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PODCAST

How to Be a Better Human

Join How to Be a Better Human as we take a look within and beyond ourselves.How to Be a Better Human isn’t your average self improvement podcast. Each week join comedian Chris Duffy in conversation with guests and past speakers as they uncover sharp insights and give clear takeaways on how YOU can be a better human.From your work to your home and your head to your heart, How to Be a Better Human looks in unexpected places for new ways to improve and show up for one another. Inspired by the popular

education self-improvement

All Episodes

42:15

How to experience the world like a good dog (w/...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2026/01/12

Can our dogs feel guilt? Or have they successfully trained us with their puppy eyes to win a treat and extra kibble? Alexandra Horowitz is a researcher and head of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College; she joins Chris to chat about how dogs make us laugh and ways to be more present in life.For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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38:11

How to make 2026 a year full of laughs (w/ Chris...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2026/01/05

For the past five seasons, host Chris Duffy has been interviewing guests from psychotherapist Dr. Orna Guralnik to poet Sarah Kay to author Andrew Leland and more on how they work to become better humans. In this special episode kicking off season 6, Chris is now in the hot seat. Manoush Zomorodi, host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour, joins as guest host to interview Chris on finding joy and how a 5th grader taught Chris humor. They also discuss Chris’ debut book Humor Me and the lessons he learned from

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30:00

Interview: The razor-thin line between contagion and...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/12/29

After a mysterious wave of tics and twitches swept through a small-town high school in New York, documentary podcaster Dan Taberski set out to investigate what was really happening. Drawing on extensive research and intimate interviews with the people involved, he explores the roots of mass hysteria — and what it reveals about the line between illness and belonging. What happens when the very thing that makes us sick ... is also what connects us?After the talk, Shoshana interviews Dan on how his

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40:49

Work advice from the world’s favorite couples...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/12/22

Relationships of any kind can be tricky—but therapists are here to help. In this special episode, Anne and Frances talk to clinical psychologist Dr. Orna Guralnik, star of the hit show Couples Therapy, to translate her advice for romantic relationships to the professional world. Together, they discuss the art of deep listening, underline the importance of patience and working through differences, and reframe relationships as a constant cycle of rupture and repair. Dr. Guralnik also reflects on the

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38:16

Re-release: Throwing good parties and building...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/12/15

Many of us are entering the new year with a similar goal — to build community and connect more with others. To kick off season five, Priya Parker shares ideas on how to be the host with the most. An expert on building connection, Priya is the author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters.” Whether it's a book club, wedding, birthday or niche-and-obscurely themed party, Priya and Chris talk about how to create meaningful and fun experiences for all of your guests — including

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28:20

2025 Staff Picks - Best of How to Be a Better Human

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/12/08

Remember those fun high school superlatives like the “Class Clown” or the “Biggest Flirt”? In this special How to Be a Better Human season finale, you will be hearing from our previous guest Dallas Youth Poet Laureate Naisha Randhar and our team of editors, marketers, producers, fact-checkers and more on their favorite episodes this year.How to Be a Better Human 2025 SuperlativesMost Likely to Make You Rethink Your Place in the WorldMost Inspiring StoryMost Likely to Make You Feel Your FeelsBest

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49:01

Pods Fight Poverty: Why Giving Money to Others Makes...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/12/05

Money can buy you happiness – but not in the way we think. Giving money away – especially to help others – has been shown make us happier than spending on ourselves.Social psychologist Lara Aknin explains the best ways to spend on loved ones, friends and even total strangers to get the biggest happiness bang for your buck.And Harvard’s Josh Greene reveals how much money Happiness Lab listeners gave to charity via Giving Multiplier last year – and how many lives you saved.Pods Fight Poverty:

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39:37

How to find small delights in an uncontrollable world...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/12/01

What makes a hometown home, and how do you find community? Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet and author of the latest poetry collection, A Little Daylight Left. Sarah and Chris grew up in New York City where the energetic and diverse community shaped their lives. They discuss how to find belonging in new neighborhoods, how to focus on creating art and being empathetic when it feels like the world is chaotic, and how to take note of the small things in life that bring them joy.Host & GuestChris

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33:13

How to Eat with Awareness and Purpose (w/ Sean Sherman)

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/11/24

If you remove ingredients like dairy, wheat, flour, cane sugar, beef, pork, and chicken from your diet—then what do you eat? For Sioux chef Sean Sherman, excluding colonial ingredients from his cuisines gives him the opportunity to spotlight indigenous produce and uplift local communities. Sean is the owner of the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Owamni in Minneapolis. Sean joins Chris to discuss the philosophy behind his indigenous restaurant, where he thinks the American education system falls

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32:52

How to find belonging (w/ Hanif Abdurraqib)

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/11/17

Where do you belong and what does community mean to you? These are the central questions Chris asks poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib while visiting Hanif’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Hanif is a poet and essayist of many notable works such as They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, A Fortune for Your Disaster, and A Little Devil in America, among others. Hanif joins Chris to share his love for the city Columbus, what it means to be cared for by community members, and how spending time with

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35:40

Why you need to learn how to fight in a relationship...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/11/10

“All couples fight. In fact, how they fight in the first three minutes predicts with 96% accuracy not only how the rest of the conversation will go, but how the rest of the relationship will go six years down the road,” says relationship expert Dr. Julie Gottman. Dr. Julie and John Gottman are founders of the Gottman Institute and the Love Lab where they study how to sustain love and health in relationships. They join Chris to discuss why more people now than ever are deciding to go solo, what a

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39:32

How to break bad habits (w/ Edith Zimmerman)

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/11/03

Edith Zimmerman is a sketchbook cartoonist and writer of the Substack newsletter, Drawing Links. In this episode, she joins Chris to talk about honesty and self-discovery. From sharing her artwork to discussing her sobriety journey to falling in love with running, Edith and Chris explore how creativity and pursuing new activities can help you overcome personal challenges.This episode is part of the How to Be a Better Human Bonus Videos series. You can find the extended video companion on the TED

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44:34

How to use your muscles — or risk losing them (w/...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/10/27

Did you know that you start losing bone AND muscle mass as soon as the age of thirty? Or that your fingers and toes don’t have muscles? Or how women in Scotland are starting to compete in the lighting of Dinnie Stones – which weighs 733 pounds?! These are topics that Chris discussed with Bonnie Tsui, author of the book On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters. They also discuss what strength and weightlifting means in today’s society – especially as more women enter the sport. Bonnie

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28:49

How do you stop caring what others think? A filmmaker...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/10/20

How do you quit people-pleasing? Internet filmmaker Baron Ryan and family therapist Stephanie R. Yates-Anyabwile unpack the all-too-common fear of rejection and explore the practices necessary to reclaim your ability to finally say “no” and stop caring about what other people think. (This conversation is part of “TED Intersections,” a series featuring thought-provoking conversations between experts navigating the ideas shaping our world.)For the full text transcript, visit

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27:20

How Texas became America’s biggest producer of wind...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/10/16

This is the surprising story of how Texas – rich in oil and gas – became America's biggest producer of wind energy. For our first episode, Ryan and Anjali talk with Pat Wood, once George W. Bush’s right hand man and head of Texas's Public Utility Commission, to uncover the innovative approach that turned Texas into a renewable energy powerhouse. It’s a story about what could get done before partisan politics got in the way of good climate policy, and it shows that economic incentives for consumers,

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10:33

A practical guide to taking control of your life |...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/10/13

The real lever of a meaningful life isn’t intelligence or hustle — it’s personal agency, says Cate Hall, former Supreme Court attorney and once the world’s top-ranked female poker player. Sharing her journey from the throes of addiction to leading a multibillion-dollar foundation, Hall shares tactical wisdom for increasing your ability to see and act on life's hidden degrees of freedom, showing how even the most trapped among us can discover a path to fulfillment.For the full text transcript, visit

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34:34

How to strengthen your relationships — one airport...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/10/06

How often do you connect with different people each week? How many many close relationships do you aim to cultivate during those connections? And how long do these interactions last? Kasley Killam has the perfect guide to help you build better social connections – the 5-3-1 Rule. Kasley is a social scientist and the author of The Art of Science and Connection. Kasley joins Chris to discuss the future of social connection – why do we invest in physical health but not social health? And what happens

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41:27

How to build your kid's confidence — by leaving them...

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/09/29

How do you raise confident and capable children in a seemingly scary and unsafe world? According to Lenore Skenazy, the solution is simple yet controversial — you leave the kids alone. Lenore is the president of Let Grow and the founder of the Free Range Kids Movement where she argues that parents don’t need to hover over their kids as much because they’ll be more than okay — they’ll thrive. Chris and Lenore discuss why overprotecting kids can backfire, how parents might be unintentionally stifling

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38:34

How to talk so people will listen (w/ Julian Treasure)

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/09/22

What’s more important in communication— the content or the delivery? Julian Treasure is a five-time TED speaker and the author of Sound Affects: How Sound Shapes Our Lives, Our Wellbeing and Our Planet, and he argues conscious listening is an invaluable tool for elevating conversations. Julian joins Chris to give advice on how to speak better, the listening method that could save your marriage, and how to be comfortable in silence.FollowHost: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy |

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36:56

How to communicate better (w/ Charles Duhigg)

How to Be a Better Human ·

2025/09/15

What makes some people supercommunicators? How can you become one too? This is the central lesson in Charles Duhigg’s bestseller Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret of Communication. Charles and Chris dissect what makes messy conversations so great, how to ask deep questions, and whether women and men communicate differently. They also discuss the different rules for different technologies — from telephones to Facebook to Signal — and how cautious politeness may be the best method to

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233 results

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