Today’s episode is full of beauty, hope, healing, community, and connection. In fact, it might be one of the most feel-good, good news stories we’ve ever gotten to tell. Meet Dr. Richard Lerner and Dr. Elizabeth Dowling, Director and Deputy Director of the Institute for Applied Research and Youth Development at Tufts University. Like many great teachers, they can tell you to look for people who care about kids like that in school — and one school in particular: Thanda, named after the Zulu word for love. Together, these researchers are highlighting the unique curriculum and culture of Thanda, one of the most thriving and successful schools they’ve ever encountered. Today we learn all about this remarkable school, located in rural South Africa, which is run by some of the perhaps most irrationally caring educators on the planet.

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Over the last five years, we’ve explored stories with countless scientists whose thoughtful research reveals the way they’re answering big questions and solving big problems. We’ve shared conversations about studies done in labs and out in the field. Well, today’s field is Brazil. The labs are crowded city streets and verdant jungles. And the big question? What happens when you stop fearing and fighting against diversity, and start exploring and embracing difference? The researchers we learn from today, anthropologists Kurt Shaw and Rita da Silva, have found their answers through play — in music, drumming, dance, martial arts, food, ritual, and shared experiences in Brazilian wise, but marginalized, communities.

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Today, we’re excited to bring you a hopeful and constructive perspective on modern technology — a story about gamified tech that’s positively transformative.

Dr. Eugene Ohu is a native Nigerian who grew up in this complex nation observing painful divisions, stereotyping between the ethnic groups, and deep discrimination. He wondered, is it possible to have a united Nigeria?

Dr. Ohu wanted to do something radical to help his country unite. He wanted to ensure that the next generation of Nigerian leaders would be compassionate, tolerant, and empathetic toward all citizens, no matter their ethnic identity. He especially wanted Nigerian school children to embrace love and unity. So what was his answer? Virtual reality.

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Last week we introduced you to Dr. Berry Billingsley, in a conversation about her work studying Big Questions in Religious and Science Education, and her efforts to support multidisciplinary classrooms.

This week we're back with the second part of that episode, exploring another Big Questions in the Classroom initiative, in conversation with seven educators who are advancing Dr. Billingsley's work through a collaborative research project called Religion and Worldviews. Together, these research leaders are not only introducing innovative ideas into traditional curriculum, but they're educating the educators in how to teach them. 

Why does the classroom need a refresh? Let’s discover together! Our guests include educators Dr. Michael Reiss, Dr. Trevor Cooling, Stephen Pett, Sarah Lane Cawte, Gillian Georgiou, Marianne Cutler, and Katie Gooch.

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Is science fundamentally in opposition to religion, or do they just have little to do with each other? Is the way you engage with science and religion in your life informed by your core beliefs, or are your core beliefs informed by them? Do you think it's scientists or religious experts, or both, or neither, that are best equipped to help humans explore the meaning of life?

People might find these questions to be provocative or controversial. But our guest in today's episode, science educator and researcher Dr. Berry Billingsley, was raised in a family culture of curiosity, so she's been asking these sorts of really big questions all her life.

Now a professor in Education at the University of Swansea and the former Director of the Learning about Science and Religion Centre at Canterbury Christ Church University, Dr. Billingsley, as devoted as she has been to young people's science education  throughout her career as a researcher, has built a body of work critiquing the way science is traditionally taught and breaking down the siloes between religious education and science education classes.

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Did you know that you are part of one of the most significant revolutions in the last 85 years? If you’re one of the 180-million Americans in the labor force, and at some point since the 2020 pandemic, you joined the ranks of work-from-home, you are historically revolutionary.

Today, we sit down with Dr. Nicholas Bloom, economist and professor of economics at Stanford University. He's studied work-from-home habits for over 20 years—so long before covid-19—and now, his data is showing how the revolutionary shift that happened during the pandemic, is reverberating through society and affecting everything from sports and real estate to crime, taxes, and politics.

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We’re back this episode for our second timely interview focusing on political polarization, wrapping up in conversation with Dr. Kurt Gray, professor of moral psychology and neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill, and the director of the Deepest Beliefs Lab in the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding. Moral psychology is the descriptive understanding of our moral judgments, or concern with not just how people should make moral decisions, but how they actually do. Why does this matter? 

In Dr. Gray’s words: "To understand our contentious and divided political moments where people are unwilling to discuss politics across the aisle or entertain even that the other side is a reasonable human being in the way that you feel about yourself and your own side.

We do disagree already when it comes to politics. But where does this political disagreement come from? …Once you get that, then you can understand where this political animosity comes from. But it's really a question of moral disagreement. And for that you need to understand our moral psychology.”

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When we spoke recently with Dr. Sean Westwood, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College and the director of the Polarization Research Lab, we knew we wanted to share the conversation with you as quickly as possible, because it speaks so directly to the current moment. Dr. studies American politics and how partisan conflict manifests in the United States, its consequences and its origins. 

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Today we wrap up an enlightening series of conversations on religious ritual as a pathway to human flourishing with Dr. Anna Corwin. When Dr. Corwin became connected to the Diverse Intelligences initiative and researchers who collaboratively examine the variety of intelligence on the planet or beyond, whether plant, animal, human, alien, or artificial, she was inspired to see new possibilities for her own unique research interest, and to embark on a scientific exploration into spiritual intelligence.

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Today we’re back in conversation with Dr. Adam Cohen, social psychologist and psychologist of religion at Arizona State University, who shares another research project that explores the way religious ritual connects participants more deeply not only with faith, but with community — this time, not through the practice of abstaining from food, but from breaking bread together. 

Dr. Arielle Levites, Managing Director of the Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education and a Research Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University had the same idea — that observing Shabbat wasn’t just a nice idea, it was a practice with measurable impact.

So the team designed a study, enlisting the participation of Aliza Kline, founding President and then-CEO of OneTable, an organization designed to help young Jews develop independence and confidence in observing the ritual of Shabbat dinner in their homes. The question they wanted to answer? Does Shabbat dinner as a spiritual practice increase social connectedness?

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