Population growth in the U.S. has slowed to its lowest rate since the 1930s according to recent Census data. How should we think about changes in our population size? On this episode, we talk with John Seager, who has written a book on population dynamics and is president and CEO of the nonprofit organization Population Connection.

Autism likely has been part of society for a long time, although we have only named it and a spectrum of related experiences relatively recently. On this episode, we talk with Eric Garcia, author of We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation, about his quest to change the way we think about the autism spectrum.

As we reconnect with neighbors and family members, many people have had a chance to think differently about a question that they have uttered thousands of times before: “how are you?” What does it mean to say you are doing well? How can we measure well-being? On this episode, we talk with Mohsen Joshanloo, associate professor at Keimyung University in South Korea and also an honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia. 

When the United States faced the 9-11 crisis in 2001, we heard a lot about first responders and the role they play in saving lives in the face of emergencies. What happens, though, when those first responders are asked to save lives in the middle of a pandemic? On this episode, we talk with Ross Owens, a social scientist with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology Directorate.

This fall in the United States, many children will set foot in a classroom after having been away for months or even longer. On this episode, we explore students’ return to in-person school from a social and emotional perspective with Dr. Jenny Radesky, a pediatrician with the University of Michigan.

In the United States, employers are planning for people to return to workplaces, yet not everyone is ready to go and some of those who worked onsite throughout the pandemic are exhausted and not fully recovered from the trauma of the past year. On this episode, we talk with psychiatry professor Dr. Nadia Charguia of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill about her team's work to improve work life.

Addressing our plastic waste problem is important for the health of our planet. On this episode, we talk with two researchers who are trying to help, Mathieu Aguesse and Alexandre Truan of Schoolab and the University of California, Berkeley. They have worked with students and industry partners to generate innovative solutions to our plastic problems.  

How can we assess the potential impact of policy innovations like requiring police to wear body cameras? David Yokum of Brown University has argued that experiments can help and he has spent his career -- working for the Obama administration, the mayor's office in Washington, D.C., and various universities -- demonstrating the utility of social science for policymaking. On this episode, we talk with Yokum about his work.  

The recent gas outage in the Southeastern United States highlighted possibilities for alternatives to gas-powered vehicles. Electric cars have emerged as a prominent option. On this episode, we talk with Dr. John Graham of Indiana University, who served in the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush and is author of a new book, The Global Rise of the Modern Plug-In Electric Vehicle: Innovation, Strategy and Public Policy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been quite challenging for many people. On this episode, we talk with Megha Ramaswamy of the University of Kansas School of Medicine about the experiences of people who have had to face an additional burden during the pandemic: being involved with the criminal justice system.