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PODCAST

BornCurious

Harvard Radcliffe Institute

BornCurious is—like its home—about unbounded curiosity. Coming to you from Harvard Radcliffe Institute, one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration, this podcast brings together scholars, students, artists, and doers. Our conversations traverse current affairs, scientific breakthroughs, cutting-edge research, art making, and storytelling. Join us as we talk with and learn from the many people in our Radcliffe community whose work and lives are shaped by curiosity.

society & culture social sciences

All Episodes

66:36

Should Universities Voice Opinions?

BornCurious ·

2024/10/10

Since last fall, communities across the country—including our campuses—have questioned the role of universities in public debates. In this panel discussion, cosponsored by Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin and three legal scholars consider whether institutions of higher ed should take stances on the issues of the day.This episode was recorded on March 5, 2024. Released on October 10, 2024. Episode Transcript Guests Tomiko

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48:36

What Is the Heliosphere—and What Happened to It 3...

BornCurious ·

2024/09/26

Did you know that our Sun’s wind generates a kind of protective cocoon that shields our solar system from harmful galactic material, such as radiation? So how did iron-60, a rare radioactive isotope created by exploding stars, end up here on Earth? In this episode, the astronomer Merav Opher talks us through her discovery that explains how iron-60 got into Antarctic ice and tiny shells at the bottom of our oceans—and what this may tell us about some of the key historical moments for planet

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33:01

An Unconventional Path to Computer Science

BornCurious ·

2024/05/09

In her work as a computer scientist, Fernanda Viégas focuses on data visualization and people-centered machine learning—but her background is in graphic design. So how did she land where she is today? In this episode, our hosts talk with Viégas about her unconventional path, her experience in the world of STEM, and what it’s like to sometimes be the only woman in the room. In addition, they talk about how taking a people-centered approach can make the field more inclusive.This episode was recorded

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57:13

Artificial Intelligence—How Does It Work?

BornCurious ·

2024/05/02

These days, it seems everyone is talking about artificial intelligence and machine learning—think ChatGPT. But how do these work, and where do they fall short? In this week’s episode, we do a deep dive on these tools with Fernanda Viégas, whose work in academia and industry focuses on people-centered machine learning.This episode was recorded on February 29, 2024. Released on May 2, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Fernanda Viégas is a Sally Starling Seaver Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, a

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40:21

Kindness—It’s Good for You!

BornCurious ·

2024/04/18

We’ve long known that our kindnesses benefit others, but did you know that they also benefit our own health? In this episode, our hosts sit down with the coauthors of a new book, The Biology of Kindness: Six Daily Choices for Health, Well-Being, and Longevity (MIT Press, 2024), that lays out the ways that science has shown prosocial behaviors to benefit us. Guests Immaculata De Vivo is the Melanie Mason Niemiec ’71 Faculty Codirector of the Sciences at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, a professor of

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58:21

Let’s Talk about Climate Resilience

BornCurious ·

2024/04/11

Heat waves, floods, droughts—catastrophes attributed to climate change seem to be happening more often. But is there reason for hope? In this episode, the climate change and disaster policy expert Rob Verchick outlines the challenges of climate change, especially when it comes to the law, along with why—despite the bad news—he remains hopeful.This episode was recorded on December 5, 2023. Released on April 11, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Rob Verchick is a legal scholar who specializes in climate

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30:06

Tackling Environmental Inequality across Academic...

BornCurious ·

2024/04/04

Such environmental changes as pollution and climate change affect not only our ecosystem but also our people—those in low-income communities most of all. In this episode, our hosts talk to two recent Radcliffe Engaged Student Grant awardees from different disciplines—healthcare policy and the law—both of whom used the funds to study environmental inequality.This episode was recorded on November 30, 2023. Released on April 4, 2024. Episode Transcript Guests Seth Gertz-Billingsley is a Harvard Law

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65:21

A Conversation with Ruth J. Simmons

BornCurious ·

2024/03/21

The scholars and university leaders Ruth J. Simmons and Tomiko Brown-Nagin discuss Simmons’s recent memoir, Up Home: One Girl’s Journey (Random House, 2023). Along the way, they consider her personal journey, her pioneering work researching and sharing publicly universities’ historical ties to slavery, and her perspectives on the future of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and higher education in light of recent Supreme Court rulings.This episode was recorded on November 14,

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51:15

Math—It’s Not Just Numbers

BornCurious ·

2024/03/14

More than addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, mathematics is a “whole unexplored universe which has no boundaries,” says our guest, Laura DeMarco. In this episode, we reconsider not only what math is but also what it can do—and who can do it.This episode was recorded on November 9, 2023. Released on March 14, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Laura DeMarco is a Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and a professor of mathematics at Harvard University whose

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40:00

Is Losing an Hour of Sleep Really That Big a Deal?

BornCurious ·

2024/03/07

With Daylight Saving Time coming up this weekend, one might wonder whether losing a single hour of sleep is that big of a deal. In this episode, we talk with a neurologist who specializes in daily rhythms about what might be lost along with that hour—and finally answer the question, Are you getting enough sleep?This episode was recorded on December 14, 2023. Released on March 7, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Elizabeth B. Klerman is a professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, a physician at

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58:11

A Conversation with Sherrilyn Ifill

BornCurious ·

2024/02/29

In June 2023, a US Supreme Court ruling on two cases essentially ended affirmative action in higher education. In a 6–3 ruling, the court decided that accounting for race in admissions violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. In this deep dive into the ruling, the civil rights lawyer and legal scholar Sherrilyn Ifill and our dean, Tomiko Brown-Nagin—herself an award-winning legal historian and an expert in constitutional law—unpack the issues underpinning affirmative action and

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62:06

Riding the Radcliffe Wave

BornCurious ·

2024/02/20

Today’s episode—released to coincide with the announcement of an astronomical discovery—brings us inside the exciting world of scientific inquiry. In 2020, a group of scientists discovered a star-producing cosmic ripple in the local arm of the Milky Way that changed scientists’ understanding of the galaxy that our solar system calls home. They named it the Radcliffe Wave after the generative environment that inspired the finding. And the discoveries keep coming: new research published

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94:19

Free Speech, Political Speech, and Hate Speech on Campus

BornCurious ·

2023/12/20

In response to recent events, protest and discord have reached a fever pitch on university campuses. It is in this context that Harvard Radcliffe Institute gathered interdisciplinary experts for a crucial discussion about hate speech, academic freedom, and the legal norms that govern how universities can respond to protest.In this episode, we explore the underpinnings of how antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other identity-based hatreds—issues that have received increased attention in the context of

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38:30

The Thrill of Archival Discovery

BornCurious ·

2023/12/19

Tamar Gonen Brown, head of education and outreach at Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library, gives us a peek into the fascinating world of archives. She uses rare archival materials not only to teach students research skills but also to train them on how to be “history detectives” in their own right and to share the thrill of discovery. Some useful background from Gonen Brown: The Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America collects material that documents the history of women, gender, and

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21:30

Using Machine Learning to Listen to Whales

BornCurious ·

2023/11/30

For millennia, humans have regarded other species with curiosity and wonder. We have tried to decode their behaviors and imagine what they are saying—but truly speaking with animals has traditionally been the stuff of stories, such as those featuring Dr. Dolittle. In this episode of BornCurious, we talk with the oceanographer David Gruber, who is spearheading Project CETI, a multidisciplinary collaboration. We learn that understanding animals is rapidly moving beyond the realm of fiction: Gruber and

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56:14

Justice-Impacted Brilliance

BornCurious ·

2023/11/16

In this episode, Meek Mill, an award-winning rapper and one of the nation’s top voices for parole and probation reform, talks with Brittany White—a practitioner in residence at Radcliffe and Harvard Law School, an organizing fellow at the Institute to End Mass Incarceration, and a formerly incarcerated Black woman—and others. This conversation brings together people with lived experience of incarceration as experts to discuss their efforts to change the probation and parole system, helping to make

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24:43

Language and Thought around the World, Part 2

BornCurious ·

2023/11/08

In the continuation of a conversation about language and thought, the cognitive psychologist Asifa Majid talks about why most studies on the topic have focused on English speakers, where in the brain language is processed, why some languages have trouble describing sensory input while others do not, and where language studies should go next. This episode was recorded on June 2, 2023. Published on November 8, 2023. Episode Transcript Guest Asifa Majid is a professor of cognitive science at the

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25:58

Language and Thought around the World, Part 1

BornCurious ·

2023/11/08

We think of language as a way to express what we think, but language can actually shape how we think. An estimated 7,000 distinct languages are spoken around the world, and many of them are unstudied or undescribed. It is estimated that there are already over 500 extinct languages. The loss of a language is no less worrisome than the loss of a species. In the first of two episodes, our hosts talk to the cognitive psychologist Asifa Majid about linguistic diversity and why we must preserve it. This

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55:31

A Conversation with Tressie McMillan Cottom

BornCurious ·

2023/11/03

In a wide-ranging conversation, the cultural critic and essayist Tressie McMillan Cottom and the legal scholar and Radcliffe Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin explore such topics as what it means to exist as a Black woman in the world, why Cottom keeps her grandmother in mind when writing her essays, and pop culture’s relationship to the aesthetics of power. The conversation was part of the Kim and Judy Davis Dean’s Lecture Series at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. This episode was recorded on March 30,

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35:30

Wounds across Borders

BornCurious ·

2023/10/26

What do bodily injuries tell us about borders, violence, and our society? In this episode, Omar Dewachi and Ieva Jusionyte talk about the role of ethnography in answering that question. Both are anthropologists who conduct site-specific work in areas of conflict. This episode was recorded on April 20, 2023. Released on October 26, 2023. Episode Transcript Guests Omar Dewachi examines the effects of war on medicine and public health in the Middle East. He is a medical doctor, holds a master’s in

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43 results

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