Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Natalie and Natasha Batalha: Looking for Life on Alien Worlds

08 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As the James Webb Space Telescope starts peering out into space this summer, mother and daughter astronomers Natalie and Natasha Batalha will each hav...

Michael Keaton: From Standup to Drama

01 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

His outstanding career acting in both movies and television – most recently his highly praised performance in the Hulu series Dopesick – had its b...

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 16 trailer

22 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 n...

Kate Crawford: Artificial Intelligence – neither artificial nor intelligent

15 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Twenty years of exploring the technical, social and environmental impact of AI has convinced Kate Crawford that we should be much more skeptical about...

Stephon Alexander: Einstein, Coltrane… and the Universe

08 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

His jazz informs his physics and his physics informs his jazz, as cosmologist Stephon Alexander seeks a new understanding of the Universe.Support the ...

Mary Roach: When Animals Break the Law

01 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An author with a thing for one syllable titles – Stiff, Gulp, Bonk – Mary Roach’s latest book, Fuzz, is a quirky exploration of how animals are ...

Thor Hanson: How Nature Struggles with a Warming Planet

25 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

From lizards that cling on for dear life during hurricanes to bees that can’t find flowers, plants and animals are trying to cope with climate chang...

Nancy Padilla-Coreano: Knowing Your Place

18 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How do we instantly sense whether someone has more or less power than we have – and change our behavior as a result?Support the show: https://www.pa...

Robin Dunbar: Circles of Friendship

11 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dunbar’s Number is the most people you can have meaningful relationships with. But that number – 150 – is only one of the many circles of friend...

Bianca Jones Marlin: Preparing Kids for Survival

04 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How is it that the experience of stress or trauma can be passed on from one generation to the next, even without contact between them?Support the show...

Kate Bowler: Living With The Certainty of Uncertainty

28 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Surviving some of the hardest of times has given Kate Bowler insights that are valuable to the rest of us who can't know what tomorrow will bring. And...

Diego Bohórquez: Gut to Brain – Listen Up!

21 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The discovery of a direct and instant connection between your stomach and your brain has brought a whole new dimension to the notion of a “gut feeli...

Mel Brooks: On Love, Life and Punchlines

14 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

At 95, Mel tells it like it was in his new book, All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show BusinessSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvi...

Max Brooks: How Zombies May Save Us

07 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Best-selling books like The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z made Max Brooks famous. They also led to his becoming an advisor to the Modern War I...

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 15 Trailer

30 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Holland Taylor: The Role of a Lifetime She Wrote Herself

23 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Emmy and Tony nominee Holland Taylor wrote and performed a one-woman show called Ann, bringing to life on the stage the woman she most admired, former...

Marcia Rieke: Peering Back to the Cosmic Dawn

16 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Next month her camera will be hurled a million miles into space, from where it will be seeking the first stars in the universe. On board the James Web...

The LaPook Effect: Empathy for doctors

09 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jon LaPook, Chief Medical Correspondent for CBS News, is on a mission to help doctors be more empathetic with patients. And his communication skills a...

Karl Deisseroth: Lighting up The Brain

02 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With the invention of new ways to explore the brain, Karl Deisseroth has revolutionized neuroscience – work that has just now been recognized with t...

Lee McIntyre: Talking to Science Deniers

26 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Taking a deep dive into the alternative reality of people convinced that the earth is flat, Lee McIntyre learned valuable lessons about how – and ho...

Marin Alsop: A Woman Who Leads

19 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The first female conductor of a major American symphony orchestra, Marin Alsop explains to Alan just what a conductor contributes to a performance; ho...

Scott Small: The Point of Forgetting

12 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

An eminent physician caring for patients with memory loss, Scott Small was a surprised as you will be to discover that not all forgetting is bad – i...

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer: When Politics are a Peril

05 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Roger Rosenblatt: A Writer on Writing

28 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 go...

Mayim Bialik: How Acting Led to Science and Science to Acting

21 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

With a schedule impossible for anyone not named Mayim Bialik, she shares with Alan how acting and science have intertwined throughout her extraordinar...

Kevin Bacon’s Six Degrees

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 14 Trailer

07 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Dennis Overbye: Reporting the Universe

31 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 un...

Robert Lefkowitz: A Soldier of Science

24 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Nobel prizewinner Bob Lefkowitz tells the story of an extraordinary group of young physicians chosen to work at the National Institutes of Health duri...

Hank Greely: The Experiment that Shocked Science

17 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When a Chinese doctor changed the genes of two baby girls he thought he’d be acclaimed. Instead, his experimental treatment alarmed scientists and e...

Jacqueline Novogratz: More Than Money Alone

10 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Jacqueline Novogratz has recognized the need among the poor for something more than just money: dignity. Employing a new kind of capitalism, her compa...

Michio Kaku: Seeking the Mind of God

03 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The physicist and best-selling author argues that “the mind of God” can be found in “a symphony of strings – cosmic music resonating through h...

Cynthia Kenyon: Living Longer?

27 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 s...

Paul Rudd: In the Moment with Ant-Man

20 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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/...

Sue Black: Forensic Supersleuth

13 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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: h...

Dan Lieberman: Why You Hate Exercise

06 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Don’t feel bad about taking the elevator instead of the stairs. Blame evolution for not preparing you for voluntary physical activity. But, says ant...

Herman Pontzer: Burn Those Calories Better

29 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Studying the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers has led to the surprising discovery that dieting simply to lose weight misses the real benefits of cutting ...

Helen Mirren: Queen of Stage and Screen

22 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 perf...

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 13 Trailer

15 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Alan and Clear+Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd preview the new season.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Simp...

Neil Shubin: Why Would a Fish Have Fingers?

08 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 earlie...

Anna Deavere Smith: She’s Been Hundreds of People

01 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

John Colapinto: Speaking of the Voice…

25 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 happ...

Does your doctor care about you?

18 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A searing experience with an apparently uncaring doctor when she was young helped make Dr. Jillian Horton a passionate advocate for a radical rethinki...

How to Explain Almost Everything

11 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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’...

The Empathy Diaries

04 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In her new book, The Empathy Diaries: A Memoir, Sherry Turkle movingly—and candidly—weaves together events in her own life with her dawning unders...

Space Rocks

27 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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...

He Put the Dark in Energy

20 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

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 hel...

Getting to Here and Now

13 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The wonderful Laura Linney really knows how to relate, on stage and off. The way actors have to be present for one another can be a good model for how...

Making the End a Beginning

06 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a moving and frank conversation – punctuated by laughter – Alan talks with Rabbi Steve Leder about the unavoidable subject, which people usuall...

From DaVinci to CRISPR

30 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Walter Isaacson’s latest exploration of the lives of creative geniuses focuses on Jennifer Doudna, the co-inventor of the revolutionary gene editing...

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 12 / Science Clear+Vivid - Season 2 Trailer

23 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A look ahead at the people we have in the new seasons of both C+V and SC+V, starting next week.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid...

Deborah Tannen – The Stories We Tell

16 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah Tannen, author of the hugely influential best seller, You Just Don’t Understand, swaps stories with Alan about conversations that went wrong...

Ash Sanders and Sarah Ventre – Life in a Cult

09 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Embedding themselves in a fundamentalist Mormon community, journalists Sarah Ventre and Ash Sanders wove together the stories of both those in thrall ...

Reisa Sperling – Making Alzheimer’s a Memory

02 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Propelled by events in her own life, Reisa Sperling is working hard to defeat this disease that cruelly destroys brains and crushes families. As we li...

Sanjeev Bhaskar – The Joy of Blooming Later

23 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The British actor, Sanjeev Bhaskar, started his career later in life and is glad he did. He didn’t try to portray human experience until he actually...

Rebecca Wragg Sykes – Our Neanderthal Kin

16 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

They walk among us. Some percentage of the genes of many modern humans have been handed down to us from Neanderthals. Alan, who has about 2% of those ...

Malcolm Gladwell – Those Dangerous First Impressions

09 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

First impressions are supposed to tell us a lot, and they often do. Problem is, as Malcolm Gladwell explains in his latest book Talking to Strangers, ...

Emily Levesque – The Romance of the Night Sky

02 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A passionate astronomer and a vivid writer, Emily Levesque describes a life of watching what’s out there in the universe so vividly, you may want to...

Eric Lander – Decoding Life

26 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Recently nominated as the first presidential science advisor with a seat in the cabinet, Eric Lander talks with Alan about his leading role of the Hum...

Penn Jillette – Magic, Tricks, and Us

19 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When we see a magic trick, is the magician fooling us, or are we fooling ourselves? Penn Jillette, the talking half of the magic team Penn and Teller,...

Robert Stickgold – Why do we dream?

12 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We not only need to sleep, we need to dream, too. Robert Stickgold explains why we must go to the movies every night when we sleep – it’s to make ...

Anthony Fauci - The Soldiers of Science who saved our lives

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

They did their military service, not in Vietnam, but in the world's largest research hospital – and over the years their work has saved millions of ...

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 11 Trailer

29 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

An in-depth preview of the upcoming eleventh season of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/clearandvivid Hosted by Si...

Two Actors Talk Acting

22 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Two old friends who have played together on stage and on camera have a chat. And not only discover new things about each other’s approach to acting,...

How oskar the gene invented sex

15 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A leading scientist who studies how genes make bodies, Cassandra Extavour almost became a musician and still sings professionally. She works with an e...

Testaments to Writing

08 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The author of The Handmaid's Tale and its sequel, The Testaments, lets us in on her process of storytelling, involving both a “panoramic view ” an...

The Ever Fonky Lowdown

01 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In his new album, The Ever Fonky Lowdown, Wynton Marsalis offers a passionate musical take on what ails our democracy. His conversation with Alan also...

What poker can teach us about life

24 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In exploring the role that chance plays in our lives – and how to understand and control it – psychologist and author Maria Konnikova set out to l...

How to Make Funny People Funnier

17 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As a 12-year-old, multiple Emmy winner Alan Zweibel decided that Rob in TV’s The Dick van Dyke show led the life he wanted to live. Since then he’...

Life on Venus?

10 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

She studies what may be the most disgusting molecule known to humankind. And that’s made Clara Sousa-Silva a key member of the team that may have de...

Can we save the planet?

03 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Having experienced 30 years of frustration since writing the first popular book setting out the facts of climate change, Bill McKibben is now hopeful ...

What makes you happy?

27 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It may not be what you think. With insights from studying unhappy students at Yale University, where she is a professor of psychology, Laurie Santos t...

Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown

20 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

John Lithgow talks with Alan about his new book of satirical verse and drawings – and the joys and challenges of writing satire at a time when event...

Dr. Fauci looks forward

13 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Six months after he first briefed Alan on the then novel coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci explains both why it turned out to be so unpredictable and dan...

Leslie Vosshall – Why Mosquitoes Choose You

06 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Female mosquitoes need your blood to live and breed. So figuring out who among us attracts them and why can not only help in avoiding annoying bites b...

Goldie Hawn – She’s Got Your Brain on Her Mind.

29 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The celebrated and beloved actress on her successful mission to help schoolkids use their brains better. And how they become better students and more ...

James Rothman – on Discovering the ‘FedEx trucks’ in our Cells

22 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Kavli and Nobel Prize Laureate on his groundbreaking work finding out how our bodies ship vital molecules to where they are needed — enabling pr...

Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods – on Humanity’s Essential Ingredient

15 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What dogs and bonobos tell us about what has made humans survive and why we’d better not lose it. It’s not how fierce we are. On the contrary.Supp...

Carla Shatz – Making an Old Brain Young

08 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The Kavli Prize Laureate on her research suggesting it may be possible to return aging and damaged brains to a state where they could learn as they di...

Sharon Begley – on Keeping up with Covid

01 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Reporting from the front lines of medical research with the with the skill of a storyteller while struggling to keep up with the outpouring of researc...

Max Tegmark – When Our Machines Are Smarter Than Us

25 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Up until now, we’ve been smarter than our tools. But that might change drastically sooner than we know. Isn’t it time to think about that?Support ...

Lynn Sherr & Ellen Goodman – She Votes!

18 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The two celebrated journalists explore the turbulent story, often forgotten, of women’s struggle to have the right to vote and what it means to us t...

Pardis Sabeti – Racing Against Covid, Racing Against Time

11 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We invite Pardis back to hear her account from the front lines in the fight against the coronavirus. She’s a leader in scientific breakthroughs aime...

Rafael Reif – on the Greatest Threat to Our National Security

04 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The President of MIT on how we can lead the world in technology again—and how he’s helping change the educational model so it can survive in the n...

Brené Brown – on Empathy, Courage and Where They Come From

28 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The renowned researcher and author on emotional literacy and the strengths that lead to better relationships.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com...

Jared Diamond – How it Can All Fall Apart

21 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

His recent book Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, could hardly be more timely. And it has a fascinating twist, seeking links between how...

Alan Guth – How it All Began

14 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan Guth is the man who put the bang in the Big Bang, when late one night he came up with the astonishing idea – astonishing even to him – that ...

Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue – How Marriages Can Last

07 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan talks with old friends Marlo and Phil about their interviews with 40 couples who have enjoyed long marriages. What did they find out about the ha...

Jake Tapper – Turns the Tables

30 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Jake Tapper can turn things around when he interviews politicians and government leaders. This time he does it by interviewing Alan, who usually would...

Cori Bargmann – The Toughest Job in the World?

23 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan talks with the woman who’s been given the job of leading the fight to conquer all disease by 2100. They discuss whether it’s actually possibl...

Steven Pinker – Talking About Talking

16 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Pinker and Alan explore the words we use that bind us together, even when asking someone to pass the guacamole. A conversation that explores th...

The MASH Gang – Confined to Quarters

09 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Alan gets Loretta Swit and Mike Farrell on the horn to see how they’re doing during the lockdown. It’s like old times again.Support the show: http...

Jennifer Doudna and the Power of CRISPR

02 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The co-inventor of the powerful gene editing tool called CRISPR, Jennifer Doudna describes for Alan her hopes for new treatments and possibly even cur...

Kavli Prize winners 2020

29 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Kip Thorne Listened – and the Universe Chirped

26 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Brian Greene is a Grateful Collection of Particles

19 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

He Knows a Lot About Very Little Things

12 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

"Houston, do we ever have a problem!" Alan Alda Talks with NASA's Chief Scientist

05 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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...

How Lack of Diversity and Inclusion in Science Hurts Us All

28 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

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 uncon...

Thinking Globally - Fareed Zakaria and Alan Alda

21 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Fareed Zakaria, the noted journalist, broadcaster, and author, talked with Alan Alda on this episode of Clear+Vivid back in February, before the coron...