Grey Matter with Michael Krasny

Bill McKibben is a life-long environmentalist, activist, journalist, and author who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. In our conversation we review the significance of recent climate legislation, the technological alternatives to fossil fuels, and the ways and means currently at work to reclaim the climate - with special focus given to what the Baby Boomers can do.

We talk with Ken Burns, Lynn Novick and Sarah Botstein about their new film, The U.S. and the Holocaust. The three-part, six-hour documentary series premiered on PBS September on 18-20, 2022, and examines America's response to one of history's greatest humanitarian crises. Ken Burns states "that he won't work on a more important film". As well as discussing their latest and important film, they talk about the magic of their team and working together, their professional callings, the craft of filmmaking, and "the how" of tackling difficult topics.

Sarah Hill, CEO of Healium, believes that biometrically-responsive immersive media experiences served through virtual and augmented reality technology can help millions better cope with the mental stress of our times. Join us for a discussion on how. She has 25 years of experience building unique media franchises. She has five patents for biometrically-powered media. Her company's mental fitness products are clinically validated in five peer-reviewed journals, and her immersive experiences have been viewed more than 7 million times.

Andrew Fraknoi is an award-winning scientist and educator, known for his skill in interpreting astronomical discoveries and ideas in everyday language. He is the lead author of the most frequently used basic astronomy textbook in the country, Astronomy, and a budding author of science fiction stories based on good astronomy. Join us for a conversation in everyday language about our latest discoveries regarding the mysteries and majesty of the cosmos.

John Hamilton McWhorter V is an associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University with a specialty in creole languages, sociolects, and Black English. McWhorter is also a major pundit on social issues, and currently a columnist for the New York Times. Our conversation is as much about the use of the language we use to exchange ideas, as about the ideas themselves. McWhorter is the author of more than twenty books including Woke Racism, The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America and Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English. In 2016 he published Words on the Move: Why English Won't - and Can't - Sit Still (Like, Literally). He has written for many publications including The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker and CNN. You can find John McWhorter on Twitter: @JohnHMcWhorter

World-renowned innovator and commentator on everything tech, Amber shares her reflections across the board on living in our digital age drawing on her perspectives as a technology spokesperson, a media specialist, a concerned citizen, a woman, and a mother. Chock-full of practical recommendations, Amber's insights span the spectrum of issues related to our living and thriving in this digital age.

Dr. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, will share his sober assessments on the clear and present threats in the world today, the greatest of which are domestic. He will draw from his most recent work, The World: A Brief Introduction, current events, and his upcoming book on American democracy, to illuminate the factors we must address as a nation and a globe on the road ahead in order to preserve our collective civil society.

As one of the world's leading spokespersons for democracy, Larry Diamond of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, the Journal of Democracy and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), reflects on the threats to global democracy and his proposals for reinstating and reinforcing the health of our own democracy in the United States.

In 2020-22, Dr. Robert Wachter's tweets on Covid-19 were viewed over 400 million times by 250,000 followers and served as a trusted source of information on the clinical, public health, and policy issues surrounding the pandemic. We will hear his latest assessments on COVID-19 and much more.