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Channel • 21 Shows

Society & Culture

Society & Culture

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Arts

Updated weekly
News

News

Updated weekly
News

News

Updated weekly
Science

Science

Updated 22/04/2024
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated 01/07/2020
Science

Science

Series

05/12/2025

The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

Sometimes the universe hands us a gift. Over the past year, our podcast listeners spent a total of 526,915 hours listening to our program. That's 21,954.8 days and that translates to 60 years of listening to us. So what better way to mark IDEAS' 60th year then to look back on the highlights and lowlights of the past six decades. To give you a hint on some of the picks, on the bad list: online identity management. Trickle down economics. On the good: Free Trade. Girl Bosses. Apparently open borders is still an open question. Panelists Jamie Liew, a University of Ottawa law professor and novelist; University of Toronto philosopher, Joseph Heath; and the Canadian Shield Institute’s, Vass Bednar, joined IDEAS producer Mary Lynk on stage, in front of a live audience at the Isabel Bader Theatre for this episode — the last in our special series celebrating our 60th anniversary. Listen to more episodes: The time when a guest said, "I love you!" How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email

05/12/2025

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54 min
30/08/2021

Food as a Love Language

In his bestselling book The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman says we express love through physical touch, words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts and quality time. The Unforked team says there’s a sixth love language: food. Host Samira asks how do we express love through cooking and eating? Folks from St. John’s, Australia, and Vancouver Michelle Zauner [ZONN-er] (Brooklyn, NY) - musician and author of Crying in H-Mart: A Memoir Keith Broni [BROH-nee] (Dublin, Ireland) - Deputy Emoji Officer with Emojipedia

30/08/2021

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27 min
24/11/2025

Can you ever truly return home again?

At age 11, writer Andrew Lam fled Vietnam during the Fall of Saigon. Nearly 45 years later, he returned to a radically different city. He believes "you will be cursed with longing" if you continue to search for the feeling of home you had in the past. At a time when more people have been forcibly displaced from their homes than at any other time in history, IDEAS explores what it means to return home years — or decades — later. *This is the first episode in our five-part series, The Idea of Home, which originally aired on June 13, 2022.

24/11/2025

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54 min
24/10/2017

Green Gold

Lettuce: the invisible forces that turned rabbit food into the world’s first seasonless produce.

24/10/2017

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38 min
28 JAN

Can empathy be dangerous?

It depends on who you ask. Until recently empathy was generally considered a positive thing. But a growing number of mostly conservative voices believe empathy can be extremely dangerous — even toxic. Their argument is that empathy can drive irrational thinking and behaviour in public life. The result is a growing battle over empathy in a world that has never seemed to need it more. If you like this podcast, you may want to listen to this: Why practicing empathy is far from simple. Guests in this podcast: Matt Richins – neuroscientist and psychologist, who did research on empathy at Exeter University, UK. Susan Lanzoni – author, historian of psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience and professor at Harvard’s School of Continuing Education Mary Gordon – founder of Roots of Empathy program, Toronto Michael Slote – author, philosopher and professor of ethics at the University of Miami Margaret Davidson – Roots of Empathy classroom facilitator, Chiganois Elementary Kourtney Simms – Chiganois Elementary teacher Ellie – Grade 1 student, Chiganois Elementary

28 Jan

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55 min
16/12/2025

Why yellow traffic lights were designed to be ambiguous

The yellow traffic light is a perfect example of imperfection — with intention. While driving you have to think fast. Do you speed up or stop, whether that means easily or slamming on the brakes? Every driver has their answer and what lies in the middle is a vast perceptual field. A great deal of thought has gone into the engineering of the ambiguous yellow light, as IDEAS producer Seán Foley found out. He had his own encounter with what he was sure was the shortest yellow light in the world. It resulted in a traffic fine, and gave voice to so many questions.

16/12/2025

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54 min
03/12/2025

CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them

This podcast features an all-star, and bestselling, lineup of CBC Massey Lecturers from the past decade: Payam Akhavan (2017) and the police officer who pulled over to the side of the road to keep listening; Sally Armstrong (2019) and the women’s rights groups listening to her talks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and China; Ron Deibert (2020) and his conviction that ‘philosophical’ radio is more crucial than ever; Esi Edugyan (2021), Tomson Highway (2022) feeling astonished when a stranger recognizes his voice after hearing him on the radio; Margaret MacMillan (2015); Tanya Talaga (2018) and her surprise when an older white man in the audience declares Indigenous activists should “go forth and conquer”; Astra Taylor (2023) and how her secret desire is to work at IDEAS; Jennifer Welsh (2016) comforting an audience member who’d served in Afghanistan; and Ian Williams (2024) on how his lectures have more meanings than he realized — so much so, that he’d like a “second date” with IDEAS. *This is the third episode in our special programming marking our 60th anniversary. Listen to other episodes in this series: The time when a guest said, "I love you!" How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

03/12/2025

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54 min
13/01/2024

War, peace and a changing climate

The bombs falling in Gaza and Ukraine have a human toll and an environmental one. We find out how demilitarization could help countries cut emissions. Columnist Aishwarya Puttur shares three campaigns motivating young activists in 2024. What On Earth’s Molly Segal explains what carbon dioxide removal is and whether it can fix the climate crisis. And oil and gas development in the North Sea has UK politicians calling out their own government.

13/01/2024

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54 min
15/02/2025

Your questions about how to 'buy Canadian'

The threat of tariffs, and the possibility of a trade war, have changed the way some Canadians spend their money - with many boycotting American products. But ‘buying Canadian’ isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. To answer all your questions on how to buy Canadian, we had two guests join Just Asking. Vass Bednar is Executive Director of the Master of Public Policy Program at McMaster University. Grant Packard is a professor of marketing at York University’s Shulich School of Business’.

15/02/2025

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1h 2m
15/02/2025

Your questions on how to break up

Not all relationships are meant to go the distance. With dating apps, texting, IMs and ghosting... breaking up has never been more complicated. So how do you do it? To help explain, Just Asking brought in three guests. Jen Kirsch is a relationship expert and journalist. Andrew Sofin is a couples and family therapist and registered psychotherapist in Quebec. Kaitlyn Rosati is a travel blogger and writer.

15/02/2025

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52 min

Expand your knowledge and satisfy your curiosity with podcasts exploring the topics affecting us all — from science, climate, and tech news to history and human nature. Award-winning series that enlighten, entertain and inform.