Aspen Ideas to Go

Even though women are likely to live longer than men, their hormonal changes make them far more susceptible to age-related memory loss like Alzhemier’s disease and other conditions. Yet gender is often not a primary consideration by the medical community  — but more and more research shows that it should be. Professor of neuroscience, neurology, and radiology Lisa Mosconi directs the Women’s Brain Initiative at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her latest book is “The XX Brain.” She discusses the female brain’s unique risks and strengths and ways to maximize cognitive health with Natalie Morales of NBC’s TODAY Show. aspenideas.org

Today’s women are warriors and peacemakers, athletes and artists. Women in leadership roles can play a crucial role in leading us toward a better and more equitable future, and women must be part of the solution to the current global crises. Former US secretary of state Madeleine K. Albright and former prime minister of New Zealand the Honorable Helen Clark are trailbreaking leaders and powerful advocates for women’s empowerment. They speak with the Aspen Institute’s Forum on Women and Girls co-chair Peggy Clark about women’s roles on the global stage now and into the future. aspenideas.org

Psychologist Angela Duckworth explains how to raise a child with strong character. Duckworth, who's the author of Grit and a MacArthur "Genius," talks with Jackie Bezos about how young people learn to be grateful, vulnerable, and fearless by modeling the adults in their lives. (This conversation is from the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival.) aspenideas.org

Corporations can play a critical role in closing the wealth gap and confronting systemic racism in America. Taking a hard look at diversity in their workforces, supply chains, and customer bases will pay off — not just in a better corporate image but in an improved economy that benefits everyone, including the corporations. “We as leaders, those of us in positions of power, have an obligation to stand up and act as true corporate citizens, says Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal. “It also gives us competitive advantage when we do that.” Schulman and Ariel Investment Co-CEO Mellody Hobson discuss corporate responsibility, financial literacy, supporting small businesses, and more. Aspen Institute CEO Dan Porterfield leads the conversation. aspenideas.org

With millions of Americans already infected with COVID-19, public health officials are working to ensure that a safe and effective vaccine is available for every American who wants one. They also want to be sure people aren’t afraid of getting those shots. Nancy Messonnier, M.D., is director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She leads the Center for Disease Control’s COVID-19 vaccine efforts in the areas of distribution, administration, implementation, safety, and access. For 25 years, she’s worked to strengthen public trust in vaccines and prevent vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. Dr. Messonnier speaks with award winning journalist and National Geographic science editor Nsikan Akpan about the speed of development of coronavirus vaccines, safety concerns, and the government’s work to distribute them quickly and equitably. aspenideas.org

The American Dream says hard work will lead to a better life. But Harvard professor Micheal Sandel says climbing the ladder of success is getting harder in the United States, because the rungs on the ladder are growing further apart. He says inequality is deeper and upward mobility has stalled — and that’s a failure of the meritocracy, the governing elites, a group desperate to hold on to status and wealth as evidenced by recent college admission scandals. Elliot Gerson, executive vice president at the Aspen Institute, speaks with Sandel about his latest book, “The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good.” aspenideas.org

Current political fault lines are fracturing American society as people grow further apart from one another due to differing beliefs and opinions. We often see people we disagree with as caricatures, and think we can never reconcile our differences. Yet despite that sense of contradiction we are much closer to each other than we think. To bridge the divide, we have to strengthen the bonds that make us human. In this special Thanksgiving conversation Krista Tippett longtime host of the radio program “On Being,” and Harvard professor Arthur Brooks who writes the “How to Build a Life” column for The Atlantic, discuss ways we can share our humanity and work towards re-creating politics and civil society. Their discussion is part of Unfinished Live, an online event series produced in collaboration with Aspen Ideas partner, Unfinished. Learn more at www.unsfinished.com aspenideas.org

It’s time to slow down and start again to remake American culture and undo systemic racism, says author and Yale professor Claudia Rankine. White Americans must wade into the waters of whiteness, and interrogate their own responses to Blackness. They need to see how policies and institutions continue the patterns of segregation and legacies of white supremacy. Eric Liu of the Aspen Institute’s Citizenship and American Identity Program speaks with Rankine about her new book, “Just Us: An American Conversation.” They discuss how to have the difficult conversations necessary to confront systemic racism and about building coalitions to effect change. aspenideas.org

The civil rights movement has affected all Americans, whether they realize it or not. The opportunity for everyone to vote represents a major shift, but changes in education, housing and even sports reflect the strategic leadership of activists throughout American history. Civil rights experts and Stanford University professors Pamela Karlan and James Steyer discuss the history of civil rights movements in this country including racial equality, women's and LGBTQ rights and how those efforts inform the work that still needs to be done today. aspenideas.org

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks says liberal democracy has become about “me” instead of “us.” In his new book, Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times, Sacks says we are losing our strong, shared moral code and that’s challenging our sense of community and common good. Growth comes from an openness to others who may not be like us and, he says, developing a moral bond based on mutual acceptance will reduce conflict. In today’s show he speaks with Reverend Serene Jones, the first woman president of the Historic Theological Seminary in New York City. Sacks was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 2005 and took a seat in the House of Lords in 2009. He’s the author of more than three dozen books. Serene Jones is past president of the American Academy of Religion and was a professor of theology at Yale’s divinity school. aspenideas.org