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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jul 12, 2022 • 43min
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 5, 2022 • 43min
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.
Jun 28, 2022 • 42min
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 21, 2022 • 41min
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 14, 2022 • 42min
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 7, 2022 • 41min
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 1, 2022 • 48min
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.
May 31, 2022 • 33min
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 24, 2022 • 40min
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 17, 2022 • 43min
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.
