Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our...

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

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

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our...

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 Hosted by Simple...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our colle...

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

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 affor...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alan and Clear+Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd preview the new season. 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.

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about o...

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

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and u...

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

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for info...

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

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsW...

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 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and us...