In today's episode, we meet Dr. Frans de Waal, Emory University and Utrecht University primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal, a trailblazer in the science of animal cognition, and Dr. Michael Levin, distinguished professor of biology at Tufts University and associate faculty member at Harvard's Wyss Institute. Both researchers’ work roots them deeply in the curiosity about the wonder of the natural world of animals, organisms, and plants that make up the diverse intelligences of the universe. They've each spent decades asking questions about the minds of a variety of species and furthering the science of cognition.

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Any sentient, soulful being paying attention to the way humans are treating other humans has been feeling these hard times. But sometimes, amidst all this darkness, humor can offer a little bit of hope.

Today we're back with a friend of the podcast, Dr. Erica Cartmill. You might remember her from past episodes as a leader in the science of diverse intelligences, the multi-disciplinary, open science study of cognition, whether it's found in humans, animals, plants, machines, or anywhere else. This time, we’re talking with Dr. Cartmill about the violation of expectations as a feature of primate intelligence, or in more down-to-earth terms: Funny monkeys. Actually, monkeys isn't technically right — it's actually apes.

What Dr. Cartmill and her fellow researchers have discovered, in a study they call “The Humor Project," is that humans and apes share a lot of traits, including what we think is funny.

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Artificial intelligence is proliferating and entering new industries every day. And while it’s been used in healthcare for 50 years, researchers continue to look for new ways to use it to improve care. 

Today, we’re back in conversation with a team of researchers, including a philosopher, a neuroscientist, and a computer scientist. This trio might be familiar to long-time listeners from an episode a few years ago, when we explored the question of whether artificial intelligence could be programmed to be moral. Over the last five years, this research team has been studying how to use AI as an assistive tool in allocating kidneys to patients needing organ transfers. It’s a project partly funded by OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. 

Though the project is focused on integrating AI into evaluations of who gets a kidney transplant, the team is using that particular problem as the lens to explore more broadly the ethics of AI in decision-making. They’re asking whether it’s possible to imbue machines with a human value system, in what ways artificial intelligence can be employed to help humans make moral decisions, and how to ensure that when AI is involved in decision-making, the process retains humanity.

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In the dozens of episodes we’ve shared with you over the last four years, you’ve heard stories of experts examining the science behind everything from bees to whales, video games to dance, education systems to communication networks. Today, we're zooming out further, speaking with researchers who are exploring ways to improve how we do science and how we cultivate and educate better scientists.

When you think of a scientist, what image comes to mind? Do you imagine a genius laboring solo in a lab, displaying little emotion as they logically analyze data? Let’s challenge that stereotype — scientists are anything but dispassionate.

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This week we're bringing back one of our favorite ever episodes. Today, we hear a fascinating and inspiring conversation having to do with the flourishing of young South Africans.

Today’s episode features Richard’s conversation with Nina Callaghan, former Associate Director and current South African Chair of Children’s Radio Foundation. In a post-apartheid country still suffering the social, psychic, and economic wounds of decades of institutionalized racial segregation, the very act of teaching these youth basic journalism 101, including ethics, consent, and truth-telling, is a powerful healing act. Callaghan discusses her work with the youth reporters and their two-year exploration of the concept of Ubuntu—a Nguni Bantu term often translated as “I am because we are.” Callaghan shares the program’s outcomes, both expected and unexpected.

Learn more about the Children’s Radio Foundation.

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War and conflict is raging across the globe. From Europe and the Middle East to Africa and the Americas, divisions between and within nations are leaving civilians dead and displaced. 

Northern Ireland has seen its fair share of violence and bloodshed since its founding in 1921. Although the Good Friday peace agreement was signed more than 25 years ago, the peace process is still a work in progress. This week, however, we explore a ground-breaking research project led by Dr. Jocelyn Dautel, an American researcher and senior lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast, into how Northern Ireland’s past continues to impact the way young people consume and share “truths” about their nation’s history. Researchers are hopeful that if Northern Ireland can to evolve beyond sectarian division, the country — and its youth — could serve as a global model of peace and reconciliation.

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• Read more about the period known as The Troubles and the peace agreement that marked the end of the conflict
• On February 3, 2024, Northern Ireland formed its first government in two years. Learn about what caused the past two years of political instability

Special thanks to Dr. Jocelyn Dautel and the entire Research Team:

Dr. Bethany Corbett, Lecturer, Ulster University

Prof. Kathleen Corriveau, Boston University

Prof. Emma Flynn, Provost, Warwick University

Eva Grew, Research Fellow, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr. Mariah Kornbluh, Assistant Professor, Oregon University

Caitlin McShane, Research Fellow, Queen’s University Belfast

Dr. Christin Scholz, University of Amsterdam

Prof. Jennifer Watling Neal, Michigan State University

Dr. Lara Wood, Lecturer, Abertay University

Dr. Jing Xu, University of Washington, Seattle

Before we ended 2023 we met two researchers, Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas and Dr. Timothy Lomas, who shared their research on human flourishing, and each touched on the importance of human connection and relationship as an antidote to loneliness. In our first episode of this new year, we continue that conversation, this time by exploring the unique role of chaplains, and how their purpose is to keep the people they serve from going through painful times, alone. 

To guide us on this journey, we are joined by Dr. Wendy Cadge, the Barbara Mandell professor of Humanistic Social Sciences at Brandeis University and founder of the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab, which supports, educates, and expands the vision of chaplains everywhere.

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We’re celebrating the life of our friend Dr. William Powell, who passed away just before Thanksgiving. Dr. Powell’s American Chestnut Tree episode was one of our favorites of last year. 

This episode is an inspiring story about how bringing together vision, community, and cutting-edge science can make the impossible possible. It’s a story about American history, climate, globalization, and hope. It’s the story of the American Chestnut Foundation’s efforts to do something never before done: To restore a tree that is functionally extinct — the American Chestnut tree. You’ll hear from Rex Mann, retired from the U.S. Forest Service and now a chestnut evangelist, and ACF’s lead collaborating scientist, Dr. William A. Powell, professor at SUNY College of Environmental Science in Forestry.

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Last time you heard from us, Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas shared her research on the complexity of the loneliness epidemic in America today, and what we all can do to feel less lonely. Something she said — “Everyone's happiness matters to my happiness” — stuck with us, and became the springboard for this episode. Today, together with psychology researcher Dr. Timothy Lomas at Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program, we dive deep into the question of the interdependent nature of happiness and flourishing. Not only that, Dr. Lomas also invites us to ask who — and what — deserves to flourish. 

We’re also celebrating the life of our friend Dr. William Powell, who passed away just before Thanksgiving. Dr. Powell’s American Chestnut Tree episode was one of our favorites of last year. You can listen today, or come back in two weeks, when we rerun that conversation as the last episode of our year of Stories of Impact. 

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It’s Thanksgiving week in the United States, and this Thursday, many of us will be with friends and family for the kick-off to six weeks of holiday cheer. But for so many people in America, the holidays can be a very lonely time. Loneliness and disconnection have consequences not only for individual health, but for the health of the nation.

Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas is the Science Director at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, which tracks cutting edge research studies that focus on how important our relationships, our tendency towards generosity and cooperation, and our sense of mattering or contribution to our communities are to our health and wellbeing over the course of our lives. She wants to understand the science of loneliness.

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