway to America

Escaping the Covid lockdown in 2020 he and his wife Laurel set out in an RV to travel across America along the Lincoln Highway – a road more aspirational than real. But with Abraham Lincoln’s spirit as their guide they talked with the people they met along the way to explore the urgent question of what can hold our fractured country together.

Sep 17, 2024 • 37:07

Randy Fertel: Improv Everywhere

Randy Fertel: Improv Everywhere

Is improvisation at the heart of Western culture — music, art, literature, politics, even artificial intelligence?  Author Randy Fertel thinks so. And he warns that as much as it’s a positive force, there’s also peril in it.

Sep 10, 2024 • 37:32

Roger Rosenblatt: Wounds and Other Blessings

Roger Rosenblatt: Wounds and Other Blessings

Alan talks with Roger Rosenblatt about his new book “A Steinway on the beach.” It explores that great mystery of how being wounded—emotionally or physically—is both an inescapable part of life and a chance to illuminate it. It’s seeing the wound as the place where the light enters you.

Sep 3, 2024 • 35:36

Lisa Kaltenegger: Alien Hunter

Lisa Kaltenegger: Alien Hunter

She’s a pioneer in figuring out how we might tell if any of the trillions of planets out there in the galaxy might harbor life – and if so, what kind of life.

Aug 27, 2024 • 37:58

Mark Rank: As Luck Would Have It

Mark Rank: As Luck Would Have It

Chance events not only change lives, they can change history – as when a soviet sailor’s briefly stuck foot prevented a potential nuclear catastrophe. You can’t predict when luck, good or bad, will intervene. But you can learn to take advantage of it.

Aug 20, 2024 • 40:16

Anne Curzan: Say What? Says Who?

Anne Curzan: Say What? Says Who?

Over time, the meaning of words often changes. The history of these changes suggests they're inevitable and that some of us (like our host) could be a little more relaxed about it and a little less peevish.

Aug 13, 2024 • 40:37

Mo Rocca: Late Comebacks

Mo Rocca: Late Comebacks

Older people, says Mo Rocca, have better stories. And he tells many of them – stories of people as different as Colonel Sanders and Henri Matisse – in his new book Roctogenarians – older people who even in their 90s have achieved great things.

Aug 6, 2024 • 38:27

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 26 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 26 trailer

Alan 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 author Roger Rosenblatt, word maven Anne Curzan, and TV and radio personality Mo Rocca.

Jul 30, 2024 • 21:25

David Toomey: Want to play?

David Toomey: Want to play?

Most creatures – including unlikely ones like octopuses, crows and bees – make room for fun. But play is much more than fun and games. Play teaches life skills, empathy – even morality. And it may help shape evolution.

Jul 23, 2024 • 36:50

Sanjana Curtis: Sprinkling Stardust on TikTok

Sanjana Curtis: Sprinkling Stardust on TikTok

An astrophysicist brings the universe down to earth. In brief captivating videos she tells the stories of how everything our world is made of – including ourselves – was created in cataclysmic explosions and collisions far out in space.

Jul 16, 2024 • 38:03

Chris French: Would you believe it?

Chris French: Would you believe it?

When we experience things that seem beyond explanation, are they evidence of the supernatural? Or instead, a quirk of our brains? A skeptical but open-minded psychologist has some entertaining answers.

Jul 9, 2024 • 41:00

Cady Coleman: Sharing Space

Cady Coleman: Sharing Space

Sharing her experiences of three space missions – including 159 days as the only woman on the 6-person crew of the International Space Station – Cady Coleman also shares lessons about getting along:valuable insights for the rest of us down here on earth.

Jul 2, 2024 • 39:29

Charles Duhigg: Connecting and Communicating

Charles Duhigg: Connecting and Communicating

Alan and the author of a new book called Supercommunicators share their thoughts on what makes a great conversation.  The result? A great conversation!

Jun 25, 2024 • 39:47

When Small is Big News

When Small is Big News

The world of the very small is very different from the one we are familiar with. (Gold for instance turns red.) Chad Mirkin and Robert Langer’s skills in crafting this bizarre micro-world into medical breakthroughs earned them the 2024 Kavli Prize in nanotechnology.

Jun 18, 2024 • 38:28

David Charbonneau and Doris Tsao: Looking for Something Familiar

David Charbonneau and Doris Tsao: Looking for Something Familiar

He is searching space for planets that are something like ours. She is searching brains to discover how we recognize things. They are both 2024 Kavli laureates – Charbonneau awarded the prize for astrophysics, Tsao for neuroscience.

Jun 12, 2024 • 40:56

David Jewitt and Jane Luu: Is Pluto All Alone Out There?

David Jewitt and Jane Luu: Is Pluto All Alone Out There?

That was the question two determined astronomers set out to answer. A frustrating five-year search revealed that Pluto, long thought to be a small, lonely planet on the outer fringes of the solar system, is in fact part of a huge ring of debris left over from the solar system’s birth.

Jun 4, 2024 • 38:04

Carla Shatz and Marcus Raichle: Brainwaves

Carla Shatz and Marcus Raichle: Brainwaves

Between them these two neuroscientists changed the way we think of our brains. Their insights are now opening new ways to tackle the problems our brains face as they age, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

May 28, 2024 • 41:23

Fred Guttenberg and Joe Walsh: Two Dads Defending Democracy

Fred Guttenberg and Joe Walsh: Two Dads Defending Democracy

Once sworn enemies in TV appearances and on social media, Fred Guttenberg and Joe Walsh got together privately and realized there is much that unites them. They are now on a tour of college campuses hoping to share their success in bridge-building with others divided by hate.

May 21, 2024 • 40:52

Craig Venter: Oceans of Genes

Craig Venter: Oceans of Genes

Aboard his 100 ft sailboat, the geneticist famed for his work deciphering human genes spent 15 years sailing the world’s oceans, discovering millions of unknown genes in the microbes that live there – genes that could lead to new sources of energy, food and medicine.

May 14, 2024 • 37:38

Adam Moss: What Makes it Art?

Adam Moss: What Makes it Art?

After a successful career as an award-winning magazine editor, Adam Moss decided to put it all aside to pursue a passion for painting. He became pretty good; but something was missing. His struggle to understand what that something was led him to his new book, The Work of Art.

May 7, 2024 • 40:31

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith: A Second Home on Mars?

Kelly and Zach Weinersmith: A Second Home on Mars?

Should we be planning to establish settlements on the moon and Mars? To many, including a couple of billionaires, the idea has become almost an obsession. An unlikely husband and wife duo has spent years digging deeply into plans to colonize space. Their conclusion: not so fast.

Apr 30, 2024 • 41:19

Rebecca Boyle: Moonstruck

Rebecca Boyle: Moonstruck

We exist because of the moon. Rebecca Boyle relates the amazing story of how the moon, born of a cataclysmic collision with an infant earth, has shaped our history, our evolution, and even our very existence.

Apr 23, 2024 • 40:40

Doris Kearns Goodwin: In the Rooms Where it Happened

Doris Kearns Goodwin: In the Rooms Where it Happened

Her new book tracks the momentous events of the 1960s when her husband, Dick Goodwin, worked closely with both JFK and LBJ, and Doris worked with LBJ, as the two very different presidents shaped the future.

Apr 16, 2024 • 41:39

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 25 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 25 trailer

Alan 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 newspaper editor Adam Moss; science journalist Rebecca Boyle; and writers Kelly and Zach Weinersmith.

Apr 9, 2024 • 21:11

Stephen Dubner: Feynman on Our Mind

Stephen Dubner: Feynman on Our Mind

Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio, has long been fascinated by the great physicist Richard Feynman. As has Alan. Stephen has devoted a year to making a remarkable podcast series on Feynman, and Alan has played Feynman on the stage for a year. They compare notes on what they’ve come to learn about him.

Apr 2, 2024 • 39:51

Remembering Frans de Waal

Remembering Frans de Waal

In this special episode of Clear and Vivid we reflect on Frans’ life-long commitment to revealing how much we humans have in common with our primate cousins.

Mar 27, 2024 • 16:16

Justice Stephen Breyer: Understanding What They Meant

Justice Stephen Breyer: Understanding What They Meant

When interpreting the Constitution, the dangers of relying solely on the words and what they meant at the time, without taking into account the purpose and values expressed in those words.

Mar 26, 2024 • 39:55

Shohini Ghose: Women’s Time and Space

Shohini Ghose: Women’s Time and Space

A leading physicist herself, Shohini Ghose has wonderful stories about the trials and triumphs of the many mostly unsung women whose work helped open up the universe.

Mar 19, 2024 • 39:55

Tali Sharot: Take Another Look

Tali Sharot: Take Another Look

We can get used to things to the point where even something we once thought wonderful can lose its luster. More sinister, we can also get used to the drip, drip of falsehoods till we become dulled to their danger. How to overcome habituation, and even take advantage of it.

Mar 12, 2024 • 41:48

Keith Houston: There’s More to Writing Than Words.

Keith Houston: There’s More to Writing Than Words.

The intriguing stories behind the often weird and baffling origins of punctuation and other symbols we use to communicate. And it’s not just commas, colons and periods. There are pilcrows, octothorps, interrobangs and a whole menagerie more.

Mar 5, 2024 • 38:32

Terry Greiss: Acting to Connect

Terry Greiss: Acting to Connect

The Irondale Ensemble Project, a theater company rooted in improvisation, created a program to help police and community build trust and mutual understanding through theater games.

Feb 27, 2024 • 39:52

Robert Sapolsky: You Have No Choice

Robert Sapolsky: You Have No Choice

You may think you were free to choose that chocolate ice cream over the vanilla. But maybe the choice was made for you before you were even born – that the free will you believe you are exercising in your everyday decisions is an illusion.

Feb 20, 2024 • 41:02

Tom Hanks: Making a Book About Making a Movie

Tom Hanks: Making a Book About Making a Movie

And what a book it is, a rich sprawling novel called The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece, which Tom himself describes as a “primer on the long slog of bringing an idea from somebody’s head to a theater near you.”

Feb 13, 2024 • 38:48

Paul Bloom: Can AI be Moral?

Paul Bloom: Can AI be Moral?

Why can’t AI bots be made to be good, to be moral, so they’ll help us and not do harmful or terrible things? But just whose moral values would we want them to have? And what if they become too moral?

Feb 6, 2024 • 41:57

Eric Schmidt: AI: The Good, the Bad and the Scary.

Eric Schmidt: AI: The Good, the Bad and the Scary.

He was for many years the CEO of Google where he had a bird’s eye view of the dramatic evolution of artificial intelligence. And while he is alarmed by the many dangers of AI, especially its ability to create fake people in this election year, he is also enthusiastic about the huge opportunities he sees for AI benefitting medicine, education and the tackling of global problems like climate change.

Jan 30, 2024 • 40:21

Fei-Fei Li: The Godmother of AI

Fei-Fei Li: The Godmother of AI

She earned that unofficial title from her peers through her pioneering work harvesting big data to power AI, leading to the recent breakthroughs such as ChatGPT and its many successors. Her personal story is inspiring, from her childhood in China to risking her scientific career on a research gamble that might well have failed. And like a real godmother she now feels responsible for the revolution she helped launch.

Jan 23, 2024 • 42:34

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 24 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 24 trailer

Alan 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 computer scientist Fei-Fei Li; former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt; and actor Tom Hanks.

Jan 16, 2024 • 31:38

Cynthia Breazeal: Her Robots Have Warmth!

Cynthia Breazeal: Her Robots Have Warmth!

Their social, communicative and emotional skills allow her robots to seamlessly collaborate with us. A pioneer in the field of social robotics, Cynthia Breazeal is now turning her focus to ensuring we understand the limits and risks of the artificial intelligence that powers those robots – that we become “AI literate.”

Jan 9, 2024 • 40:06

Abraham Amiri: From Afghanistan to the Stars

Abraham Amiri: From Afghanistan to the Stars

An unquenchable passion for astronomy born from gazing at the stars from a rooftop as a child led to his setting up a nationwide program in astronomy in Afghanistan. Escaping the wrath of the Taliban for the sin of teaching young women about the universe, he is now a graduate student at UCLA.

Jan 2, 2024 • 40:36

Steve Inskeep: Lessons from Lincoln

Steve Inskeep: Lessons from Lincoln

A new book takes a fresh look at Abraham Lincoln’s life by recounting sixteen face-to-face encounters Lincoln had with people who differed with him, sometimes vehemently. The book not only reveals his skills as a master politician in a deeply divisive time, but also has lessons for today.

Dec 26, 2023 • 38:18

Leslie Odom Jr: Bursting Out

Leslie Odom Jr: Bursting Out

A Tony winner for his performance as Aaron Burr in Hamilton, he is now starring on Broadway in the hit play Purlie Victorious. One of the secrets to his success: letting go.

Dec 19, 2023 • 38:19

Kate Cohen: Asks if You Need God to be Good

Kate Cohen: Asks if You Need God to be Good

It took her years to admit to family and friends that she was a non-believer.  But she found that pretending to believe wasn’t working. Her book is“We of Little Faith: Why I Stopped Pretending to Believe, And Maybe You Should Too."

Dec 12, 2023 • 41:20

Peter Hotez: The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science

Peter Hotez: The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science

In his new book, the doctor familiar on TV in his white coat and bow tie tells how his attempts to correct lies about covid vaccines led to death threats; while the lies themselves led to some 200,000 unnecessary deaths among  those refusing vaccination.

Dec 5, 2023 • 41:05

Heather Cox Richardson: She’ll Write You a Letter

Heather Cox Richardson: She’ll Write You a Letter

Two million of us get a letter in our inboxes every morning with a calm, clarifying take on what happened yesterday— from the perspective of a historian, yet written with the intimacy of a friend.

Nov 28, 2023 • 41:40

David Brooks: How to Know a Person

David Brooks: How to Know a Person

Columnist and author David Brooks tells how he’s changed over his 60 something years –  in part through the books he’s written exploring how people see themselves and others. He shares the insights he’s gained into truly knowing the people around us.

Nov 21, 2023 • 42:50

Marcus du Sautoy: Around the World in 80 Games

Marcus du Sautoy: Around the World in 80 Games

Enjoy playing games? You’ll enjoy them even more once renowned mathematician, Oxford University professor and avid game player Marcus du Sautoy tells Alan why they so fascinate us. And Alan tells Marcus about his favorite game – one even Marcus didn’t know.

Nov 14, 2023 • 40:50

How "Maid" Was Made

How "Maid" Was Made

Stephanie Land’s lifelong passion for writing – along with a college degree she could ill afford – led to a bestselling book and a hit TV series, allowing her to escape the poverty trap ensnaring so many single mothers.

Nov 7, 2023 • 39:42

Frank Felberbaum: Don’t Forget!

Frank Felberbaum: Don’t Forget!

Not only does he have an astonishing memory himself, but Frank Felberbaum has taught thousands of others, including Alan, how to improve their memory skills – especially for putting names to faces.

Oct 31, 2023 • 39:38

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 23 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 23 trailer

Alan 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 astronomer Abraham Amiri; memory expert Frank Felberbaum; and actor Leslie Odom Jr.

Oct 24, 2023 • 33:44

Walter Isaacson: Shadowing Elon Musk

Walter Isaacson: Shadowing Elon Musk

The acclaimed biographer spent two years in Musk’s company as his subject launched rockets, built electric cars, decided to save humanity by sending us to Mars, became the richest man in the world and bought Twitter – all the while often behaving like an “absolute jerk.”

Oct 17, 2023 • 43:05

Laurel Braitman: Writing Wrongs

Laurel Braitman: Writing Wrongs

A life full of adventure while struggling with grief led her to what she does so effectively today – helping doctors to level with colleagues and patients through storytelling when things go wrong.

Oct 10, 2023 • 40:24

Carl Safina: Wisdom from a Baby Owl

Carl Safina: Wisdom from a Baby Owl

Carl tells how rescuing a baby owl helped him and his wife get through the Covid lockdown – and how it renewed their bond with nature. There’s wisdom in it for the rest of us, too, whose relationship with the natural world is increasingly frayed.

Oct 3, 2023 • 40:30

Joe Henrich: How Culture Has Shaped Our Bodies and Brains

Joe Henrich: How Culture Has Shaped Our Bodies and Brains

He’s fascinated by how culture has shaped our evolution – not only changing our bodies and expanding our brains but even expanding our ability to cooperate. And the more diverse a culture, the better its ability to innovate.

Sep 26, 2023 • 39:19

Kashmir Hill: Your Face Belongs to Us

Kashmir Hill: Your Face Belongs to Us

That’s the title of a new book by New York Times technology reporter Kashmir Hill. Her book is both deeply researched and downright scary, as spelled out in the book’s subtitle: A Secretive Start-Up’s Quest to End Privacy As We Know it. A glimpse of your face in any photo you’ve ever uploaded can now lead to anyone discovering details of your life – both on-line and out there in the world.

Sep 19, 2023 • 40:16

Matthew Walker: Sleep REALLY Matters

Matthew Walker: Sleep REALLY Matters

Author of a best-selling book called Why We Sleep, and host of the Matt Walker Podcast, he’s become the go-to expert on everything to do with sleep, from how it keeps both mind and body healthy to why we dream.

Sep 12, 2023 • 40:10

Maya Shankar: Beginning from an Ending

Maya Shankar: Beginning from an Ending

A brilliant violinist in her teens, her world came crashing down when an injury ended her career even as it was beginning. Remarkably, she turned that loss into a PhD in neuroscience, a stint in the White House and a popular podcast about others also navigating drastic changes in their lives.

Sep 5, 2023 • 41:39

Adam Mastroianni: Why You So Often Get It Wrong

Adam Mastroianni: Why You So Often Get It Wrong

Do you believe people are worse now than they use to be? That smarter people are happier people? That you know when to quit a conversation? Wrong on all counts, according to Adam Mastroianni, a social psychologist. He’s also a professional improv performer and uses those skills teaching business school students.

Aug 29, 2023 • 42:08

Nancy Kanwisher: Your Brain is a Swiss Army Knife

Nancy Kanwisher: Your Brain is a Swiss Army Knife

Nancy Kanwisher has discovered many areas of the brain that are specialized for one particular purpose— like recognizing faces – which is interesting to Alan because of his inability to remember the faces of people he meets. Other specialized areas include identifying food, which Alan so far has no trouble with.

Aug 22, 2023 • 41:53

Elizabeth Rush: Journey to the Doomsday Glacier

Elizabeth Rush: Journey to the Doomsday Glacier

She managed to write a lyrical, moving book about her journey to a massive glacier in Antarctica that, if it collapses into the ocean, would cause a catastrophic rise in sea level. Unexpectedly, it’s also a book about her difficulty in choosing motherhood in a time of radical climate change.

Aug 15, 2023 • 39:54

Robert Klein: He Observes, We Laugh

Robert Klein: He Observes, We Laugh

The actor/writer/comedian has been an inspiration to comedians like Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld. And he’s been inspired himself by greats of the past in the exacting art of finding what’s funny in our daily lives – when observed from just the right angle.

Aug 8, 2023 • 40:08

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 22 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 22 trailer

Alan 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.

Aug 1, 2023 • 19:02

Dan Dennett: Fake People Aren’t Funny

Dan Dennett: Fake People Aren’t Funny

Counterfeit 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.

Jul 25, 2023 • 37:38

Steve Sloman and Phil Fernbach: How Do You Know That?

Steve Sloman and Phil Fernbach: How Do You Know That?

Most 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.

Jul 18, 2023 • 39:11

Aomawa Shields: When an Actor is Starstruck

Aomawa Shields: When an Actor is Starstruck

Torn 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.

Jul 11, 2023 • 41:13

Alan Lightman: Can Science Explain Spirituality?

Alan Lightman: Can Science Explain Spirituality?

A 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.

Jul 4, 2023 • 38:12

Steve Israel: Disagreeing Without the Hate

Steve Israel: Disagreeing Without the Hate

A 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.

Jun 27, 2023 • 42:01

Dan Levitt: You Are Stardust. Really

Dan Levitt: You Are Stardust. Really

Every 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.

Jun 20, 2023 • 40:04

Adam Gopnik: The Joy of Getting Good at Something Hard

Adam Gopnik: The Joy of Getting Good at Something Hard

The 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.

Jun 13, 2023 • 42:28

Brenna Hassett: Why We Are Weird

Brenna Hassett: Why We Are Weird

Of 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.

Jun 6, 2023 • 40:09

Michael Turner: The Dazzling Cosmos

Michael Turner: The Dazzling Cosmos

When 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.”

May 30, 2023 • 39:30

Daniel Libeskind: His buildings speak for themselves

Daniel Libeskind: His buildings speak for themselves

The 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.

May 23, 2023 • 41:37

Eric Topol: A Covid Reckoning

Eric Topol: A Covid Reckoning

With 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.

May 16, 2023 • 40:32

Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 21 trailer

Clear + Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 21 trailer

Alan 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.

May 9, 2023 • 29:56

Ken Duckworth: Navigating mental illness

Ken Duckworth: Navigating mental illness

Chief 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.

May 2, 2023 • 40:35

Susan Goldin-Meadow: Thinking with your hands

Susan Goldin-Meadow: Thinking with your hands

Decades 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.

Apr 25, 2023 • 37:35

Valerie Fridland: English evolves, like it or not

Valerie Fridland: English evolves, like it or not

Annoyed 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.

Apr 18, 2023 • 42:16

Dava Sobel: The Women Who Brought the Stars to Earth

Dava Sobel: The Women Who Brought the Stars to Earth

Starting 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.

Apr 11, 2023 • 39:45

Judd Apatow: Funny, With a Side of Feeling

Judd Apatow: Funny, With a Side of Feeling

For 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.

Apr 4, 2023 • 42:46

Kieran Setiya: Facing up to Life

Kieran Setiya: Facing up to Life

Life 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.

Mar 28, 2023 • 41:57

Nita Farahany: The Battle For Your Brain

Nita Farahany: The Battle For Your Brain

Her 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.

Mar 21, 2023 • 42:08

Liev Schreiber: The Ukrainian Connection

Liev Schreiber: The Ukrainian Connection

Inspired 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.

Mar 14, 2023 • 42:23

Alan chats with the bots

Alan chats with the bots

Mike 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.

Mar 7, 2023 • 44:28

Kevin Kelly: Help Wanted  – AI Whisperers

Kevin Kelly: Help Wanted – AI Whisperers

Alan 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.

Feb 28, 2023 • 42:12

Sy Montgomery: For the love of hawks… and turtles

Sy Montgomery: For the love of hawks… and turtles

Her 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.

Feb 21, 2023 • 40:43

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 20 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 20 trailer

Alan 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.

Feb 14, 2023 • 37:06

Cassandra Quave: Hunting Plants That Heal

Cassandra Quave: Hunting Plants That Heal

A 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.

Feb 7, 2023 • 40:10

Sara Seager: Is There Life Out There?

Sara Seager: Is There Life Out There?

Pioneering 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.

Jan 31, 2023 • 41:13

Pamela Adlon: Getting Better All the Time

Pamela Adlon: Getting Better All the Time

She 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.

Jan 24, 2023 • 39:58

Karen Bakker: The Sounds of Life

Karen Bakker: The Sounds of Life

Her 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.

Jan 17, 2023 • 39:32

Daniel Lubetzky: On a Mission to Spread Kindness

Daniel Lubetzky: On a Mission to Spread Kindness

The 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.

Jan 10, 2023 • 41:02

Kathy Kleiman: The six women who programmed the first modern computer

Kathy Kleiman: The six women who programmed the first modern computer

Built 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.

Jan 3, 2023 • 37:10

Thomas Boothby: On a Tough Little Guy With Secrets

Thomas Boothby: On a Tough Little Guy With Secrets

You 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.

Dec 27, 2022 • 38:21

Alison Gopnik: Making AI more childlike

Alison Gopnik: Making AI more childlike

The 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.

Dec 20, 2022 • 40:58

Les Johnson: Sailing to the Stars

Les Johnson: Sailing to the Stars

The 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.

Dec 13, 2022 • 40:43

Kate Klonick: Can Social Media Not Be So Anti-Social?

Kate Klonick: Can Social Media Not Be So Anti-Social?

Kate 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.

Dec 6, 2022 • 41:29

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone: Married – and loving it.

Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone: Married – and loving it.

The 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!

Nov 29, 2022 • 40:58

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 19 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 19 trailer

Alan 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.

Nov 22, 2022 • 32:55

Lindy Elkins-Tanton: What’s at the Core?

Lindy Elkins-Tanton: What’s at the Core?

In 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.

Nov 15, 2022 • 42:14

James Zimring: Fuzzy thinking and the Big Whopper

James Zimring: Fuzzy thinking and the Big Whopper

Too 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.

Nov 8, 2022 • 42:48

Scott Hershovitz: Little Kids Asking Big Questions

Scott Hershovitz: Little Kids Asking Big Questions

The 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.

Nov 1, 2022 • 41:30

Gregory Berns: Does your dog know you better than you know yourself?

Gregory Berns: Does your dog know you better than you know yourself?

Neuroscientist 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.

Oct 25, 2022 • 41:49

John and Julie Gottman: Welcome to the Love Lab

John and Julie Gottman: Welcome to the Love Lab

Decades 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.

Oct 18, 2022 • 41:26

Kate Marvel: Human fingerprints on Hurricane Ian

Kate Marvel: Human fingerprints on Hurricane Ian

After 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.

Oct 11, 2022 • 41:19

Jay Baruch: In the ER, your story matters

Jay Baruch: In the ER, your story matters

Physician 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.

Oct 4, 2022 • 39:43

Ken Auletta: Power and Abuse in the Movie Business

Ken Auletta: Power and Abuse in the Movie Business

How 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.

Sep 27, 2022 • 41:13

Charles Limb: To be Creative Don’t Think So Hard

Charles Limb: To be Creative Don’t Think So Hard

Combining 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.

Sep 20, 2022 • 42:48

Francis Collins: Bridging Science and Faith

Francis Collins: Bridging Science and Faith

Head 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.”

Sep 13, 2022 • 44:21

Molina, Garber and Alda: Together Again

Molina, Garber and Alda: Together Again

The 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.

Sep 6, 2022 • 43:07

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 18 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 18 trailer

Alan 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

Aug 30, 2022 • 40:37

Phillip Dettmer: The World in a Nutshell

Phillip Dettmer: The World in a Nutshell

A high school dropout who went on to create the immensely popular YouTube channel Kurtzgesagt (In a Nutshell) ignites curiosity about science in unique ways.

Aug 23, 2022 • 35:02

Carl Bergstrom: Why Birds Don’t Lie and We Do

Carl Bergstrom: Why Birds Don’t Lie and We Do

Trying to figure out how to stop the spread of misinformation on social media, Carl Bergstrom draws from his studies of how birds stick to the truth when communicating about things that matter – like sex and food.

Aug 16, 2022 • 41:21

Lucy Cooke: Where Females Call the Shots

Lucy Cooke: Where Females Call the Shots

Are men more fit to lead, and more interested in sex than women? Lucy Cooke takes on these myths and more, telling Alan how she visited women biologists around the world who have studied species as different as songbirds, lions and bonobos. What she discovered is eye-opening – especially if you’re a man.

Aug 9, 2022 • 39:12

Frans de Waal: Gender, Apes, and Us

Frans de Waal: Gender, Apes, and Us

Gender fluidity is tolerated a lot more among our cousins— chimpanzees and bonobos— than in our species. The famed primatologist Frans de Waal tells Alan what he’s found after decades of studying our closest relatives.

Aug 2, 2022 • 41:51

Paul Dooley: Movie Dad

Paul Dooley: Movie Dad

Alan and Paul Dooley started out as actors around the same time and in this conversation they have a reunion. In the years between, Paul has gone from standup comedy to playing a multitude of dads in movies. And at 94 he’s still going strong.

Jul 26, 2022 • 40:41

Katie Mack: When Time’s Totally Up

Katie Mack: When Time’s Totally Up

The end of absolutely everything won’t happen for a long, long time. But Katie Mack can describe the different ways the universe might die with clarity and even humor.

Jul 19, 2022 • 42:44

Ed Yong and Liz Neeley: They Have Storytelling Down to a Science

Ed Yong and Liz Neeley: They Have Storytelling Down to a Science

Stars in the field of science communication, they know how to make the rest of us want to learn about something we don’t think we care about. They even creatively inspire each other.

Jul 12, 2022 • 42:54

Arthur Brooks: Investing in Happiness

Arthur Brooks: Investing in Happiness

When he realized that the skills that had led to his successes in the first half of life needed to be replaced by other skills for the next half, social scientist Arthur Brooks began investigating what we need to do now to prepare for happiness and fulfillment as we grow older.

Jul 5, 2022 • 43:17

Mónica Guzmán: She Never Thought of It That Way

Mónica Guzmán: She Never Thought of It That Way

Her realization that if she’d led the life her parents have, then she would have voted for Trump too, was an insight that contributed to her decision to write her new book, I Never Thought of It That Way. The book is both a diagnosis of, and a prescription for, the ugly polarization that is gripping today’s America.

Jun 28, 2022 • 42:24

Emanuel Ax: Reaching Out Through Music

Emanuel Ax: Reaching Out Through Music

Alan talks with longtime friend, the great pianist Emanuel Ax. How does practice lead to the unexpected magic of spontaneity? What role does the audience play? And taking music to the places whereit’s needed most.

Jun 21, 2022 • 41:18

James Burrows: He Gave Us Thousands of Reasons to Laugh

James Burrows: He Gave Us Thousands of Reasons to Laugh

He brought us classics like Cheers, Taxi, Will and Grace, Frasier, Friends and The Big Bang Theory. He's directed over 1,000 episodes of TV comedy. Jim Burrows and Alan compare notes on what it takes to make a show a success.

Jun 14, 2022 • 41:55

Conny Aerts and George Whitesides: Starquakes and Tiny, Tiny Factories

Conny Aerts and George Whitesides: Starquakes and Tiny, Tiny Factories

She listens to quakes in stars far, far away, to help predict if they host earth-like planets. He makes it possible to build factories so small you can’t even see them.

Jun 7, 2022 • 41:14

Huda Zoghbi and Christopher Walsh: Hunting Genes that Damage our Brains

Huda Zoghbi and Christopher Walsh: Hunting Genes that Damage our Brains

Two of the winners of the just-announced Kavli Prizes in neuroscience on what inspired their breakthrough research. And how their discoveries may help not only those with rare, devastating brain disorders, but also provide a better understanding of more common conditions such as autism.

Jun 1, 2022 • 47:42

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 17 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 17 trailer

Alan 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 classical pianist Emanuel Ax, director James Burrows, and primatologist Frans de Waal.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 31, 2022 • 32:57

Ardem Patapoutian and Emmanuelle Charpentier: Touching the Horizon

Ardem Patapoutian and Emmanuelle Charpentier: Touching the Horizon

Ardem Patapoutian discovered more about our sense of touch than we ever knew and Emmanuelle Charpentier co-invented the most powerful biomedical tool we’ve ever had. Celebrating two past winners of the Kavli Prize a week before the 2022 laureates are announced.

May 24, 2022 • 39:55

Mike Brown and Millie Dresselhaus: Exploring the very big and the very small

Mike Brown and Millie Dresselhaus: Exploring the very big and the very small

Mike Brown, the man who demoted Pluto, is now hot on the trail of a new planet 9, much bigger than Earth and way beyond Neptune. And the brilliant career of his fellow Kavli Prize winner, Millie Dresselhaus – the “Queen of Carbon” and pioneer of nanoscience – is remembered by her biographer, Maia Weinstock.

May 17, 2022 • 43:28

Kashmir Hill: Reporting from the Future

Kashmir Hill: Reporting from the Future

Putting herself as she says, “inside the tech worlds to come,” reporter Kashmir Hill explores how the technology that’s making our lives easier is also eroding our privacy. Her experiences are both amusing and downright scary.

May 10, 2022 • 42:08

David Linden: How Come You’re So Special?

David Linden: How Come You’re So Special?

While filling out an on-line dating app – listing his traits and those of an ideal partner – neuroscientist David Linden began to wonder what makes each of us unique. Why is even each person in a pair of identical twins unique? The answer, he tells Alan, is far richer and more interesting than the old false division of "nature versus nurture".

May 3, 2022 • 45:17

Bette Midler: How She Became Divine

Bette Midler: How She Became Divine

The multitalented singer, actor, songwriter, author tells Alan how her childhood in Hawaii shaped not only her career but also now moves her to bring nature back to the city of New York.

Apr 26, 2022 • 40:38

Saul Perlmutter: The Man Who Upended the Universe

Saul Perlmutter: The Man Who Upended the Universe

After making the astonishing discovery that what he and his fellow cosmologists thought they knew about the universe was wrong, Saul Perlmutter began a course at his university explaining why catching mistakes is at the heart of science. It’s also a lesson in life for the rest of us.

Apr 19, 2022 • 44:36

Hope Jahren: What You Can Do to Save the Planet

Hope Jahren: What You Can Do to Save the Planet

The author of the wonderful memoir Lab Girl turns her turns her ability to be both clear and vivid to providing a path forward for a new generation tackling the climate crisis.

Apr 12, 2022 • 38:32

Billy Collins: When Words Have a Mind of Their Own

Billy Collins: When Words Have a Mind of Their Own

His poems are loved by millions. Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, Billy Collins achieves both depth and accessibility in the same moment. His words often surprise us because they have a way of surprising him.

Apr 5, 2022 • 39:01

Chris Hadfield: Song of an Astronaut

Chris Hadfield: Song of an Astronaut

His descriptions of living in space make you feel you’re on the ship with him. His performance of the David Bowie song Space Oddity in a video he beamed down to earth was a worldwide hit. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is a veteran of three space missions, including as commander of the International Space Station. He takes us with him.

Mar 29, 2022 • 43:24

Sarah Ruhl: What if you couldn’t smile?

Sarah Ruhl: What if you couldn’t smile?

A successful playwright with plenty to smile about – a new play opening on Broadway and the birth of twins – suddenly lost her ability to smile. Her struggle to regain it is the subject of her new book, a story that – perhaps surprisingly – will give you plenty to smile about.

Mar 22, 2022 • 40:25

Gal Beckerman: How Quiet Whispers Lead to Radical Roars

Gal Beckerman: How Quiet Whispers Lead to Radical Roars

In a widely praised new book, The Quiet Before, Gal Beckerman paints vivid pictures of how throughout history, radical change has only come about through quiet preparation.

Mar 15, 2022 • 40:59

Natalie and Natasha Batalha: Looking for Life on Alien Worlds

Natalie and Natasha Batalha: Looking for Life on Alien Worlds

As the James Webb Space Telescope starts peering out into space this summer, mother and daughter astronomers Natalie and Natasha Batalha will each have major roles in the search for signs of life on planets beyond the solar system.

Mar 8, 2022 • 42:42

Michael Keaton: From Standup to Drama

Michael Keaton: From Standup to Drama

His outstanding career acting in both movies and television – most recently his highly praised performance in the Hulu series Dopesick – had its beginning in standup comedy. “It was an opportunity to have a stage for 15 minutes and… perform.”Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Mar 1, 2022 • 39:13

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 16 trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 16 trailer

Alan 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 actor Michael Keaton, poet Billy Collins, and astronaut (and space oddity) Chris Hadfield.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Feb 22, 2022 • 39:38

Kate Crawford: Artificial Intelligence – neither artificial nor intelligent

Kate Crawford: Artificial Intelligence – neither artificial nor intelligent

Twenty years of exploring the technical, social and environmental impact of AI has convinced Kate Crawford that we should be much more skeptical about where AI is useful – and concerned about where it is harmful.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Feb 15, 2022 • 43:49

Stephon Alexander: Einstein, Coltrane… and the Universe

Stephon Alexander: Einstein, Coltrane… and the Universe

His jazz informs his physics and his physics informs his jazz, as cosmologist Stephon Alexander seeks a new understanding of the Universe.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Feb 8, 2022 • 38:36

Mary Roach: When Animals Break the Law

Mary Roach: When Animals Break the Law

An author with a thing for one syllable titles – Stiff, Gulp, Bonk – Mary Roach’s latest book, Fuzz, is a quirky exploration of how animals are indifferent to laws made for people, laws like manslaughter, breaking and entering, home invasion, jaywalking, littering. They may not care, but we do.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Feb 1, 2022 • 41:38

Thor Hanson: How Nature Struggles with a Warming Planet

Thor Hanson: How Nature Struggles with a Warming Planet

From lizards that cling on for dear life during hurricanes to bees that can’t find flowers, plants and animals are trying to cope with climate change – and both inspiring and warning us to take action.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jan 25, 2022 • 44:29

Nancy Padilla-Coreano: Knowing Your Place

Nancy Padilla-Coreano: Knowing Your Place

How do we instantly sense whether someone has more or less power than we have – and change our behavior as a result?Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jan 18, 2022 • 40:33

Robin Dunbar: Circles of Friendship

Robin Dunbar: Circles of Friendship

Dunbar’s Number is the most people you can have meaningful relationships with. But that number – 150 – is only one of the many circles of friends and acquaintances in your life. And one of those circles, according to Robin’s research, can determine how long you’ll live.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jan 11, 2022 • 42:56

Bianca Jones Marlin: Preparing Kids for Survival

Bianca Jones Marlin: Preparing Kids for Survival

How is it that the experience of stress or trauma can be passed on from one generation to the next, even without contact between them?Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jan 4, 2022 • 39:39

Kate Bowler: Living With The Certainty of Uncertainty

Kate Bowler: Living With The Certainty of Uncertainty

Surviving some of the hardest of times has given Kate Bowler insights that are valuable to the rest of us who can't know what tomorrow will bring. And she’s funny, too.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Dec 28, 2021 • 42:16

Diego Bohórquez: Gut to Brain – Listen Up!

Diego Bohórquez: Gut to Brain – Listen Up!

The discovery of a direct and instant connection between your stomach and your brain has brought a whole new dimension to the notion of a “gut feeling.”Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Dec 21, 2021 • 34:33

Mel Brooks: On Love, Life and Punchlines

Mel Brooks: On Love, Life and Punchlines

At 95, Mel tells it like it was in his new book, All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show BusinessSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Dec 14, 2021 • 45:04

Max Brooks: How Zombies May Save Us

Max Brooks: How Zombies May Save Us

Best-selling books like The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z made Max Brooks famous. They also led to his becoming an advisor to the Modern War Institute at West Point. There he’s helping shape a survival guide for a future where cyberwar becomes more threatening than war on the battlefield.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Dec 7, 2021 • 42:59

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 15 Trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 15 Trailer

Alan 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 zombie expert Max Brooks; neuroscientists Diego Bohórquez and Bianca Jones Marlin; and author Kate Bowler.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 30, 2021 • 29:12

Holland Taylor: The Role of a Lifetime She Wrote Herself

Holland Taylor: The Role of a Lifetime She Wrote Herself

Emmy and Tony nominee Holland Taylor wrote and performed a one-woman show called Ann, bringing to life on the stage the woman she most admired, former Texas governor Ann Richards. And she came up with a smash hit. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 23, 2021 • 41:20

Marcia Rieke: Peering Back to the Cosmic Dawn

Marcia Rieke: Peering Back to the Cosmic Dawn

Next month her camera will be hurled a million miles into space, from where it will be seeking the first stars in the universe. On board the James Webb Space telescope, her infrared camera will also be checking the atmospheres of planets beyond the solar system, looking for signs of life.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 16, 2021 • 38:13

The LaPook Effect: Empathy for doctors

The LaPook Effect: Empathy for doctors

Jon LaPook, Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News, is on a mission to help doctors be more empathetic with patients. And his communication skills are turning out to be contagious.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 9, 2021 • 44:42

Karl Deisseroth: Lighting up The Brain

Karl Deisseroth: Lighting up The Brain

With the invention of new ways to explore the brain, Karl Deisseroth has revolutionized neuroscience – work that has just now been recognized with the highest honor in medical research, the Lasker Award.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Nov 2, 2021 • 41:18

Lee McIntyre: Talking to Science Deniers

Lee McIntyre: Talking to Science Deniers

Taking a deep dive into the alternative reality of people convinced that the earth is flat, Lee McIntyre learned valuable lessons about how – and how not – to talk to those who persist in denying science.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 26, 2021 • 41:08

Marin Alsop: A Woman Who Leads

Marin Alsop: A Woman Who Leads

The first female conductor of a major American symphony orchestra, Marin Alsop explains to Alan just what a conductor contributes to a performance; how her right and left hands have different roles; why oboists have to be treated differently from horn players; and the success of an innovative program to bring the joys of classical music to kids.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 19, 2021 • 42:17

Scott Small: The Point of Forgetting

Scott Small: The Point of Forgetting

An eminent physician caring for patients with memory loss, Scott Small was a surprised as you will be to discover that not all forgetting is bad – in fact it’s vital to your being “smarter, better and happier".Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 12, 2021 • 38:47

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer: When Politics are a Peril

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer: When Politics are a Peril

The authority of the court to be a check on the other two branches of our government, Justice Breyer says, rests on its ability to be regarded by the people as completely impartial. That trust was hard won and is in danger when the court becomes political.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 5, 2021 • 43:06

Roger Rosenblatt: A Writer on Writing

Roger Rosenblatt: A Writer on Writing

Alan and his friend, best-selling author Roger Rosenblatt, explore what makes a good piece of writing. Turns out to be very similar to what makes a good life.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 28, 2021 • 42:54

Mayim Bialik: How Acting Led to Science and Science to Acting

Mayim Bialik: How Acting Led to Science and Science to Acting

With a schedule impossible for anyone not named Mayim Bialik, she shares with Alan how acting and science have intertwined throughout her extraordinary career – as sitcom star, neuroscientist, podcaster and now movie director.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 21, 2021 • 42:31

Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees

Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees

After finding himself the subject of a trivia parlor game called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, the actor turned the concept of how we’re all connected into a philanthropic project that enables us all to help those we may not even realize we’re connected to.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 14, 2021 • 43:42

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 14 Trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 14 Trailer

Alan 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 Kevin Bacon and Mayim Bialik; the first woman conductor of a major orchestra, Marin Alsop; and author and old friend of Alan’s, Roger Rosenblatt.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 7, 2021 • 36:19

Dennis Overbye: Reporting the Universe

Dennis Overbye: Reporting the Universe

Few people have the same knack for explaining the unexplainable as Dennis Overbye, who for over 20 years has been illuminating the mysteries of the universe – and the minds of the scientists trying to understand those mysteries – in the pages of the New York Times.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 31, 2021 • 35:35

Robert Lefkowitz: A Soldier of Science

Robert Lefkowitz: A Soldier of Science

Nobel prizewinner Bob Lefkowitz tells the story of an extraordinary group of young physicians chosen to work at the National Institutes of Health during the Vietnam War. Their brief time there transformed medical research and saved millions of lives.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 24, 2021 • 46:18

Hank Greely: The Experiment that Shocked Science

Hank Greely: The Experiment that Shocked Science

When a Chinese doctor changed the genes of two baby girls he thought he’d be acclaimed. Instead, his experimental treatment alarmed scientists and ethicists around the world.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 17, 2021 • 44:07

Jacqueline Novogratz: More Than Money Alone

Jacqueline Novogratz: More Than Money Alone

Jacqueline Novogratz has recognized the need among the poor for something more than just money: dignity. Employing a new kind of capitalism, her company, Acumen, has invested $128 million to build more than 128 social enterprises across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. These companies have leveraged an additional $611 million and brought basic, critical services like affordable education, health care, clean water, energy and sanitation to more than 300 million people.Sup

Aug 10, 2021 • 45:11

Michio Kaku: Seeking the Mind of God

Michio Kaku: Seeking the Mind of God

The physicist and best-selling author argues that “the mind of God” can be found in “a symphony of strings – cosmic music resonating through hyperspace.”Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 3, 2021 • 41:11

Cynthia Kenyon: Living Longer?

Cynthia Kenyon: Living Longer?

Her breakthrough discovery of a gene that doubles the lifespan of a tiny worm offers the possibility of extending the lifespan of people.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 27, 2021 • 42:23

Paul Rudd: In the Moment with Ant-Man

Paul Rudd: In the Moment with Ant-Man

Paul Rudd and Alan Alda talk acting, from being spontaneous and "in the moment," to odd ways to learn lines.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 20, 2021 • 44:58

Sue Black: Forensic Supersleuth

Sue Black: Forensic Supersleuth

She finds justice among the bones. Like helping to convict the genocidal murderers of Kosovo. And, she's just been made a Baroness!Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 13, 2021 • 48:06

Dan Lieberman: Why You Hate Exercise

Dan Lieberman: Why You Hate Exercise

Don’t feel bad about taking the elevator instead of the stairs. Blame evolution for not preparing you for voluntary physical activity. But, says anthropologist Dan Lieberman, there are ways to make exercise rewarding as well as healthy.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 6, 2021 • 43:37

Herman Pontzer: Burn Those Calories Better

Herman Pontzer: Burn Those Calories Better

Studying the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers has led to the surprising discovery that dieting simply to lose weight misses the real benefits of cutting calories.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 29, 2021 • 37:36

Helen Mirren: Queen of Stage and Screen

Helen Mirren: Queen of Stage and Screen

The 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

Jun 22, 2021 • 44:18

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 13 Trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 13 Trailer

Alan and Clear+Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd preview the new season.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 15, 2021 • 44:05

Neil Shubin: Why Would a Fish Have Fingers?

Neil Shubin: Why Would a Fish Have Fingers?

And 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

Jun 8, 2021 • 43:40

Anna Deavere Smith: She’s Been Hundreds of People

Anna Deavere Smith: She’s Been Hundreds of People

Using 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

Jun 1, 2021 • 41:34

John Colapinto: Speaking of the Voice…

John Colapinto: Speaking of the Voice…

Journalist 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

May 25, 2021 • 45:34

Does your doctor care about you?

Does your doctor care about you?

A 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

May 18, 2021 • 43:04

How to Explain Almost Everything

How to Explain Almost Everything

Bill 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

May 11, 2021 • 43:31

The Empathy Diaries

The Empathy Diaries

In 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

May 4, 2021 • 45:25

Space Rocks

Space Rocks

Brian 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

Apr 27, 2021 • 44:23

He Put the Dark in Energy

He Put the Dark in Energy

Something 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

Apr 20, 2021 • 41:36

Getting to Here and Now

Getting to Here and Now

The 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

Apr 13, 2021 • 41:24

Making the End a Beginning

Making the End a Beginning

In 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

Apr 6, 2021 • 42:30

From DaVinci to CRISPR

From DaVinci to CRISPR

Walter 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

Mar 30, 2021 • 46:32

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 12 / Science Clear+Vivid - Season 2 Trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 12 / Science Clear+Vivid - Season 2 Trailer

A 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

Mar 23, 2021 • 32:50

Deborah Tannen – The Stories We Tell

Deborah Tannen – The Stories We Tell

Deborah 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 FollowSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Mar 16, 2021 • 41:31

Ash Sanders and Sarah Ventre – Life in a Cult

Ash Sanders and Sarah Ventre – Life in a Cult

Embedding 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

Mar 9, 2021 • 44:39

Reisa Sperling – Making Alzheimer’s a Memory

Reisa Sperling – Making Alzheimer’s a Memory

Propelled 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

Mar 2, 2021 • 39:34

Sanjeev Bhaskar – The Joy of Blooming Later

Sanjeev Bhaskar – The Joy of Blooming Later

The 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

Feb 23, 2021 • 42:08

Rebecca Wragg Sykes – Our Neanderthal Kin

Rebecca Wragg Sykes – Our Neanderthal Kin

They 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

Feb 16, 2021 • 40:49

Malcolm Gladwell – Those Dangerous First Impressions

Malcolm Gladwell – Those Dangerous First Impressions

First 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

Feb 9, 2021 • 43:57

Emily Levesque – The Romance of the Night Sky

Emily Levesque – The Romance of the Night Sky

A 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

Feb 2, 2021 • 43:46

Eric Lander – Decoding Life

Eric Lander – Decoding Life

Recently 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

Jan 26, 2021 • 42:53

Penn Jillette – Magic, Tricks, and Us

Penn Jillette – Magic, Tricks, and Us

When 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

Jan 19, 2021 • 43:40

Robert Stickgold – Why do we dream?

Robert Stickgold – Why do we dream?

We 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

Jan 12, 2021 • 42:46

Anthony Fauci - The Soldiers of Science who saved our lives

Anthony Fauci - The Soldiers of Science who saved our lives

They 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

Jan 5, 2021 • 46:41

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 11 Trailer

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 11 Trailer

An in-depth preview of the upcoming eleventh season of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Dec 29, 2020 • 33:42

Two Actors Talk Acting

Two Actors Talk Acting

Two 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

Dec 22, 2020 • 41:09

How oskar the gene invented sex

How oskar the gene invented sex

A 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

Dec 15, 2020 • 43:45

Testaments to Writing

Testaments to Writing

The 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

Dec 8, 2020 • 38:23

The Ever Fonky Lowdown

The Ever Fonky Lowdown

In 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

Dec 1, 2020 • 39:06

What poker can teach us about life

What poker can teach us about life

In 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

Nov 24, 2020 • 43:56

How to Make Funny People Funnier

How to Make Funny People Funnier

As 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

Nov 17, 2020 • 43:00

Life on Venus?

Life on Venus?

She 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

Nov 10, 2020 • 42:49

Can we save the planet?

Can we save the planet?

Having 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

Nov 3, 2020 • 44:28

What makes you happy?

What makes you happy?

It 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

Oct 27, 2020 • 42:11

Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown

Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown

John 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

Oct 20, 2020 • 53:03

Dr. Fauci looks forward

Dr. Fauci looks forward

Six 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

Oct 13, 2020 • 1:06:27

Leslie Vosshall – Why Mosquitoes Choose You

Leslie Vosshall – Why Mosquitoes Choose You

Female 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

Oct 6, 2020 • 44:51

Goldie Hawn – She’s Got Your Brain on Her Mind.

Goldie Hawn – She’s Got Your Brain on Her Mind.

The 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

Sep 29, 2020 • 40:36

James Rothman – on Discovering the ‘FedEx trucks’ in our Cells

James Rothman – on Discovering the ‘FedEx trucks’ in our Cells

The 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

Sep 22, 2020 • 38:18

Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods – on Humanity’s  Essential Ingredient

Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods – on Humanity’s Essential Ingredient

What 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

Sep 15, 2020 • 45:50

Carla Shatz – Making an Old Brain Young

Carla Shatz – Making an Old Brain Young

The 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

Sep 8, 2020 • 44:45

Sharon Begley – on Keeping up with Covid

Sharon Begley – on Keeping up with Covid

Reporting 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

Sep 1, 2020 • 43:32

Max Tegmark – When Our Machines Are Smarter Than Us

Max Tegmark – When Our Machines Are Smarter Than Us

Up 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

Aug 25, 2020 • 45:00

Lynn Sherr & Ellen Goodman – She Votes!

Lynn Sherr & Ellen Goodman – She Votes!

The 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

Aug 18, 2020 • 43:41

Pardis Sabeti – Racing Against Covid, Racing Against Time

Pardis Sabeti – Racing Against Covid, Racing Against Time

We 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

Aug 11, 2020 • 41:45

Rafael Reif – on the Greatest Threat to Our National Security

Rafael Reif – on the Greatest Threat to Our National Security

The 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

Aug 4, 2020 • 43:12

Brené Brown – on Empathy, Courage and Where They Come From

Brené Brown – on Empathy, Courage and Where They Come From

The renowned researcher and author on emotional literacy and the strengths that lead to better relationships.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 28, 2020 • 45:01

Jared Diamond – How it Can All Fall Apart

Jared Diamond – How it Can All Fall Apart

His 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

Jul 21, 2020 • 43:35

Alan Guth – How it All Began

Alan Guth – How it All Began

Alan Guth is the man who put the bang in the Big Bang, when late one night he came up with the astonishing idea – astonishing even to him – that the universe grew from a fraction of an ounce into the entire cosmos in an incomprehensibly brief moment of time. His insight that night, the theory that became known as inflation, is now the foundation for ideas about the cosmos that are as astonishing as inflation itself, including the idea that an infinite number new universes are being created all

Jul 14, 2020 • 38:57

Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue – How Marriages Can Last

Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue – How Marriages Can Last

Alan talks with old friends Marlo and Phil about their interviews with 40 couples who have enjoyed long marriages. What did they find out about the happy marriages of other couples, and what did they find out about their own, as they approached their 40th anniversary?Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 7, 2020 • 47:00

Jake Tapper – Turns the Tables

Jake Tapper – Turns the Tables

Jake Tapper can turn things around when he interviews politicians and government leaders. This time he does it by interviewing Alan, who usually would be interviewing him. It becomes a conversation about interviewing that throws light on how we all talk to one another.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 30, 2020 • 46:18

Cori Bargmann – The Toughest Job in the World?

Cori Bargmann – The Toughest Job in the World?

Alan talks with the woman who’s been given the job of leading the fight to conquer all disease by 2100. They discuss whether it’s actually possible and how her life has led her from studying a tiny transparent worm to such a challenging task.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 23, 2020 • 46:55

Steven Pinker – Talking About Talking

Steven Pinker – Talking About Talking

Steven Pinker and Alan explore the words we use that bind us together, even when asking someone to pass the guacamole. A conversation that explores the surprising ways we have of connecting through language – and why, despite our current crises, some things in the world really have become better.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 16, 2020 • 44:49

The MASH Gang – Confined to Quarters

The MASH Gang – Confined to Quarters

Alan gets Loretta Swit and Mike Farrell on the horn to see how they’re doing during the lockdown. It’s like old times again.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 9, 2020 • 38:57

Jennifer Doudna and the Power of CRISPR

Jennifer Doudna and the Power of CRISPR

The co-inventor of the powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR, Jennifer Doudna describes for Alan her hopes for new treatments and possibly even cures for diseases that are today incurable. She also tells him about her efforts to make sure that ethical concerns over gene editing are addressed — and how she copes with having become a scientific superstar.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 2, 2020 • 44:47

Kavli Prize winners 2020

Kavli Prize winners 2020

Alan checks out this year’s Kavli Prizes and discovers how figuring out why hot peppers are hot could lead to new pain killing drugs; how putting a tiny black hole in your gas tank would give you a mileage of a billion miles per gallon; and why giving a new generation of electron microscopes the ability to see atoms was a little like being able to see inside a baking cake while it’s still in the oven.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 29, 2020 • 46:22

Kip Thorne Listened – and the Universe Chirped

Kip Thorne Listened – and the Universe Chirped

He’s a Nobel and Kavli prizewinner for his role in what’s been described as one of humanity’s greatest scientific achievements – the detection of ripples in the fabric of space. He can also explain what that means! Kip Thorne is deeply committed to communicating science, even bringing it before the public by working with artists and filmmakers. Including, more than once, with Alan Alda.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 26, 2020 • 43:22

Brian Greene is a Grateful Collection of Particles

Brian Greene is a Grateful Collection of Particles

Alan sits down with physicist Brian Greene in front of a virtual audience to talk about how Brian sees himself (and you and me) as nothing more than an ephemeral cluster of particles in a dying universe—and how that gives him a deep sense of gratitude for his own existence. Along with wonder at how other mere collections of particles can compose the 9th Symphony or write Hamlet.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 19, 2020 • 53:34

He Knows a Lot About Very Little Things

He Knows a Lot About Very Little Things

The little things Carl Zimmer knows a lot about are genes, parasites and viruses. And he knows how to talk about them in a way that will stay with you forever. In this episode, Alan Alda and Carl Zimmer chat about heredity, evolution and one particularly amazing parasite. But it’s not creepy. It’s fascinating.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 12, 2020 • 45:24

"Houston, do we ever have a problem!" Alan Alda Talks with NASA's Chief Scientist

"Houston, do we ever have a problem!" Alan Alda Talks with NASA's Chief Scientist

It’s a problem when you have so many worlds to explore at once. How long until we colonize Mars? Can we turn the Sahara Desert into a Garden of Eden oasis? How can humans live in a lava tube on the moon? Jim Green is the Chief Scientist at NASA and he's not only been pondering these questions, he's been working to make them happen. Jim likes to think big - about big ideas, big challenges, and bigger solutions! In this episode, Jim Green and Alan Alda talk about planetary exploration and how lif

May 5, 2020 • 45:25

How Lack of Diversity and Inclusion in Science Hurts Us All

How Lack of Diversity and Inclusion in Science Hurts Us All

Unconscious bias is a widely used term and, too often, not well understood. It can be devastating for those it impacts. And coming to grips with unconscious bias in our own thinking can be unsettling. Like many others, Alan Alda found it hard to believe that the unconscious bias test he took accurately reflected his own thinking. So, to find out more, Alan sat down with Dr. Kuheli Dutt, who is meticulous in her research into the hidden biases we all have. Dr. Dutt is the Diversity Officer at the

Apr 28, 2020 • 47:30

Thinking Globally - Fareed Zakaria and Alan Alda

Thinking Globally - Fareed Zakaria and Alan Alda

Fareed Zakaria, the noted journalist, broadcaster, and author, talked with Alan Alda on this episode of Clear+Vivid back in February, before the coronavirus consumed not only our lives and livelihoods, but also any other topic of conversation. But what’s fascinating is how much Fareed's thoughts on the importance of a fulfilled life – an examined life – resonates with us now, when we are all trying to cope with a world in which everything is so uncertain. Support the show: https://www.patreon.co

Apr 21, 2020 • 47:22

They've Filled Our Lives with Laughter - Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner

They've Filled Our Lives with Laughter - Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner

Your host, Alan Alda, has been friends with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks for over forty years. Carl and Mel have been friends with each other for seventy years. During that time, they’ve created, together or separately, some of the most memorable comedy in our lives -- from iconic movies and TV series to Broadway shows and books.Their sketches on the Sid Caesar show in the 1950s will still leave you gasping on the floor. And so will their recording of the “2000 Year Old Man” that began as improvis

Apr 14, 2020 • 45:48

Why Everyday Should be Science Friday

Why Everyday Should be Science Friday

On this episode of Clear+Vivid, Alan Alda, welcomes his friend Ira Flatow to the show. Ira hosts the wildly popular Science Friday series for public radio (and it's also a podcast). What happens when you put these two passionate advocates for science communication together on one podcast? Well, you discover that they both enjoy infecting others with a passion for science — the one kind of infection we could really use right now.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Apr 7, 2020 • 40:36

How to Interview an Octopus and Other Creatures

How to Interview an Octopus and Other Creatures

How do you interview an octopus for a podcast? We're pretty sure that Alan Alda's interview with Ruddy, a giant pacific octopus, who lives at the New England Aquarium is a first for a podcast. While Ruddy is a little shy and silent for our mics, Alan did find the naturalist and author, Sy Montgomery, much more communicative. Sy is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Soul of Octopus." She's an expert on creatures great and small and what we can learn about communication, observation

Mar 31, 2020 • 42:58

Betty White and Alan Alda Fall Desperately in Love

Betty White and Alan Alda Fall Desperately in Love

She's a Golden Girl, a national treasure, and a true character of great character. The one and only Betty White joins Alan Alda this week as our special guest. At time when love and humor are needed most, we hope this heart-warming episode brings a smile to your face. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Mar 24, 2020 • 38:18

On Modern Manhood in the #MeToo Generation

On Modern Manhood in the #MeToo Generation

Cleo Stiller had 75 interesting conversations with men about the #MeToo movement and she's written a book about what they had to say. Her book, "Modern Manhood," is now a national bestseller. Times are changing and people are learning to relate with each other in new ways. In this conversation, Alan Alda and Cleo discuss the inventive strategies that men and women are using as they explore the tumultuous world of professional and personal relationships in the modern world.Support the show: https

Mar 17, 2020 • 46:49

The Science Guy on Science and Uncertainty

The Science Guy on Science and Uncertainty

In the five years it was on the air, his television show, "Bill Nye the Science Guy," won 18 Emmys and entertained and educated millions of young people, many of whom later went on to become scientists themselves. All his life, Bill’s been passionate about communicating science, so naturally, he was the perfect guest to pair with Alan Alda, who has shared the same, lifelong drive. In this episode, Alan and Bill have a lively conversation about scientific fact, fiction, literacy, and the beauty

Mar 10, 2020 • 43:13

Direct from the NIH: Dr. Anthony Fauci on the Coronavirus - what we face and what we can do

Direct from the NIH: Dr. Anthony Fauci on the Coronavirus - what we face and what we can do

In this special episode of Clear+Vivid, Dr. Anthony Fauci talks with Alan Alda from the campus of the National Institutes of Health. Recorded on March 5, 2020, Dr. Fauci explains your risk right now of getting infected from the Coronavirus. He explains how he balances providing correct information to the public with the need not to cause panic — especially as the data changes day by day. He reports that public health professionals and researchers are sharing data about the Coronavirus worldwide,

Mar 6, 2020 • 41:09

Paul McCartney: On the Magic of Music - From the Magician Himself

Paul McCartney: On the Magic of Music - From the Magician Himself

How does Paul McCartney write a song? What goes through his mind when he's at the piano? What's an "oobley" chord? Where do the lyrics come from when he's noodling away? In this special episode of Clear+Vivid®, Alan Alda sits down with Paul McCartney to learn some of the never before heard secrets behind this legendary musician's magic. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Mar 3, 2020 • 1:02:10

Tom Hanks and Alan Alda on the Human Element

Tom Hanks and Alan Alda on the Human Element

Tom Hanks, aside from being a legendary two-time Oscar Award winner, is also a deeply fascinating person with some really fun and eclectic interests. In this episode of Clear+Vivid®, Alan Alda sits down with Tom as they explore finding the human element in pop entertainment. They also discuss Tom's recent role as Mr. Rogers and what he learned about communicating with children. And, of course, they talk about Tom's typewriters. Lots and lots of typewriters. We said Tom was eclectic, right? So, c

Feb 25, 2020 • 44:44

Welcome to a Preview of Season 7 of Clear+Vivid

Welcome to a Preview of Season 7 of Clear+Vivid

Alan Alda and our production team sit down for an impromptu "Table Talk" about our upcoming season's highlights. We'll discuss and play clips from Alan’s conversations with Tom Hanks, Paul McCartney, Betty White and many more! Alan, Graham, Jean, and Sarah take you behind the scenes of season 7. You'll find out what it's like to live in an actual "Octopus's Garden" tended by a real Giant Pacific Octopus named Rudy — and you'll hear some things about Paul McCartney's creative life you haven’t hea

Feb 18, 2020 • 43:00

Conan O’Brien: Still Curious after 10,000 Interviews

Conan O’Brien: Still Curious after 10,000 Interviews

From Saturday Night Live, to Late Night, from The Simpsons to Conan Needs a Friend - Conan O'Brien is an unstoppable force of comedy. In this happy back and forth among Alan Alda, Conan O'Brien, and Conan's hair — these two students of communication and comedy invite you into a conversation that's full of joshes, jives, jokes, a few shared jitters, and a whole lot of joy. The producers wish to thank Conan, #TeamCoco, and all the great folks who helped bring Alan and Conan together for this speci

Feb 11, 2020 • 50:14

Carl Safina on the Thoughts and Feelings of the Other Animals

Carl Safina on the Thoughts and Feelings of the Other Animals

Do animals – other than we humans – have thoughts, feelings? Are their emotions similar to ours? Carl Safina is an ecologist who explores our relationship with the living world—and how it could be better. His recent work, and new book, probes how free-living animals experience life - and takes a serious look at their thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Carl's love of nature has led him to a lifetime of studying the world we live in — a world from which we’ve become increasingly separated. In th

Feb 4, 2020 • 45:39

Siddhartha Mukherjee on Getting Personal with Our Genes

Siddhartha Mukherjee on Getting Personal with Our Genes

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee is the author of the best-selling book, “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer." The book won a Pulitzer Prize and became the basis for a Ken Burns documentary series on the subject of cancer for PBS. In this fascinating conversation with Alan Alda, Dr. Mukherjee talks about the extraordinary power scientists like him have now to edit our genes using the tool known as CRISPR. Dr. Mukherjee uses CRISPR in his own laboratory at Columbia University to pioneer i

Jan 28, 2020 • 43:22

Lisa Kaltenegger: Looking for Life on Other Earths

Lisa Kaltenegger: Looking for Life on Other Earths

Is there life in the universe beyond planet Earth? It's the question everyone, including Alan Alda, wants to understand. In this episode, Alan asks Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, the head of the world-renown Carl Sagan Institute, about life in the cosmos. What Dr. Kaltenegger has to say is surprising and inspiring. Before you stare up at the sky tonight, be sure to hear what Dr. Kaltenegger has to say about which of the billions of planets might be more like ours than we ever thought possible. Support th

Jan 21, 2020 • 43:30

Jo Handelsman on the Surprising News That the Earth is Running Out of Dirt

Jo Handelsman on the Surprising News That the Earth is Running Out of Dirt

What do microbes, the soil, and climate change all have in common? Dr. Jo Handelsman studies microbes at the University of Wisconsin. She researches the vast array of microbes that live on us or in us, and also the even greater number that lurk in the soil beneath our feet. In this fascinating episode, Alan Alda talks with Dr. Handelsman, who served as the previous science advisor to President Barack Obama and as the Associate Director for Science at the White House Office of Science and Technol

Jan 14, 2020 • 44:22

All Shook Up: Dr. Lucy Jones on How to Tell People the Big One is Coming

All Shook Up: Dr. Lucy Jones on How to Tell People the Big One is Coming

Dr. Lucy Jones is a seismologist, who has a talent for translating the scary uncertainties of earthquakes into a language the rest of us can relate to. She is now putting her communication skills to work not only to help communities prepare for the inevitability of future earthquakes in her home state of California, but also for the inevitability of global climate change. In this episode, Alan Alda speaks with Dr. Jones about the best ways to help people prepare for natural disasters.Support the

Jan 7, 2020 • 43:48

Human Connection Through Nature: Discussing Seven Worlds, One Planet

Human Connection Through Nature: Discussing Seven Worlds, One Planet

In this special bonus episode of Clear+Vivid, BBC America’s Executive Director Courtney Thomasma and Executive Producer of Seven Worlds, One Planet’s Jonny Keeling speak with Alan Alda about the surge in popularity of nature programming and how audiences around the world have connected to the projects that the BBC Studios Natural History Unit has produced in partnership with BBC America. Courtney discusses a recent study demonstrating that watching nature programming delivers many of the same be

Dec 23, 2019 • 18:35

Jamil Zaki on Empathy and How to Hack It

Jamil Zaki on Empathy and How to Hack It

Dr. Jamil Zaki is a Stanford scientist who has a way for you to sharpen you empathy skills. It’s a little like going to the gym to strengthen your muscles and improve your flexibility. In fact, he calls it the "empathy gym". It's not an actual place you can go to, but rather, it's things you can do to get a work-out for those empathy skills. That’s something we all seem to need - now more than ever. As Dr. Zaki explains to Alan Alda in this episode, we’re not stuck with the level of empathy we c

Dec 17, 2019 • 47:18

Ben Stiller on Directing and His Escape at Dannemora

Ben Stiller on Directing and His Escape at Dannemora

How does an actor adapt to becoming a director? In this episode, Alan Alda and Ben Stiller compare notes about the delicate art of communicating director to actor, actor to director, and actor to actors. Ben Stiller is an Emmy Award winning actor who has been in over 50 movies. And, recently, he produced and directed the critically acclaimed hit Showtime series, Escape at Dannemora. This 7-part series is based on the true, stranger-than-fiction account of a prison break in upstate New York in th

Dec 10, 2019 • 50:59

Noah Baumbach: The Acclaimed Film Director on Giving Directions

Noah Baumbach: The Acclaimed Film Director on Giving Directions

What does a director look for in actor? How does a director create a sense of family and community on a set? How does a director get an actor to relate? Noah Baumbach is the director of films like "The Squid and the Whale," "Frances Ha," and now the critically-acclaimed film, "Marriage Story." Alan Alda sat down with Noah to ask him about his career as both a writer and director, and his take on writing compelling scripts for specific actors. Noah also speaks with Alan about how to bring out the

Dec 3, 2019 • 48:27

Julie Andrews and Daughter Emma Walton Hamilton on the Hard Work of Home Work

Julie Andrews and Daughter Emma Walton Hamilton on the Hard Work of Home Work

She’s an icon of stage and of screen, with one of the most recognized voices in the world. And, no matter where she is in the world, Julie Andrews always brings a little bit of home with her. In this episode, Alan Alda sits down with Julie and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, to talk about how they've learned to collaborate as writing partners and how Julie has worked tirelessly throughout her career to make sure home and family never got lost in the work. As she says, it's never been easy to

Nov 26, 2019 • 53:32

It's Not Just You: Curiosity Daily Explains Quirks of Human Behavior

It's Not Just You: Curiosity Daily Explains Quirks of Human Behavior

Clear+Vivid returns next Tuesday, November 26th with the legendary Julie Andrews! In the meantime, check out our new favorite podcast, Curiosity Daily, presented by your hosts Ashley Hamer and Cody Gough! The Curiosity Daily podcast relies on science to help listeners understand the world — and themselves — better. In this special presentation, you'll hear some of of Cody and Ashley's favorite stories that answer the question: is it just me? You'll learn about how your friendships change as you

Nov 19, 2019 • 30:31

How to Live Better: Curiosity Daily Shares Scientific Life Hacks

How to Live Better: Curiosity Daily Shares Scientific Life Hacks

As a special treat for listeners of Clear+Vivid, we're publishing two bonus episodes of Curiosity Daily on Tuesday, November 12th and Tuesday, November 19th, so you can discover this great podcast for yourself! The Curiosity Daily podcast taps the latest scientific research to make you smarter about the world. In this special presentation from hosts Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer, you'll hear some of their favorite stories about research-based life hacks, including how to get a better night’s sleep

Nov 12, 2019 • 33:14

Alan Alda Speaks with Ashley Hamer and Cody Gough from Curiosity Daily

Alan Alda Speaks with Ashley Hamer and Cody Gough from Curiosity Daily

What's brown fat? How do you tell when someone is lying? What's the healthiest way to cook broccoli? Ashley Hamer and Cody Gough are the hosts of the wildly popular podcast, Curiosity Daily. They've been helping listeners learn about our minds and bodies, outer space, the depths of the sea, and how history shaped the world into what it is today. In this episode of Clear+Vivd, Alan Alda, who, himself, is curious daily, wanted to know more about how Ashley and Cody dig into these subjects. And, as

Nov 5, 2019 • 24:54

Isabel Allende on the Essential Element - Passion

Isabel Allende on the Essential Element - Passion

Her 1982 novel The House of the Spirits, was a breakthrough for women writers in Latin America and today Isabel Allende has written 23 books, sold 74 million copies, and had her work turned into 2 major motion pictures. Alan Alda talks with Isabel about her lifelong advocacy for women’s reproductive rights, economic independence and freedom from violence. In this spirited conversation, Alan asks her about her writing, magical realism, her passions – and her thoughts on flirting. Support the show

Oct 29, 2019 • 46:30

What Happens When an Economist Walks Into a Brothel?

What Happens When an Economist Walks Into a Brothel?

Allison Schrager set out to examine unusual subcultures, looking for clues that would deepen her understanding of risk and other economic realities. The result of her curious adventures is a book with the wonderfully provocative title, An Economist Walks Into a Brothel. In this episode, Allison offers her sage advice to Alan Alda on topics as varied as how to take risks and how hearing the word “no” can actually mean you’ve done well in a negotiation.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/cle

Oct 22, 2019 • 41:39

Say It With Funny. Frank Santopadre, Alan Zweibel, and Alan Alda on Comedy

Say It With Funny. Frank Santopadre, Alan Zweibel, and Alan Alda on Comedy

What makes a good joke? Why do some fall flat while others are met with a LOL, even an ROTFL? Is a joke ever out of bounds? In this episode, we examine the art of communicating with humor. Alan Alda talks with writers Frank Santopadre and Alan Zweibel, who have spent their lives finding the funny in the meaningful and the meaningful in the funny. Join them as they explore the heart of "ha."Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 15, 2019 • 45:57

Is There a Revolution for Women In Science? Are Things Finally Changing?

Is There a Revolution for Women In Science? Are Things Finally Changing?

Despite many positive changes, women in science report continuing problems. When a colleague ignores your contribution, belittles your work, or even harasses you, what do you do? Women have been leading a revolution in science for many years, and their voices are now being heard like never before. In this special episode of Clear+Vivid, Alan Alda and his producers speak with pioneers in the revolution, their mentees, and some of today’s most outspoken advocates for professional women in the STEM

Oct 8, 2019 • 1:36:33

Pat Metheny: Discovering Spontaneity in Music and Everything Else

Pat Metheny: Discovering Spontaneity in Music and Everything Else

As Clear+Vivid listeners know, we love improvisation because of how important it can be to communication. In this episode Alan Alda had the opportunity to speak with someone who is at the forefront of combining improv and music. Alan's guest this week is legendary jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. As it happens, Pat lives close to Alan's apartment in Manhattan, so we asked him to drop by. Pat and Alan plunged into a conversation about improvisation even before the producers remembered to press the rec

Oct 1, 2019 • 48:06

Dr. Robert Sapolsky: What Does It Take to Really Understand Our Decisions?

Dr. Robert Sapolsky: What Does It Take to Really Understand Our Decisions?

What can animals teach us about our own decision-making process? Every summer for 25 years, Dr. Robert Sapolsky has been studying baboons on the plains of Africa, where he's learned a surprising amount about why we behave the way we do. In this episode Alan Alda speaks with Dr. Sapolsky about his experiences with animals (both human and baboon) and learns about the fascinating similarities in our behavior, our decision-making process, and how we communicate with each other about things we unders

Sep 24, 2019 • 46:35

Brian Greene: Can the Rest of Us See the Beauty of Nature That Scientists See?

Brian Greene: Can the Rest of Us See the Beauty of Nature That Scientists See?

How can scientist’s better bring their complex and deep understanding of nature up to the surface? How can they help us see the marvels they see and revel in the hidden beauty of nature? Brian Greene is not only a brilliant theoretical physicist, but he's also someone who's completely dedicated to bringing the wonder of science to the rest of us. Alan Alda has always been curious about how the world's top scientific minds can commute their knowledge and understanding, so the rest of us can share

Sep 17, 2019 • 46:38

Yo-Yo Ma: On Bringing the World Together - Through Listening

Yo-Yo Ma: On Bringing the World Together - Through Listening

Can music be a story? And, can that story, and the emotions it stirs in us, be something that can unite us? In this conversation, Alan Alda explores this idea with his friend Yo-Yo Ma. Alan has just heard Yo-Yo play all six of the Bach Cello Suites in a concert. An amazingly moving performance – and just one of the performances of the cello suites that he'll be doing in 36 different locations around the world. Yo-Yo calls it the Bach Project, in which the beauty of the music is only the beginni

Sep 10, 2019 • 38:27

Laura Brown: How Did She Become a Badass Woman? And what is it?

Laura Brown: How Did She Become a Badass Woman? And what is it?

Laura Brown is the Editor in Chief of InStyle Magazine. Recently, she had the graceful chutzpa to feature Alan Alda in her magazine as a badass. Alan had no idea what that meant, so he couldn’t let it go unexplored. It turns out, being called a badass can be a really good compliment, and this led Alan and Laura to an interesting discussion of what style is, what it communicates, and how it spreads. Laura is a lively person, so Alan invited her to join him before a live audience at Guild Hall in

Sep 3, 2019 • 46:24

Melinda Gates: Can Listening Change the World?

Melinda Gates: Can Listening Change the World?

When someone wants to make the world a better place – and actually has the means to do it – you wonder: How do they go about it? What are their guiding principles? What works and what doesn’t? In this candid and inspiring interview, Alan Alda asks Melinda Gates about her work as a philanthropist and her lifelong dedication to social change. They discuss her book, "The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World," and what happens when the data suggests one course of action, but the re

Aug 27, 2019 • 46:44

Producer's Cut: Exclusive Sneak Peek at Season 5

Producer's Cut: Exclusive Sneak Peek at Season 5

Season 5 of Clear+Vivid® with Alan Alda starts on Tuesday, August 27th! Listen to the exclusive producer's cut of the official trailer to meet some of Alan’s next guests — including Melinda Gates, Yo-Yo Ma, Robert Sapolsky, and many more! New episodes are available every Tuesday. Subscribe and listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to enjoy podcasts. For more details and to subscribe to Alan’s newsletter, please visit AlanAlda.com. These episodes are made possible than

Aug 20, 2019 • 44:10

Katie Couric on How to Make People Truly Care and Engage

Katie Couric on How to Make People Truly Care and Engage

How do you engage a national audience and bring attention to a cause? Katie Couric’s decision to allow her colonoscopy to be broadcast live on television was but one highlight in an extraordinary career in television. As co-host of NBC’s Today show and later the first female anchor of a national nightly news program on CBS, her work has been distinguished by her ability to relate to her audience. In this episode, Katie and Alan Alda talk openly about her life as a well-known communicator and wha

Aug 13, 2019 • 47:01

Katharine Hayhoe on How to Talk About Climate Change

Katharine Hayhoe on How to Talk About Climate Change

Is there a way to bring up the climate crisis and not lose friends and disinfluence people? Katharine Hayhoe has found ways to communicate about a topic that desperately needs good communicating – the increasingly dire crisis that’s gripping our planet. What makes her so special is that she finds a way to connect with people – even people who deny the reality of climate change – through things that matter to them. In this episode, Alan Alda speaks with Dr. Hayhoe about the consequences of the de

Aug 6, 2019 • 45:54

Henry Schleiff on How to Lead a TV Network, Have an Impact, and Still Have Fun

Henry Schleiff on How to Lead a TV Network, Have an Impact, and Still Have Fun

There's a difference between communication and communications, with an "S." The way we look at it, communicating is connecting with people; and communications with an "S" is the technical way you reach out to millions, as with broadcasting. Some people find ways to combine those two ideas in ways that have a real impact, and Henry Schleiff is one of them. With vast experience as a broadcaster, Henry has a thoughtful, funny angle on communication that he shares with Alan Alda in this entertainin

Jul 30, 2019 • 42:41

Dr. Eric Topol on How Artificial Intelligence Can Improve the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Dr. Eric Topol on How Artificial Intelligence Can Improve the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Your visit to the doctor isn’t what it used to be. Now, there are more options for doctors to consider, and much less time for them to decide on them. Dr. Eric Topol, one of our country’s leading visionaries in the field of medicine, has a fascinating way of looking at this problem. Even though some experts on this show have talked about digital technology as a threat to our privacy, to our ability to relate, and in some cases even to our health, Dr. Topol tells us how machines can actually make

Jul 23, 2019 • 43:43

Frans de Waal on What Chimps Can Teach Us About Ourselves

Frans de Waal on What Chimps Can Teach Us About Ourselves

Do animals have emotions? What can we learn from them about family, friendships, and stable relationships? A surprising amount. Frans de Waal began studying chimpanzees when he was a student. He's the director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Center in Atlanta where he studies the social lives of chimpanzees and what they can tell us about ourselves.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 16, 2019 • 45:22

Adam Driver on How Theatre Can Help Heal Some Wounds of War

Adam Driver on How Theatre Can Help Heal Some Wounds of War

There's an "Art of War," but is there a place for the arts in the military? Adam Driver is a brilliant young actor who is taking the worlds of television, film, and theater by storm. His own world changed in 2001, when he was just 18 and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. His experience in the military helped to shape who he is today, both as a person and as an actor. Adam is dedicated to giving back to his fellow servicemen and women. Alan Alda talks with Adam about his work in bringing togethe

Jul 9, 2019 • 44:49

Hope Jahren on How It Actually Seems Possible to Have Empathy for Plants

Hope Jahren on How It Actually Seems Possible to Have Empathy for Plants

Do you ever imagine what it's like to be a plant? Do they communicate? Hope Jahren, author of the bestselling book, Lab Girl, has been fascinated by plants her whole life. As a scientist and author, she has dived so deep into the lives of plants that they come alive in our imaginations. This while weaving her own personal story of a life in science that allows us to share in her own experience. Hope is a fascinating teacher and she's also a professor at the University of Oslo, so Alan Alda was e

Jul 2, 2019 • 46:38

Who Cares What Science Says? Chris Volpe on Why Some of Us Care and Some Don't

Who Cares What Science Says? Chris Volpe on Why Some of Us Care and Some Don't

When you first think about science, what comes to mind first? What words do use to describe science? How does science make you feel? Asking these questions is Chris Volpe, who heads the non-profit organization Science Counts. Through its research into how the public sees the role that science plays in their lives, Science Counts has set itself the task of discovering what is needed to strengthen America’s commitment to science. In this episode, Alan Alda talks with Chris about how to make scienc

Jun 25, 2019 • 35:01

How Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor Create One of the World's Most Fascinating Podcasts

How Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor Create One of the World's Most Fascinating Podcasts

Earlonne Woods was recently released from San Quentin prison after 20 years inside. For the last 3 years he’s been helping inmates get their stories out in a remarkable podcast called Ear Hustle. Ear Hustle is produced in creative collaboration with Nigel Poor, who met Earlonne when she was a volunteer teacher at the prison. In this episode, Alan sits down with Earlonne and Nigel to talk about how stories are made and, as importantly, how they get out. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/c

Jun 18, 2019 • 47:56

Carol Burnett: A Life of Comedy, Characters, and Connection

Carol Burnett: A Life of Comedy, Characters, and Connection

Every Saturday night for 11 years, Carol Burnett communicated a sense of family to the entire country. She worked alongside other skilled comic actors. But it wasn’t just skill. There was always a sense of community among the actors and we in the audience felt we were invited in as part of the gang. It was fall-down-funny, belly laugh humor that new generations are still discovering. And they are still reacting to the warmth, still feeling that sense of family. Alan Alda wondered how she did it.

Jun 11, 2019 • 48:32

Madeleine Albright on the Uses and Abuses of Empathy and Power

Madeleine Albright on the Uses and Abuses of Empathy and Power

Empathy is a powerful tool and, when mixed with politics, it can be used to help the greater good. But, it also has a dark side. In this episode, Alan Alda speaks with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. As Secretary of State, she brought communication skills to international relations that were not only powerful, they were inventive and game changing. They also discuss her recently published best-selling book, "Fascism."Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jun 4, 2019 • 44:41

Official Trailer: Exclusive Sneak Peak of Season 4

Official Trailer: Exclusive Sneak Peak of Season 4

Season 4 of Clear+Vivid® with Alan Alda starts on Tuesday, June 4th! Listen to the official trailer to meet some of Alan’s next guests — including Madeleine Albright, Carol Burnett, Adam Driver, Katie Couric, and many more! New episodes are available every Tuesday. Subscribe and listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to enjoy podcasts. For more details and to subscribe to Alan’s newsletter, please visit AlanAlda.com. These episodes are made possible thanks to the gener

May 28, 2019 • 19:52

Tribalism: How we overcome the "Us" vs. "Them" Mentality

Tribalism: How we overcome the "Us" vs. "Them" Mentality

You need little more evidence these days that our country is badly divided than to toggle back and forth between Fox News and MSNBC – two perspectives on the same day’s events that might be coming from two different universes. We have become a nation of tribes. We didn’t set out on Clear+Vivid to explore this divide, but in our conversations about connecting and communicating, the topic kept coming up. On this podcast, Alan Alda has talked to people as diverse as politicians, comedians, and psyc

May 21, 2019 • 19:43

Empathy: What good is it anyway?

Empathy: What good is it anyway?

Regular listeners to Clear+Vivid know that we have a thing for empathy, as do many of our guests. For our host, Alan Alda, empathy is the indispensable foundation for good communication. But exactly what empathy is isn’t always obvious – nor is it obvious that it’s always a good thing. So, we thought we could look back over the 40-odd conversations we’ve had on this podcast so far and see where and how empathy plays a role in our lives.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

May 14, 2019 • 30:24

Our Favorite Answers By Listeners to the 7 Questions

Our Favorite Answers By Listeners to the 7 Questions

We love hearing from our listeners! Through social media and email, you've been sending us your own answers to "Alan's 7 Questions" and we've been having a great time reading through all your witty, smart, and often poignant responses. In this episode, we're highlighting all of our favorites! We want to keep hearing from you, so please continue to write us at: podcast@aldacommunication.com or get social with us on Twitter @alda, or on Facebook and Instagram at "ClearandVivid." Thanks for listeni

May 7, 2019 • 32:08

The Best Guest Answers to Alan’s 7 Questions

The Best Guest Answers to Alan’s 7 Questions

Why doesn't Dr. Ruth talk about her sex life? What keeps Michael J. Fox optimistic? Why does Isabella Rossellini have a passion for animals? What's the strangest question someone ever asked Tina Fey? How do Sarah Vowell and Sarah Silverman stop compulsive talkers? Our guests have hilarious, thoughtful, and heartwarming answers to Alan Alda's "7 Questions" -- in this episode, we bring you all of our favorites. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Apr 30, 2019 • 14:51

Alan Alda and Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast

Alan Alda and Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda is coming back soon for a sensational season 4! In the meantime, we've been having a lot of fun behind the scenes creating bonus episodes, new experiences, and great content for you. And, we also want to introduce you to some of our favorite podcasters. So, here's a podcast we like called Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast. In this episode Gilbert and Frank welcome a sought-after guest, writer-director-actor Alan Alda, who discusses (among other topics) growi

Apr 23, 2019 • 1:44:38

David Flink on How We Can All Think Differently About Learning

David Flink on How We Can All Think Differently About Learning

How do you learn? It may be different from how I learn. David Flink knows about learning differences. Dave was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD in grade school, but with the right support he got into an Ivy League college. There, he helped start a program for kids with a diagnosis of dyslexia or ADHD to be mentored by college students with the same diagnosis. Dave's program, "Eye to Eye," is now entering its 20th year and Dave has written a book, titled "Thinking Differently," recounting his exp

Apr 16, 2019 • 45:57

Pardis Sabeti on How Science Can Be Infectious

Pardis Sabeti on How Science Can Be Infectious

At Harvard, she's known as the "rollerblading, rockstar scientist." Pardis Sabeti mines the human genome for its secrets to eradicate deadly scourges. Her breakthrough work helped tackle an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in Africa. She also finds time to write and perform with a rock band. In this episode, Pardis and Alan Alda talk about her extraordinary work, and how to tackle any challenge with empathy, humanity, and a whole lot of fun.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandviv

Apr 9, 2019 • 44:39

Steven Johnson on the Importance of Play and the Decisions We Make

Steven Johnson on the Importance of Play and the Decisions We Make

How do we come up with ideas? How do we make decisions? And how can we do both better? Steven Johnson has explored this question and written a dozen books about it. In this playful, thoughtful episode, Steven has some fascinating stories, like how Darwin made the decision to get married — or how a defecating duck helped lead to the invention of the computer. Through their own stories, Steven and Alan Alda share their thoughts about the transformative nature of ideas and what sort of environments

Apr 2, 2019 • 46:50

Steven Strogatz Bonus - What to Do When Things Keep Changing!

Steven Strogatz Bonus - What to Do When Things Keep Changing!

Alan Alda wanted to get off the island quickly. Steven Strogatz explains how an 18th century British clergyman could have helped. In this short bonus episode, Steven helps Alan understand something that he’s wondered about for years. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Mar 26, 2019 • 17:32

Steven Strogatz Says You Can Understand Math

Steven Strogatz Says You Can Understand Math

Steven Strogatz possesses a special ability to see into the unseen. How does he do it? Steve is a world class mathematician, who sees through the window of math. But, lucky for us, he’s also a world class communicator. An award-winning professor, researcher, author, and creative thinker, Steve can help anyone (even Alan Alda) understand some of the unseen world of numbers. In this episode, Alan and Steven start from zero, not the number, but from a place of not knowing anything. He emerges from

Mar 26, 2019 • 45:03

Jonathan Haidt on Why We're So Divided and What to Do About It

Jonathan Haidt on Why We're So Divided and What to Do About It

How do we get beyond Right versus Left, "Us" versus "Them," and even "Me" versus "You"? Jonathan Haidt has a few theories about this all too-familiar tribalism and the seemingly endless culture wars of our time. As someone who studies morality and emotion, Jonathan has deep insight into the moral foundation of our politics and his research in moral psychology has revealed new ways for us to engage in more civil forms of politics, which can help make us all more cooperative and decent. In this co

Mar 19, 2019 • 46:37

Michael Tomasello On the Surprising Origins of Communication and Cooperation

Michael Tomasello On the Surprising Origins of Communication and Cooperation

How do we actually learn to communicate? How is it different from how other animals learn it? Michael Tomasello explores what may be at the very heart of relating and communicating: shared attention. Alan Alda first met Michael when he interviewed him a few years ago in Leipzig, Germany. Michael was already doing experiments that studied the differences between how human children and chimps learn to communicate. He’s tracked the fascinating path humans take in learning to connect with one anothe

Mar 12, 2019 • 37:58

Sarah Vowell on Writing with Clarity (and Shenanigans)

Sarah Vowell on Writing with Clarity (and Shenanigans)

Sarah Vowell is not short on facets. She’s writer, a historian, a satirist, a radio star and an actor. While he writing voice can be satirical, you might recognize her speaking voice as that of Violet in the Pixar animated series “The Incredibles.” She's a contributor to the public radio show This American Life, and has written seven New York Times’ bestselling books on culture and American history — all from a number of strange and interesting angles. In this conversation, Alan Alda and Sarah e

Mar 5, 2019 • 46:33

Sherry Turkle on How We're Losing Touch With One Another and What We Can Do About It

Sherry Turkle on How We're Losing Touch With One Another and What We Can Do About It

Sherry Turkle is an expert on both our cultural and personal well-being. She's a professor at MIT, an author, a licensed clinical psychologist, and someone who's deeply concerned about how people connect and communicate. In this conversation with Alan Alda, Sherry shares her concerns about mobile technology, social networks, AI, and robots. She explores our relationships with our devices and how our constant connectedness isn't always the best thing for us -- and what we can do to disconnect fro

Feb 26, 2019 • 46:35

Stephen Fry On How Our Myths Help Us Know Who We Are

Stephen Fry On How Our Myths Help Us Know Who We Are

Stephen Fry loves words. But he does more than love them. He puts them together in ways that so delight readers, that a blog or a tweet by him can get hundreds of thousands of people hanging on his every keystroke. As an actor, he’s brought to life every kind of theatrical writing from sketch comedy to classics. He’s performed in everything from game shows to the British audiobook version of Harry Potter. And always with a rich intelligence and searching eye. In this conversation with Alan Alda,

Feb 19, 2019 • 44:51

Dr. Ruth on Communicating Under the Covers and Above

Dr. Ruth on Communicating Under the Covers and Above

Her name is Ruth Westheimer, but we all know her as Dr. Ruth, the helpful lady who’s spoken to us for decades about sex. She's always direct, to the point, and bubbling with insight about ourselves and our partners. In this frank conversation with Alan Alda, Dr. Ruth talks about how to achieve a long lasting relationship in a short term world. She also talks candidly about her past experience as a sniper, and shares her thoughts on sex and relationships as we age. Support the show: https://www.p

Feb 12, 2019 • 45:56

The Actors from M*A*S*H — On How M*A*S*H Changed Our Lives

The Actors from M*A*S*H — On How M*A*S*H Changed Our Lives

M*A*S*H is the most beloved and one of the most watched TV shows of all time. It set viewing records that have never been broken and is ranked as one of the top 25 shows of all time. In this exclusive podcast, actors from this legendary show gather together for an uproarious and totally candid conversation about how they learned to connect with one another to create their special brand of entertainment on the screen and lifelong friendships off-camera. Join Alan Alda (“Capt.Benjamin Franklin "Ha

Feb 5, 2019 • 1:08:14

Sheila Nevins on Age, Sex, Love, Life, and Everything Else

Sheila Nevins on Age, Sex, Love, Life, and Everything Else

Sheila Nevins has explored the human condition in the thousand or so documentaries she produced for HBO. From more than 30 years of telling us stories about ourselves, to her experience as a woman in the workplace, Sheila has plenty to say about communicating. And she never holds back. In this delightful episode, Alan Alda talks with Sheila about her life, how she feels about aging, the #MeToo movement, sex, divorce, documentaries, storytelling, and just about everything else! This episode is sp

Jan 29, 2019 • 42:21

Official Trailer - The Actors from M*A*S*H — On How M*A*S*H Changed Our Lives

Official Trailer - The Actors from M*A*S*H — On How M*A*S*H Changed Our Lives

Coming Tuesday, February 5th! M*A*S*H will be back for a one-time, exclusive episode with all your familiar friends -- join Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, Jamie Farr, Mike Farrell, and Gary Burghoff for an intimate and candid conversation about their personal experiences of being part of one of the most beloved TV shows of all time; and the lessons they learned about how to connect, communicate, and to relate with one another in the process. Subscribe or listen for free at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, G

Jan 27, 2019 • 0:39

Senator Bill Bradley on How We Can All Do Better

Senator Bill Bradley on How We Can All Do Better

Senator Bill Bradley has an amazing life. He was a Gold medal Olympian, a Rhodes Scholar, a legendary star with the Knicks for 10 years, a United Sates Senator for 12 years. He ran for the Democratic party’s Presidential nomination, and to top it off, he’s the host of the long-running SiriusXM Satellite Radio program – “American Voices.” In this episode, Alan Alda speaks with Sen. Bradley about leading a life of curiosity, learning and service. His stories are fun and he has a lot to say about o

Jan 22, 2019 • 38:15

Christian Picciolini on Escaping the Neo-Nazi Movement and Helping Others Leave It Behind

Christian Picciolini on Escaping the Neo-Nazi Movement and Helping Others Leave It Behind

Christian Picciolini is the author of “White American Youth: My Descent Into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement – And How I Got Out.” His story helps the rest of us understand what leads an ordinary person take on a life of hate and violence. He knows because he was once a leading organizer for the Neo-Nazi movement. In this emotionally riveting conversation, Alan Alda and Christian talk frankly about the underlying issues of hate and anger and how we can help people leave their hate behind an

Jan 15, 2019 • 47:35

Jaron Lanier on Why You Should Delete Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Jaron Lanier on Why You Should Delete Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Should you shut down your social media accounts right now? Jaron Lanier thinks so, and he knows the tech world. He helped build the Internet and was one of the creators of virtual reality. But now, he believes something has gone very wrong with our new digital world. In this episode, Jaron joins Alan Alda to discuss social media addiction, the crisis at Facebook, how our behavior is being subtly manipulated, and how the means of communication that we hoped would bring us closer together - is doi

Jan 8, 2019 • 46:49

Rachael Ray on Communicating Through the Medium of Food

Rachael Ray on Communicating Through the Medium of Food

Rachael Ray knows how to relate over food. When she cooks, she's always thinking about her audience and how to communicate a message through the medium of food. Her energy and talent have led her to create a billion dollar lifestyle empire, built around the concept of fun, healthy, and joyous experiences with food. In this episode of Clear+Vivid, Rachael Ray and Alan Alda cook up some pasta together and enjoy a lively conversation around the dinner table! This special holiday episode is sponsore

Dec 17, 2018 • 42:53

W. Kamau Bell on How He Communicates with Racists

W. Kamau Bell on How He Communicates with Racists

W. Kamau Bell, the host of CNN's "United Shades of America,” describes his show as giving people a “microphone” and “public square to tell their version of the story.” Putting it plainly, he's said his greatest gift as a communicator is in knowing, “... how to shut the f*ck up and let people talk.” Kamau is a gifted stand up comedian who delivers his comedy through a socio-political lens. In this episode of Clear+Vivid, Alan Alda asks W. Kamau Bell about his approach to comedy and how it's possi

Dec 11, 2018 • 51:13

How the Alda Center Teaches Empathy in Science, and Medicine (Part 3)

How the Alda Center Teaches Empathy in Science, and Medicine (Part 3)

The most important time in your life can be those few minutes when you're in the doctors office - this is a critical time for you to tell your story and for your doctor to listen. 80% of correct diagnoses are made when doctors get the whole history from their patients. And the more empathic the communication, the better the diagnosis. In this last episode of our 3-part series, we speak with Dr. Susmita Pati and Dr. Laura Lindenfeld at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook

Dec 8, 2018 • 41:58

Dr. Karl VanDevender: Empathy and the Doctor-Patient Relationship (Part 2)

Dr. Karl VanDevender: Empathy and the Doctor-Patient Relationship (Part 2)

Dr. Karl VanDevender is one of the most empathic doctors you'll ever meet. In fact, he's one of the most empathic people that Alan Alda has ever met! Dr. VanDevender has been practicing medicine for forty years and in that time he has learned some interesting ways to connect with his patients, resulting in surprisingly positive results. Dr. VanDevender has a lot to teach us about the doctor-patient relationship, and how it can lead to better health. Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda is devoting a speci

Dec 6, 2018 • 35:12

Dr. Helen Riess on Empathy and the Science of Emotion (Part 1 of 3)

Dr. Helen Riess on Empathy and the Science of Emotion (Part 1 of 3)

Relating and communicating in the doctor’s office can sometimes be a matter of life or death. Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda is devoting a special series of three shows to doctor-patient relations and how better understanding can be achieved through empathy and deeper listening. First up is Dr. Helen Riess whose research has shown that not only is empathy important to the doctor-patient relationship, but that, when it’s lacking, empathy can be taught. Join us for this episode with Dr. Riess, followe

Dec 4, 2018 • 46:07

Marc Maron on What Podcasting Has Taught Him About Relating

Marc Maron on What Podcasting Has Taught Him About Relating

Marc Maron is a legend in both the stand-up community and also as a podcaster. His WTF Podcast broke new ground in the interview genre when he welcomed President Obama onto his show and helped to truly define the independent podcast movement. But Marc’s rise to the top has been an arduous personal journey. As a comedian and performer he’s dealt with anxiety and other issues that have haunted him over the years. He talks with Alan Alda about his personal life and how podcasting helped him to open

Nov 27, 2018 • 44:05

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Communicating Science So We Actually Get It

Neil deGrasse Tyson on Communicating Science So We Actually Get It

The universe has wonders that can stun us — if only someone could be clear and vivid in explaining them to us. Neil deGrasse Tyson does just that, which has put him among the most recognized science communicators of the 21st Century. He’s not only an astrophysicist, an author, and the head of the world-renowned Hayden Planetarium, he’s also funny. In this episode Alan and Neil explore some surprising techniques for making hard stuff clear, including how a particular football play can explain the

Nov 20, 2018 • 46:44

Michael J. Fox: How to Keep Going When Life Gives You Speed Bumps

Michael J. Fox: How to Keep Going When Life Gives You Speed Bumps

Michael J. Fox was diagnosed with young on-set Parkinson's Disease in 1991. He threw himself into his work and fell into moments of depression and alcohol abuse. But, in 1998, when he went public with his story, he changed the way the world looked at Parkinson's Disease and has now raised nearly a billion dollars in research through the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which he founded. And he inspired many other people with the disease to not let it stop them -- including Alan Alda. Alan was diagnose

Nov 13, 2018 • 43:59

Behind the Scenes Table Talk with Alan Alda and the Production Team

Behind the Scenes Table Talk with Alan Alda and the Production Team

Go behind the scenes with the Clear+Vivid team! Alan Alda sits down with his friend and long time producer, Graham Chedd, to talk about podcasting, their years together on Scientific American Frontiers, and their enduring friendship. Alan and Graham are joined by Associate Producer, Sarah Chase, who is also the voice of the ads and helps Alan run his company, Alda Communication Training (ACT). Our "Tech Guru," Allison Coston also joins in and tells us about her 6 years in the U.S. Navy. The team

Nov 6, 2018 • 26:16

Katie Couric and Sheryl Sandberg Take Over the Pod

Katie Couric and Sheryl Sandberg Take Over the Pod

While Alan Alda is on vacation, he's invited his friend Katie Couric to take over the pod with some of her favorite episodes! Alan's producers interviewed Katie about this episode and Katie talks about the shared experience that she and Sheryl Sandberg have in common. After her husband died suddenly from a cardiac arrhythmia, Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In) thought she would never experience true joy again. Sheryl speaks about her book, Option B, that delves into how she proved herself

Oct 30, 2018 • 1:01:11

Katie Couric and Bryan Stevenson Take Over the Pod

Katie Couric and Bryan Stevenson Take Over the Pod

Alan is on vacation (literally). So, he asked his friend Katie Couric if she'd lend him a couple of episodes of her podcast. Alan sent in his producers to interview Katie about her podcast. In this episode Katie and her co-host Brian Goldsmith welcome Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Bryan could have gone anywhere—he chose to move to Alabama to help confront racial disparities and reform the criminal justice system. On the pod, they discu

Oct 23, 2018 • 50:12

Season 2 of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda Starts Nov 13th - Official Trailer

Season 2 of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda Starts Nov 13th - Official Trailer

Season 2 of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda starts on November 13th! Listen to the official trailer to meet some of Alan's next guests -- you're not going to want to miss the spectacular bonus episodes in the works! New episodes are available every Tuesday. Subscribe and listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to enjoy podcasts. For more details and to subscribe to Alan's newsletter, please visit AlanAlda.com. These episodes are made possible thanks to the generous support o

Oct 2, 2018 • 2:50

Hostage Crisis: How to Negotiate Through the Unthinkable with Chris Voss

Hostage Crisis: How to Negotiate Through the Unthinkable with Chris Voss

Chris Voss is a former FBI hostage negotiator who has used communication to save lives. Alan Alda interviews Chris about his experiences and they discuss intense situations where empathy has been successfully used as a tool to guard against the unthinkable. Alan also has a few tricks up his own sleeve as he lures Chris into a role play situation to see how well he does under pressure. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Oct 2, 2018 • 45:35

Father Greg Boyle on Compassion, Kinship, and Real Ways to Help Others

Father Greg Boyle on Compassion, Kinship, and Real Ways to Help Others

How do you talk to a member of a deadly gang? How do you help someone leave that life, and why did they join it in the first place? The answers are surprising. And they throw light on how to communicate with anyone. In this episode of Clear+Vivid Alan Alda has a lively and eye-opening conversation with Father Greg Boyle who tells how his Homeboys Industries in Los Angeles has been a lifeline to thousands of young people escaping the deadly culture of gang life. And how he answers violence with t

Sep 25, 2018 • 46:35

Isabella Rossellini on Communicating the Wonder of Nature

Isabella Rossellini on Communicating the Wonder of Nature

Isabella Rossellini is a legendary actress, iconic model, filmmaker, writer, and now - if that's not enough - she's working on her master's degree in Animal Behavior. In this wildly fun conversation, Alan Alda talks with Isabella about how how animals communicate with one another and with us. And how Isabella communicates with us about the sometimes bizarre sex lives of animals — in her popular video series called "Green Porno."Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 18, 2018 • 42:52

The Quest to Understand Ourselves Through Art and Mind

The Quest to Understand Ourselves Through Art and Mind

Is a work of art complete if no one experiences it? Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel talks with Alan Alda about the vital role of the audience when we communicate through art and story And his prize-winning discoveries on memory come alive in his own memorable stories. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Sep 11, 2018 • 40:24

Cheryl Strayed Shares Her Advice on How to Give Advice

Cheryl Strayed Shares Her Advice on How to Give Advice

Cheryl Strayed, one of the most exciting and uplifting authors of our time, is funny, down to earth, complex, and the perfect person to offer Alan Alda solid advice about how to give good advice. She's the author of Tiny Beautiful Things and the co-host of the New York Times/WBUR podcast Dear Sugars, which originated with her popular Dear Sugar advice column, and she's the co-author of The Sweet Spot advice column in the New York Times Thursday Styles section. Her novel, Wild, about her life in

Sep 4, 2018 • 45:52

George Mitchell on Bringing Together Enemies - Part 2 Northern Ireland

George Mitchell on Bringing Together Enemies - Part 2 Northern Ireland

George Mitchell helped end decades of lethal violence in Northern Ireland with the historic accord known as the Good Friday Agreement. In this episode Alan Alda talks with Sen. Mitchell about how he achieved that agreement through effective communication, and an understanding of human nature. He describes the essential elements of effective communication that brought together the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as the political parties of Northern Ireland, bringing an end t

Aug 28, 2018 • 37:32

Tina Fey and the Transformative Power of Improv

Tina Fey and the Transformative Power of Improv

Two icons of improv and comedy together on the same podcast. Alan Alda and Tina Fey - do we need to say more? This episode was originally recorded live on stage. Tina also joined Alan in studio to answer 7 questions about herself. Her answers are profound and funny and show why she's one of the great comedians of all time.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 21, 2018 • 31:48

Ann Patchett on Novelists and the Sources of Empathy in Story

Ann Patchett on Novelists and the Sources of Empathy in Story

Ann Patchett is a best selling author with an uncanny ability to write amazing characters, who capture our imagination and hold us in their emotional grip. Alan Alda talks with Ann about her approach to writing and how empathy influences both her stories and her personal life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 14, 2018 • 40:25

Bringing Together Enemies - Part 1: The Middle East

Bringing Together Enemies - Part 1: The Middle East

Author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin reflects on the modern state of feminism and the #MeToo movement – and how she’s brought people together in the Middle East through experiences that change their understanding of one another. (In Part 2 of these conversations on “Bringing Enemies Together” Senator George Mitchell discusses bringing peace to Northern Ireland.)Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Aug 7, 2018 • 41:28

Is Empathy Good or Bad? A Conversation with Paul Bloom

Is Empathy Good or Bad? A Conversation with Paul Bloom

Yale Professor Paul Bloom doesn't think empathy is such a good thing. He's even written a book about it called, The Case Against Empathy. However, he does have an interesting theory about what he calls rational compassion. Paul and Alan Alda discuss their views for and against empathy and find out that they have more in common than they thought.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 31, 2018 • 45:23

Renée Fleming  and the Healing Power of Music

Renée Fleming and the Healing Power of Music

Surprisingly, Renée Fleming has been using her iconic voice to help scientists discover how music heals us. Alan talks with Renée about their mutual interest in science, her new starring role in Carousel, and what it's like to really be present as a performer.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 24, 2018 • 39:16

Judge Judy on How to Figure Out Who’s Telling the Truth

Judge Judy on How to Figure Out Who’s Telling the Truth

Every day, 10 million Americans watch Judge Judy on TV. Her style is direct and to the point. Her job is to know how to quickly separate fact from fiction. She talks with Alan about justice and what it's like for a judge to have such an impact on the lives of others.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 17, 2018 • 46:00

Kate Bowler and How to Handle the Worst News of All

Kate Bowler and How to Handle the Worst News of All

Alan talks with Kate about the awkward, funny, and often misguided, ways people approach the subject when they know someone is seriously ill. New York Times Bestselling author and Duke University divinity professor, Kate Bowler tells Alan how stage 4 cancer led her to write a humorous, and graceful book about communicating with someone who’s received the worst possible news.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 13, 2018 • 42:23

Itzhak Perlman on the Spontaneity and Connection of Performance

Itzhak Perlman on the Spontaneity and Connection of Performance

In this delightful and spirited conversation, Alan Alda talks with his good friend the world-renowned violinist, Itzhak Perlman. They explore the power of spontaneity in both music and acting, and what happens when a musician talks to the audience.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 9, 2018 • 44:14

Sarah Silverman and the Joy of Enjoying People You Don't Agree With

Sarah Silverman and the Joy of Enjoying People You Don't Agree With

Alan Alda talks with comedian Sarah Silverman about how she befriended someone who was hateful toward her on Twitter, and how her new series on Hulu challenges her to connect with people that she doesn't agree with. Her question to us is “Can Americans put down their "porcupine needles" and really listen to one another again?”Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid

Jul 9, 2018 • 47:10

Clear + Vivid™ with Alan Alda - Official Trailer

Clear + Vivid™ with Alan Alda - Official Trailer

Clear and Vivid is a series of Alan Alda’s 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. With his unique blend of humor and insight, Alda explores the ways we can connect b

May 23, 2018 • 1:02

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