Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 life itself survives and thrives in the strangest of places. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and has written about how these unconscious biases can distort judgments about who can be a scientist – to the detriment of science itself. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 improvised entertainment at parties and never stopped. Mel and Carl aren’t as old yet as Mel’s character of the 2,000 Year Old Man, but the two of them together in this life-affirming episode are just as wise and just as funny. Sit back, relax, and get ready to join Mel, Carl, and Alan together from Carl’s house in Beverly Hills. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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, and humility from the other animals in the kingdom. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.