The space race is back! But it’s not being run by NASA or Russia. Headlining new flights into the upper atmosphere are billionaires. Concordia’s Ted McCormick says there’s danger in leaving space exploration up to the richest among us. And Canadian video game designer Craig Adams releases a project about how to think about the future in a rapidly changing world.

A.G. Holdier believes that Marvel films and Disney princess movies would satisfy the existential inclinations of Friedrich Nietzsche and other philosophers because they deal with what it means to be human.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...they had a lot of resilience. For Chris Knight, the chief film critic for the National Post newspaper, the life lessons found in Star Wars are now hitting pretty close to home.

Next week on Thanksgiving Sunday, Tapestry producer Kent Hoffman tells his story on The Doc Project on how he managed to find comfort in rituals again during a time of loss in the pandemic.

J.B. MacKinnon has travelled the world to try and discover what might be inconceivable to many – what if, one day, the world stops shopping? Thad Russell’s parents built an off grid home, but their plan to live a more modest life wasn’t as nearly simple as they hoped.

Father James Martin is a noted advocate for the LGBTQ community. He says there is much the Catholic church can do now to offer its support, even without changing church doctrine. Father Martin explains the difference between sadness and despair, and what The Lord of the Rings can teach us about morality.

Given the enormous costs of intoxication, why has the consumption of alcohol remained at the heart of social life? Author Edward Slingerland says it was essential to human evolution.

A documentary brings the sounds of nature into an Australian prison, a queer dancer tries to make space for other LGBTQ artists, and what it’s like when your grandfather is revered as a saint by his church.

Words have the power to shape how we see the world and each other. In Telling Our Twisted Histories, host Kaniehti:io Horn guides listeners through over 70 conversations with people from 15 Indigenous communities sharing their truths about the impact of words on our perspectives, cultures, and lives. Together we will decolonize our histories – and ourselves – one word at a time. More episodes are available at smarturl.it/twistedhistories

Xorje Olivares looks for solace and hope from the Catholic church. The problem is he's gay and the formal church continues to identify same-sex unions as a sin. Olivares shares what a different vision of the capital-C church could look like, if the institution was more accepting.

Later, we hear from scientist and environmental advocate Jane Goodall, who is this year's Templeton Prize winner.

Danny Stewart was on his way to meet his partner for dinner when he happened upon a baby, bundled in a sweatshirt and abandoned at a New York subway station. That started him on a path to parenthood. Later, a Concordia professor explains why the world's biggest problems can't be solved by personal boycotts.

Post-pandemic, design critic Alexandra Lange says we would all benefit from city-wide, street-based events. And it might be worth asking what the kids would want. Meanwhile researcher Adam Mastroianni has found that conversations tend to last a length of time that makes no one happy.