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.
Listen to episode 21The 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.
Listen to episode 20The 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 […]
Listen to episode 19The 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.”
Listen to episode 18The 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.
Listen to episode 17The 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.
Listen to episode 16The 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.
Listen to episode 15The 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 14The Edge Episode 13: Should We Bring Back Woolly Mammoths?
Passenger pigeons. Woolly mammoths. Neanderthals. They’re all extinct. But what if we could bring them back? And if we could, should we?
ListenThe Edge Episode 12: 2021, A Space Hotel Odyssey
Since the first human left Earth’s atmosphere in 1961, few earthlings—and even fewer private citizens—have had the opportunity to “boldly go” there. But, with new advancements from SpaceX, Blue Origin, and other spaceflight companies, wealthy tourists could soon be booking rooms in hotels in outer space. The rise of space tourism raises some new, sometimes uncomfortable, questions.
ListenThe Edge Episode 11: A Completed Life
Five years after 29-year-old, terminally ill Brittany Maynard makes national news by choosing to end her life early, medically assisted death continues to face enormous legal and social barriers. And yet public support of the practice is high. As life-expectancy and palliative care improve, we face new questions: Under what circumstances are people allowed to choose when and how they die?
ListenThe Edge Episode 10: A Shroom of One’s Own
Half a century after the counterculture movement swept through the Bay Area and “mind altering substances” were banished from the laboratory, researchers at the new Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics are reviving a long-buried field of research. Is this the beginning of a psychedelic renaissance?
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