Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Steve Strogatz: The math that makes the modern world

Math averse? Have no fear. In fact, have fun, as the role that math plays in your everyday life comes alive through vivid stories. And find out who is a little fearful: m

Kyle Vowinkel: Lessons from communicating with bad people

A career successfully negotiating with terrorists and hostage takers has honed strategies for handling difficult conversations with both those we work with and those we l

Angela Duckworth: When grit is not enough

Since her hugely successful book Grit was published a decade ago, she’s been thinking through situations when grit alone may not get you to your goals. As her new book su

Jeremy Faust: An ER doctor speaks his mind

His influential newsletter Inside Medicine regularly challenges the misinformation coming from the current Health and Human Services Administration. Yet the busy ER docto

Joy Behar: Her third act

Standup comedian, long time co-host of ABC’s The View, she is now entering what she calls her third act – as a playwright, with her play My First Ex-Husband, a hit in New

Kelly McGonigal: Why joy is so joyful

Joy is not just a fleeting emotion or feeling. It's an entire response system that includes changes in your body and your brain, preparing you to take in the good in life

Patrick McEnroe: Calling the shots

The younger brother of tennis champion John – and himself ranked number three in the world in doubles – he shares connecting and communicating secrets, both on the court

Dame Sue Black: Science on trial

Britain’s best known expert witness tells of trials where crime scene evidence has led not only to successful prosecutions but also in too many cases to people being puni

Antonio Damasio: Consciousness starts in a surprising place

Rather than being a feature of our complex brains, he argues that consciousness begins in the feelings and emotions generated by our bodies. Hosted by Simplecast, an Ad

Lisa Margulis: Music shares our daydreams

Letting your mind wander while listening to music can open you up to rewarding daydreams. Surprisingly, there is a good chance that your musical daydream is shared by oth

Joanna Stern: A year living with bots

She spent twelve months trying out the best and the worst that AI has to offer, from the creepy (an AI boyfriend), to the helpful (an AI-powered mammogram) to the weird (

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: Season 35 Trailer

Alan and executive producer Graham Chedd introduce season 35 of Clear and Vivid. Topics include how music inspires daydreams, the mind games of championship tennis, a yea

Yael Schonbrun: It’s not what you say…

There is more to successful communication than picking the right words. We need to understand that our understanding of others is shaped by factors we are mostly unaware

Tom Levenson: Anti-vaxxers are living in the past

Opposition to vaccines goes back to their invention. And while doubts about vaccine safely may have been justified 300 years ago, those same doubts have lingered among th

Nicholas Epley: Talking to strangers

An encounter on his commuter train led to 20 years of research that changed his life for the better. You too can be friendlier, kinder, more open, more curious – and the

Lisa Genova: She lets us into their worlds

A neuroscientist who also writes novels –  including one that became an award-winning movie – Lisa Genova lets us experience the stories lived by people with brain diseas

Matt Kaplan: They were right after all

Vivid stories of scientists whose claims were ignored or ridiculed, from Galileo to Kati Karikó – the woman whose work was critical in developing the mRNA Covid vaccine t

Roxanne Khamsi: You are mutating – and that’s (mostly) a good thing

Mutations sound scary. But the DNA that shaped us is has been mutating since we were born. Some mutations are bad for our health while others are helping us stay alive, s

Lawrence O’Donnell: Inventing Arnie Vinick

Today an MS NOW host, in 2004 he was writer/producer on the popular NBC series The West Wing tasked with introducing a new character – a Republican Senator running for pr

Walter Isaacson: Are these truths still self-evident?

On the eve of our nation's 250th, Walter Isaacson takes a deep dive into the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence. It's what he calls "the greatest sentence