Dr. Miller, Dr. Muth, Dr. Falótico, & Dr. Cantor: Intelligence Across Species
Release Date: 06/18/2024
Nicole Bruskewitz and Henry May on Transforming Education Through Character
Stories of Impact
When Coschool founder and CEO Henry May began his career as a teacher, he learned that his job was not just about enriching the mind, but the soul and spirit of a student as well. He saw that part of excellence in education was helping school communities thrive despite painful circumstances. Nicole Bruskewitz, Coschool’s Director of Education, was also a problem solver who’d questioned inequality and education access since childhood. When May and Bruskewitz were introduced to the pioneering work of Dr. Marvin Berkowitz, they thought that his unique educational model could be particularly...
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Dr. Glen Moriarty & Dr. Sarah Schnitker: Gratitude, AI, and the Gift Economy
Stories of Impact
In the societies in which most of us live, our capitalist economic systems run on transactions—on individual sales of goods and services. But are you aware that there are other infrastructures of support and help that meet our need for information, connection, even love? We live with gift economies that already enrich our lives. We start our story with professional disruptor, clinical psychologist and entrepreneur Dr. Glen Moriarty, founder of one of the most innovative, free global mental health systems on the planet—a community called Seven Cups, where over 570,000 trained volunteer...
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Dr. Elizabeth Dowling & Dr. Richard Lerner: Transforming Community Futures Through a School of Love
Stories of Impact
Today’s episode is full of beauty, hope, healing, community, and connection. In fact, it might be one of the most feel-good, good news stories we’ve ever gotten to tell. Meet Dr. Richard Lerner and Dr. Elizabeth Dowling, Director and Deputy Director of the Institute for Applied Research and Youth Development at Tufts University. Like many great teachers, they can tell you to look for people who care about kids like that in school — and one school in particular: Thanda, named after the Zulu word for love. Together, these researchers are highlighting the unique curriculum and culture of...
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Kurt Shaw and Rita da Silva: Brazilian Resistance and Renewal Through Playing Together
Stories of Impact
Over the last five years, we’ve explored stories with countless scientists whose thoughtful research reveals the way they’re answering big questions and solving big problems. We’ve shared conversations about studies done in labs and out in the field. Well, today’s field is Brazil. The labs are crowded city streets and verdant jungles. And the big question? What happens when you stop fearing and fighting against diversity, and start exploring and embracing difference? The researchers we learn from today, anthropologists Kurt Shaw and Rita da Silva, have found their answers through play...
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Dr. Eugene Ohu: Inspiring Empathy in Nigeria's Next Generation Leaders
Stories of Impact
Today, we’re excited to bring you a hopeful and constructive perspective on modern technology — a story about gamified tech that’s positively transformative. Dr. Eugene Ohu is a native Nigerian who grew up in this complex nation observing painful divisions, stereotyping between the ethnic groups, and deep discrimination. He wondered, is it possible to have a united Nigeria? Dr. Ohu wanted to do something radical to help his country unite. He wanted to ensure that the next generation of Nigerian leaders would be compassionate, tolerant, and empathetic toward all citizens, no matter their...
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Embracing Diverse Worldviews in the Classroom
Stories of Impact
Last week we introduced you to Dr. Berry Billingsley, in a conversation about her work studying Big Questions in Religious and Science Education, and her efforts to support multidisciplinary classrooms. This week we're back with the second part of that episode, exploring another Big Questions in the Classroom initiative, in conversation with seven educators who are advancing Dr. Billingsley's work through a collaborative research project called Religion and Worldviews. Together, these research leaders are not only introducing innovative ideas into traditional curriculum, but they're educating...
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Dr. Berry Billingsley: Big Questions That Change How We Learn
Stories of Impact
Is science fundamentally in opposition to religion, or do they just have little to do with each other? Is the way you engage with science and religion in your life informed by your core beliefs, or are your core beliefs informed by them? Do you think it's scientists or religious experts, or both, or neither, that are best equipped to help humans explore the meaning of life? People might find these questions to be provocative or controversial. But our guest in today's episode, science educator and researcher Dr. Berry Billingsley, was raised in a family culture of curiosity, so she's...
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Dr. Nicholas Bloom: What Remote Work Reveals About Equity and Innovation
Stories of Impact
Did you know that you are part of one of the most significant revolutions in the last 85 years? If you’re one of the 180-million Americans in the labor force, and at some point since the 2020 pandemic, you joined the ranks of work-from-home, you are historically revolutionary. Today, we sit down with Dr. Nicholas Bloom, economist and professor of economics at Stanford University. He's studied work-from-home habits for over 20 years—so long before covid-19—and now, his data is showing how the revolutionary shift that happened during the pandemic, is reverberating through society and...
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Dr. Kurt Gray: What Polarization Teaches us About Harm and Human Understanding
Stories of Impact
We’re back this episode for our second timely interview focusing on political polarization, wrapping up in conversation with Dr. Kurt Gray, professor of moral psychology and neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill, and the director of the Deepest Beliefs Lab in the Center for the Science of Moral Understanding. Moral psychology is the descriptive understanding of our moral judgments, or concern with not just how people should make moral decisions, but how they actually do. Why does this matter? In Dr. Gray’s words: "To understand our contentious and divided political moments where people are...
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Dr. Sean Westwood: What Polarization Reveals About Democracy and the Human Spirit
Stories of Impact
When we spoke recently with Dr. Sean Westwood, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College and the director of the Polarization Research Lab, we knew we wanted to share the conversation with you as quickly as possible, because it speaks so directly to the current moment. Dr. studies American politics and how partisan conflict manifests in the United States, its consequences and its origins. Read the of this episode Learn more about Subscribe to Stories of Impact wherever you listen to podcasts Find us on , , , and Share your comments, questions and...
info_outline In our last episode, we spent time with the extraordinary Dr. Jane Goodall, primatologist, writer, speaker, and conservationist. Dr. Goodall previewed today's episode, featuring the three recipients of the Wildlife Intelligence Project, a $2.7 million joint initiative between National Geographic Society and Templeton World Charity Foundation designed to support "three early-career scientists…whose passion for and discoveries in wildlife field research have the potential to illuminate unknown wonders of our world.” We're proud to be in conversation with cognitive ecologist and bee researcher Dr. Felicity Muth, primatologist Dr. Tiago Falótico, and behavioral ecologist and biologist Dr. Mauricio Cantor.
These three National Geographic Explorers all study animal cognition, but how they do it, and their objects of study — bees, capuchin monkeys, and dolphins — varies. What that shows, as you’ll hear about today, is that intelligence can take many forms, and it’s only once we look past our anthropocentric definitions of intelligence that we can truly understand and appreciate the complexity and beauty of nature.
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- Supported by Templeton World Charity Foundation