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Channel • 22 Shows

Society & Culture

Society & Culture

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Earth Sciences

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Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated Twice Weekly
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News

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Science

Science

Updated 22/04/2024
Business

Business

Updated Weekly
Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated Weekly

3 days ago

Great white sharks in hot water, and more…

Some of the oceans biggest, most powerful predators, like certain sharks and tuna, are “mesothermic” or warm-bodied. Running hot allows them to rapidly convert their food to energy and heat, helping them swim faster and hunt in cold waters. But that advantage may become a disadvantage in a warming climate, meaning these fish need to find new ways of cooling off, or face a new threat to their survival. PLUS: Ancient Peruvians traded parrots across deserts and mountainsFrom the archive: David, Jay and Bob, and Quirks & Quarks' origin storySea cucumber 'zombie tissue' straddles the line between life and deathDream engineering may help you solve problems in your sleep

3 days ago

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54 min
3 days ago

Why moral suffering can be a good thing

It's tempting to think suffering should be avoided at all costs, but moral suffering has its own distinct standing. It signals a moral conscience. Every day people consume real time violence, grief, war and genocide through screens and experience moral upending. Without a moral compass there’s no motivation to address necessary issues. Guests in this episode: Cynda Rushton is a nurse and a professor of nursing and bioethics at Johns Hopkins University. Robert Meagher is an emeritus professor at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. Thea Lim is a novelist, culture writer, and creative writing teacher in Toronto.

3 days ago

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54 min
12 June

Fossilized squirrel poop full of ancient animals, and more…

Gold miners working in the Yukon regularly find ancient ground squirrel burrows throughout the permafrost, many containing fossilized feces. Researchers analyzing these well-preserved poop piles found they contain some of the oldest DNA ever recovered, dating from 30,000 to 700,000 years ago. Tucked inside were traces of a wide range of ancient animals, including woolly mammoths, grasshoppers, steppe bison, ancient horses, American cheetahs, as well as hundreds of plant species. PLUS: ‘Super-good, ice-making microbes’ may trigger snow and rain, or help freeze foodWe’re a hotbed of mutations, and scientists are leveraging that for our healthGoing out on a limb. Animals regrow body parts, maybe we can tooFrom the archives: Isaac Asimov on human creativity and robots

12 June

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54 min
2 days ago

U.S.-Iran Deal, Evolution of treaties, Brexit legacy, Jodi Kantor

Host Piya Chattopadhyay speaks with Aaron David Miller, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and national security analyst Joseph Cirincione about the initial agreement between the United States and Iran. University of Alberta professor Crystal Gail Fraser and anthropologist Sara Komarnisky discuss the evolution of treaties and how they're playing into a range of issues today. The Guardian's Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin, unpacks the relationship between the EU and UK, 10 years post-Brexit. Then, former British Conservative MP Andrew Percy and political scientist Ian Cooper discuss the lessons Canada can take from the UK's experience as Alberta considers separation. The New York Times investigative journalist Jodi Kantor shares advice for new grads and finding your life's work.

2 days ago

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1hr 37min
10 June

'When I'm bad, I'm better' – The revolutionary Mae West

Mae West shocked audiences and infuriated censors for more than 70 years. She was pop culture’s original blonde bombshell sex-symbol comedienne provocateur. But she was more than just a corseted sex pot with an affinity for word play. She was a trailblazer, transgressive, funny, smart, sassy, lively, a genius. And she got away with all of it. IDEAS contributor Lynda Shorten explores the legacy of the eccentric Mae West. Guests in this episode: Linda Hutcheon is a professor emerita of English and comparative literature at The University of Toronto. Ramona Curry is an associate professor emerita of English at The University of Illinois. Pamela Wojeck is a professor of film studies at The University of Notre Dame Scott C. Miller is a make-up artist and retired undertaker

10 June

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54 min
8 June

The Billionaire Age Pt 3 | How oligarchs are taking over the world

Right now Elon Musk's wealth is currently around $825 billion US — more than double what it was a year earlier. Only 22 countries currently boast economies larger than Musk’s net worth, but he’s catching up. In the third episode of our series The Billionaire Age we investigate how Musk and his fellow billionaires are trying to take over the world. And if they succeed, what will this mean for the rest of us? Listen to more episodes in this series: Listen to Part One: How did we get here? Listen to Part Two: Disney heiress on the dangers of extreme wealth Guests in this episode: Ingrid Robeyns is a philosopher and economist. She is the chair in Ethics of Intuitions at Utrecht University, and the author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth. Lucas Chancel is an economist and the co-director of The World Inequality Lab. He's also a professor at the Paris School of Economics. Gabriel Zucman is an economist and the co-director of The World Inequality Lab. He's also a professor at the Paris School of Economics and the University of California, Berkeley. Nitin Bharti is an economist and lecturer at the University of Western Australia. He is also the South and South-East Asia coordinator at the World Inequality Lab. Lars Osberg is an economics professor at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His latest book is The Scandalous Rise of Inequality in Canada. Abigail Disney is an American film producer, philanthropist and social activist. She is a member of Patriotic Millionaires which advocates for higher taxes on the wealthy. Paul Krugman is an economist and the winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. Tim Wu is a legal scholar and professor at Columbia Law School. He is also a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times. His latest book is The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity. Nick Hanauer is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He co-authored the book, Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing The Lies and Half-Truths that Protect Profit, Power and Wealth in America, with Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen. He also hosts the podcast Pitchfork Economics. Guido Alfani is a professor of economic history at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy. His latest book is As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West.

8 June

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54 min
5 June

Humans and animals love the same sounds, and more...

150 years ago, Charles Darwin noticed that birds and humans were both drawn to bright plumage and elaborate display. He called this interspecies esthetic appreciation a “shared taste for the beautiful.” Now, in a recent study, an interdisciplinary team of scientists built an online game exploring the mating calls of 16 different species and discovered, to their surprise, that humans and animals agree on which sounds are more attractive. PLUS: How the brain can learn to truly multitaskFrom the archives: The Russian space mirror that flashed across Canadian skiesThe Matrix is real: birds, dragonflies and dogs see the world in slow motionCould the next giant particle collider unlock the mysteries of the universe?

5 June

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54 min
2 Apr

The ultimate to-do list for living a good life

The guided principles on this list are based on Jesuit Bernard Lonergan's philosophy. His thought will likely shape the world for centuries to come, according to John Dadosky who has studied and taught Lonergan’s work for decades. It’s a bold statement to make, but as he points out, Lonergan’s talking about YOU. The prolific thinker dedicated much of his life's work to understanding human consciousness. In this podcast, IDEAS explores how his insights can play a role in our every day lives. On our website: Five principles to lead a good life.

2 Apr

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54 min
26 May

The Billionaire Age Pt 2 | Disney heiress on the dangers of extreme wealth

If you inherited $120 million dollars, could you give away 75 per cent of your wealth? Abigail Disney did. She's an heiress to the Disney fortune. The philanthropist, filmmaker and activist offers an insider perspective into the twisted perils of extreme wealth — on society and the human psyche. Listen to more episodes in this series: Listen to Part One: How did we get here? Listen to Part Three: How oligarchs are taking over the world Guest in this episode: Abigail E. Disney is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, philanthropist, and activist. Her films include The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, the Emmy Award-winning The Armor of Light — both co-directed with Kathleen Hughes — and Pray the Devil Back to Hell. As a philanthropist and activist, she has championed peacebuilding, gender justice, and systemic cultural change. She is Chair and Co-Founder of Level Forward, an ecosystem of storytellers, entrepreneurs, and social change-makers dedicated to balancing artistic vision, social impact, and stakeholder return. She also founded Peace is Loud, a nonprofit that uses storytelling to advance social movements, and the Daphne Foundation, which supports organizations working for a more equitable, fair, and peaceful New York City. She is currently working on a book about wealth, power, and privilege.

26 May

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54 min
6 June

Weekend Listen: Artificial Intimacy from CBC’s Understood

What happens when a human becomes intimately enmeshed with a chatbot? From people who’ve married their bots or who grieve their loved ones with the help of AI, host Victoria Hetherington (author of The Friend Machine) dives into the stories of the people who have invited these digital avatars into their hearts, minds, and even beds. And asks what do we gain and what do we stand to lose? Our intimacy, our resilience, even our grasp on reality? This latest season of Understood looks at who made the decisions that allowed chatbots to move way beyond digital assistants and into the most intimate parts of our lives. Understood takes you deep inside the seismic shifts reshaping our world right now. From online porn and crypto chaos to the rise of tech oligarchs, deepfake AI, and the broken promises of the internet. More episodes of Understood are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/AIxIdeas

6 June

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37 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.