Go behind the scenes with the Clear+Vivid team! Alan Alda sits down with his friend and long time producer, Graham Chedd, to talk about podcasting, their years together on Scientific American Frontiers, and their enduring friendship. Alan and Graham are joined by Associate Producer, Sarah Chase, who is also the voice of the ads and helps Alan run his company, Alda Communication Training (ACT). Our "Tech Guru," Allison Coston also joins in and tells us about her 6 years in the U.S. Navy. The team has some fun turning the tables on Alan and asking him his own 7 questions. Find out what Alan has to say!

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While Alan Alda is on vacation, he's invited his friend Katie Couric to take over the pod with some of her favorite episodes! Alan's producers interviewed Katie about this episode and Katie talks about the shared experience that she and Sheryl Sandberg have in common. After her husband died suddenly from a cardiac arrhythmia, Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg (Lean In) thought she would never experience true joy again. Sheryl speaks about her book, Option B, that delves into how she proved herself wrong— and how others can build resilience in the face of trauma, too. Sandberg wrote Option B with her friend Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and Wharton professor. They both join Katie onstage at 92Y (92Y.org) in Manhattan to discuss insights from the book, including how to support grieving children, dating after loss, and the "three P's" that can hinder recovery

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Alan is on vacation (literally). So, he asked his friend Katie Couric if she'd lend him a couple of episodes of her podcast. Alan sent in his producers to interview Katie about her podcast. In this episode Katie and her co-host Brian Goldsmith welcome Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Bryan could have gone anywhere—he chose to move to Alabama to help confront racial disparities and reform the criminal justice system. On the pod, they discuss Bryan’s childhood experiences with school segregation, the problem with Confederate monuments, and shining a light on one of the darkest chapters in American history: the post-Civil War period of Jim Crow and lynching.

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Season 2 of Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda starts on November 13th! Listen to the official trailer to meet some of Alan's next guests -- you're not going to want to miss the spectacular bonus episodes in the works! New episodes are available every Tuesday. Subscribe and listen for free on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you like to enjoy podcasts. For more details and to subscribe to Alan's newsletter, please visit AlanAlda.com. These episodes are made possible thanks to the generous support of our advertisers. All the profits from this podcast go to the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University to further support research in science communication and research.

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Chris Voss is a former FBI hostage negotiator who has used communication to save lives. Alan Alda interviews Chris about his experiences and they discuss intense situations where empathy has been successfully used as a tool to guard against the unthinkable. Alan also has a few tricks up his own sleeve as he lures Chris into a role play situation to see how well he does under pressure.

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How do you talk to a member of a deadly gang? How do you help someone leave that life, and why did they join it in the first place? The answers are surprising. And they throw light on how to communicate with anyone. In this episode of Clear+Vivid Alan Alda has a lively and eye-opening conversation with Father Greg Boyle who tells how his Homeboys Industries in Los Angeles has been a lifeline to thousands of young people escaping the deadly culture of gang life. And how he answers violence with tenderness.

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Isabella Rossellini is a legendary actress, iconic model, filmmaker, writer, and now - if that's not enough - she's working on her master's degree in Animal Behavior. In this wildly fun conversation, Alan Alda talks with Isabella about how how animals communicate with one another and with us. And how Isabella communicates with us about the sometimes bizarre sex lives of animals — in her popular video series called "Green Porno."

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Is a work of art complete if no one experiences it? Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel talks with Alan Alda about the vital role of the audience when we communicate through art and story And his prize-winning discoveries on memory come alive in his own memorable stories.

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Cheryl Strayed, one of the most exciting and uplifting authors of our time, is funny, down to earth, complex, and the perfect person to offer Alan Alda solid advice about how to give good advice. She's the author of Tiny Beautiful Things and the co-host of the New York Times/WBUR podcast Dear Sugars, which originated with her popular Dear Sugar advice column, and she's the co-author of The Sweet Spot advice column in the New York Times Thursday Styles section. Her novel, Wild, about her life in the wake of tragic events, is a well-known bestseller and a feature movie.

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George Mitchell helped end decades of lethal violence in Northern Ireland with the historic accord known as the Good Friday Agreement. In this episode Alan Alda talks with Sen. Mitchell about how he achieved that agreement through effective communication, and an understanding of human nature. He describes the essential elements of effective communication that brought together the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom as well as the political parties of Northern Ireland, bringing an end to a seemingly endless cycle of violence. Sen. Mitchell served as a Special Advisor to President Clinton on Ireland, and acted as the Independent Chairman of the Northern Ireland Peace Talks.

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