stitcherLogoCreated with Sketch.
Get Premium Download App
Listen
Discover
Premium
Shows
Likes
Merch

Listen Now

Discover Premium Shows Likes

Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

253 Episodes

Merch
42 minutes | Mar 28, 2023
Kieran Setiya: Facing up to Life
Life is hard. But drawing on the insights of philosophers ancient and modern, Keiran Setiya has written a witty and hope-filled book chronicling his own realization that, even with chronic pain, while his life may not be perfect, it can still be richly rewarding.
42 minutes | Mar 21, 2023
Nita Farahany: The Battle For Your Brain
Her new book takes a deep dive into neurotechnology – the ability to read and record your brain waves. While there are many potential benefits – Nita herself uses a simple device to help control her migraines – she is alarmed at the prospect of others, be they employers or governments, being able to peer into your mind.
42 minutes | Mar 14, 2023
Liev Schreiber: The Ukrainian Connection
Inspired by his Ukrainian grandfather, Liev has launched a campaign to fund humanitarian relief for the people of Ukraine. His several trips there included a meeting with a fellow actor, now president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
44 minutes | Mar 7, 2023
Alan chats with the bots
Mike Farrell makes a guest appearance to perform with Alan the first new MASH scene in 40 years – a scene written by a chatbot. Most of Alan’s other guests are themselves chatbots, including one that falsely claims to be a person and another that insults him horribly when Alan seeks advice.
42 minutes | Feb 28, 2023
Kevin Kelly: Help Wanted – AI Whisperers
Alan is a little obsessed with chatbots, and he’s become only too aware that these products of artificial intelligence can become seriously – even dangerously – stupid. What’s urgently needed, argues tech guru Kevin Kelly, are people with a particular talent – the ability to coax chatbots into being useful – AI whisperers.
41 minutes | Feb 21, 2023
Sy Montgomery: For the love of hawks… and turtles
Her almost uncanny ability to connect with creatures from rhinos to octopuses led her to a love affair with one of the planet's swiftest and fiercest predators. Meanwhile Sy Montgomery has been in a nurturing relationship with a collection of creatures who are the hawks’ polar opposites – turtles. 
37 minutes | Feb 14, 2023
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 20 trailer
Alan and Executive Producer Graham Chedd chat about and play excerpts from Alan's conversations with some of the guests in the new season, beginning next week. Guests include naturalist Sy Montgomery; comedian Judd Apatow; and founding executive editor of Wired magazine, Kevin Kelly.
40 minutes | Feb 7, 2023
Cassandra Quave: Hunting Plants That Heal
A childhood illness robbed her of a leg, but that hasn’t stopped her from trekking through jungles, swamps and mountains in search of medicinal plants. Her hope: that her discoveries may lead to new medications to counter the rising threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
41 minutes | Jan 31, 2023
Sara Seager: Is There Life Out There?
Pioneering a new way to search for signs of life on planets circling other suns, Sara Seager battled through a devastating personal loss to see her method vindicated by NASA’s powerful new space telescope.
40 minutes | Jan 24, 2023
Pamela Adlon: Getting Better All the Time
She wrote, produced, directed and starred in the hit series “Better Things” for five years. Nominated multiple times for multiple awards, she recently directed her first movie. She trades reminiscences with Alan, who’s known her since she was a kid.
40 minutes | Jan 17, 2023
Karen Bakker: The Sounds of Life
Her new book lets us eavesdrop on the chatter between creatures – even plants – that our ears can’t detect. And reveals how new technologies, including AI, are opening the possibility of our being able to converse with other animals.
41 minutes | Jan 10, 2023
Daniel Lubetzky: On a Mission to Spread Kindness
The founder of the multi-billion-dollar nutrition bar company KIND has rolled out "Starts With Us," a non-partisan movement working to overcome cultural extremism by fostering curiosity, compassion and courage as daily habits.
37 minutes | Jan 3, 2023
Kathy Kleiman: The six women who programmed the first modern computer
Built during WWII, the world’s first electronic computer, the ENIAC, was an engineering marvel. But at 80 ft long and 6 ft tall it was mute until it was brought to life by six young women mathematicians who figured out how to program it.
39 minutes | Dec 27, 2022
Thomas Boothby: On a Tough Little Guy With Secrets
You need a microscope to see them, but tardigrades aren’t only nature’s ultimate survivors – they hold secrets that may make vaccines more available and help astronauts live in space.
41 minutes | Dec 20, 2022
Alison Gopnik: Making AI more childlike
The renowned expert on how babies learn about the world through curiosity and exploration is now collaborating with artificial intelligence researchers to make AI systems smarter by being more like children.
41 minutes | Dec 13, 2022
Les Johnson: Sailing to the Stars
The NASA engineer piggybacked a tiny spacecraft on the giant new moon rocket launched just last month. His spacecraft was to spread gossamer wings and sail to an asteroid. But Les Johnson’s dreams are of sailing people to the stars.
41 minutes | Dec 6, 2022
Kate Klonick: Can Social Media Not Be So Anti-Social?
Kate watched up close as Facebook struggled to moderate its content. And that makes her the perfect guest to unravel the chaos surrounding Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
41 minutes | Nov 29, 2022
Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone: Married – and loving it.
The dynamic couple is writing, producing and acting in hit movies and TV series all while being the parents of two daughters. Alan wonders if this requires special communication skills!
33 minutes | Nov 22, 2022
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 19 trailer
Alan and Executive Producer Graham Chedd chat about and play excerpts from Alan's conversations with some of the guests in the new season, beginning next week. Guests include actors Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone; programmer and leader in internet law Kathy Kleiman; and NASA technologist Les Johnson.
42 minutes | Nov 15, 2022
Lindy Elkins-Tanton: What’s at the Core?
In her riveting memoir, A Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman, Lindy Elkins-Tanton writes of the unconventional path she has taken to becoming the leader of a deep space mission that may reveal secrets of a place we can never visit – the core of our own planet.
COMPANY
About us Careers Stitcher Blog Help
AFFILIATES
Partner Portal Advertisers Podswag Stitcher Studios
Privacy Policy Terms of Service Your Privacy Choices
© Stitcher 2023