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The Edge Podcast

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The Edge Episode 25: The Heat with Jeff Goodell 

Don’t let the term “climate change” mislead you. It’s true that our environment is changing in all sorts of ways as we continue to pollute and exploit and manipulate our planet. But even as we brace for more historic typhoons and biblical floods, there’s an invisible and pervasive force that is wreaking havoc on us all: heat. In this episode, we speak with environmental journalist Jeff Goodell about his latest book, The Heat Will Kill You First, the potentially lethal effects that rising temperatures will have on our lives and on our planet, and what we can do to prepare for it.

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The Edge Episode 24: Long COVID with Dr. Kim Rhoads

With the end of the public health emergency and a sudden disappearance of the once-ubiquitous masks, it’s easy to feel like the pandemic is, well, over. But some would strongly disagree with that prognosis—and one group in particular: people suffering from the lasting effects of long COVID.

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The Edge Episode 23: Cosmology with Sarafina Nance

Berkeley astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance, has dedicated her life to studying really big exploding stars and what they tell us about our ever-expanding universe. She joins us this episode to talk about her own path to star-gazing and the big, existential questions that keep her eyes to the sky.

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The Edge Episode 22: The Edge Presents “Climate, Hope and Science” From the Science of Happiness

This month we’re back with something a little different. In the wake of this year’s historic floods, wildfires, and hurricanes, we asked ourselves: What would it look like to take a more optimistic attitude towards slowing climate change?

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The Edge Episode 21: Abolish Race (in Medicine)!

For centuries, doctors have medically treated people differently according to their race because they believed that race is biological. But in the last few years, medical professionals and activists have argued that this is both wrongheaded and can be dangerous to people’s health. In this episode, we talk to Stephen Richmond, a primary care physician and assistant professor at Stanford about the movement to abolish race from medicine and how race and biology do and do not intersect. 

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The Edge Episode 20: Abolish Cars!

Car-free streets are no longer just an urban fantasy. In cities across the nation, a movement is growing to return the streets to the people. In this episode, we talk to two advocates about their quest to ‘pedestrianize’ Telegraph Avenue and their grand vision for a more walkable, bikeable future.

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The Edge Episode 19: You Snooze, You…Win?

The teens are not alright! In fact, they’re experiencing a sleep crisis. In this episode, we talk to journalist Lisa Lewis about why teens have different sleep needs than the rest of us and how she worked to get more sleep for all Californian teens. We explore sleep hygiene and what it means to restructure […]

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The Edge Episode 18: Into the Ishi Wilderness

Today, we’re featuring the audio version of California magazine’s recent cover story, “Into the Ishi Wilderness.”

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The Edge Episode 17: Hey Mom, I’m an Influencer!

These days, kids want to be social media influencers when they grow up. But is it a viable career? And what does our ever-growing social media obsession mean for society? In this episode of The Edge, we talk to TikTok star Talia Lichtstein about her day-to-day routine, how she makes money, and the future of work in the era of social media.

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The Edge Episode 16: I Once Was Blind, But Now?

How is it possible to be blind and able to see at the same time? In this episode of The Edge, we explore blindsight, a bizarre neurological condition that may offer clues about where consciousness comes from and why we have it.

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The Edge Episode 15: I’m in Love With a Robot

It’s not easy coming up with the perfect opening line on Tinder. Artificial intelligence is already helping us compose emails and complete sentences, so why stop there? Laura and Leah talk to the founder of Keys about the possibilities—and dangers—of letting robots do the talking for us. 

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The Edge Episode 14: Blockchain for the People

You hear about blockchain everywhere: social media, the news, the guy next door. Laura and Leah talk to Medha Kothari, a Berkeley alum and founder of she256, a non-profit promoting diversity in blockchain, about what blockchain is and why it has the potential to be a fairer technology than the ones we’ve already built.

Listen to episode 14