Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Aspen Ideas to Go

It might be hard to see–with political attacks in high gear this election season–but there is something hopeful taking root. People with a moral foundation are running for public office and they’re driven by an ethic of service. These individuals are able to put service above self, says Rye Barcott, author of Courage Can Save US. “Courage is the conscious acceptance of risk in service of the common good, whether that’s your family, faith, community, or country but it cannot be yourself,” he says. Barcott, who co-founded With Honor, sits down with other nonprofit leaders working to put people of character into public life. Emma Bloomberg leads Murmuration and Mike Buman is the executive director of Lee. Their conversation is led by David Brooks, former New York Times columnist and staff writer for The Atlantic.

Watch the video of their conversation at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Music has the power to unite our brains and bodies and connect us with people on the other side of the world. Humans have been making and sharing music for thousands of years, but modern medicine and research tools have only recently given us the ability to see what’s going on in the brains of creators and listeners. Cava Lee Menzies, a musician and educator at the Oakland School for the Arts joins otolaryngologist and music researcher Charles Limb for this talk on the power of music to bring us together, alter our neurochemistry and change our lives. Kelly Corrigan, host of the podcast and NPR show “Kelly Corrigan Wonders,” moderates the conversation. 

Small businesses and entrepreneurship play a powerful role in American life. They help people build wealth and strengthen communities. In fact, small businesses are one of the most highly trusted institutions. The Pew Research Center reports 86 percent of Americans believe small businesses have a positive national effect–even outranking the military and churches. But emerging technologies are changing how businesses operate. How can we ensure these institutions receive the support they need in a new era? Francesca de Quesada Covey, vice president of community impact at the Knight Foundation, leads a conversation with Chiling Tong, Karen Kerrigan, Angie Cooper, and Elizabeth Kelly. Tong is president and CEO of the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship. Kerrigan is president and CEO of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. Cooper is president of the nonprofit, Heartland Forward and Elizabeth Kelly is head of beneficial deployments at Anthropic.

Watch a video of their conversation.

Civilian control of the military is a cornerstone of American democracy. But what happens when the relationship between military and civilian leadership comes under strain? Amid significant changes in senior military leadership and renewed debate over the boundaries between military authority and civilian oversight, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown, Jr. joins foreign policy and defense expert Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute and Duke political science professor Peter Feaver. David French, New York Times columnist and former Army Reserve major, moderates a candid conversation about the state of civil-military relations and what comes next.

The number of people using chatbots for their news is increasing. According to a 2026 report, 10 percent of all people globally use chatbots–that’s up from 7 percent in 2025. Trust and interest in news is also declining. The highest purpose of journalism is to serve needed information to the public. But what happens when AI is affecting every aspect of news–how it's produced, distributed, and consumed? How can media and technology best respond? Patrick J. McGovern Foundation CEO Vivian Schiller leads a conversation with Laurie Richardson, Nabiha Syed, and Sam Gregory. Richardson is Vice President for Trust and Safety at Google. Syed leads the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to build a better technology future, and Sam Gregory fights deepfakes and deceptive AI with his organization, WITNESS.

We don’t all learn in school how to participate in democracy. And a lack of understanding about how our government works can feed frustration, cynicism and apathy. In the age of the internet, there’s an opportunity to fill those educational gaps for people and empower them to get involved. But how do you send a signal through the noise, and motivate people civically? Sharon McMahon is a former public school teacher who turned to social media and found a new audience. With her civics content, she’s built up an audience of 1.8 million people who call themselves “The Governerds.” She also writes a daily government and current events newsletter called The Preamble, and wrote the best-selling book “The Small and the Mighty.” McMahon sits down with Kelly Corrigan, the host of the podcast and NPR show “Kelly Corrigan Wonders,” for a conversation about bringing democratic basics to more Americans.

Some internet content creators are building major platforms by analyzing, dispensing and sometimes reporting current events. But how can viewers gauge credibility in this Wild West? And what is the role of legacy journalism in an increasingly fragmented media landscape? Veteran reporter Katie Couric joins two leaders charting a new course in journalism, Jerusalem Demsas, founder of The Argument web magazine, and Aaron Parnas, an independent journalist and former attorney speaking to audiences from TikTok and Substack. The dean of Columbia Journalism School and New Yorker writer, Jelani Cobb, moderates and guides the conversation.

After the deadliest terror attacks in United States history occurred the morning of September 11, 2001, sweeping changes to security were put in place. The 9/11 attacks gave rise to the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Congress passed the Patriot Act and President George W. Bush declared a global war on terror, leading to the detention of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Now, 25 years later, the effects of the nation’s large-scale security response linger. NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly asks former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and former US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales whether the measures adopted then should still be used today. The speakers, who were all involved in the 9/11 response, share sobering memories of that day. Their conversation was held in June.

The current appeal of authoritarian regimes around the world is raising questions about whether democracy has a future. What’s sparking these political backlashes and what has soured voters on democratic systems and values? Stanford political scientist and the author of “The End of History,” Francis Fukuyama, joins Canadian journalist-turned-politician Chrystia Freeland and New York Times columnist David French at the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival for an informed and varied conversation taking a harder look at democracy. CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria moderates the discussion.

With the midterm elections on the horizon, will voters overcome a fraught electoral battlefield to show up at the polls? Threats to the electoral system such as polarization, misinformation, campaign finance, redistricting, and limits to the Voting Rights Act are reducing voters’ trust. How can the system be rebuilt in a way that inspires confidence across the political spectrum? Heather Gerken leads a conversation with Rick Hasen, Janai Nelson, Sarah Isgur, and Ben Ginsburg. Gerken is president of the Ford Foundation; Hasen is a professor of law at UCLA; Nelson is President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund; Isgur is editor of SCOTUSblog; and Ginsburg is a political law advocate.

China’s ups and downs reverberate across the globe, and unpredictability from Washington has been throwing another wrench into the equation. Good diplomacy and an open trade relationship between these two superpowers is essential, but the playbook keeps changing. In this talk from the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival, three experts on U.S.-China relations bring us up to date on technological advances, economic leverage and national security, among other foreign policy affairs. Dan Wang, a research fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, joins Melanie Hart of the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub and Julian Gewirtz, a research fellow at Columbia University and the Asia Society. CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria moderates and guides the panel.

In an era of executive overreach, Congress and the Supreme Court are becoming less effective at reigning in presidential power. America’s three branches of government–the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial–were created to regulate each other. But the nation’s founders didn’t anticipate headwinds like the rise of modern political parties. A healthier inter-branch dynamic is needed, says a panel of leading scholars, to create a stable environment for the American concept of government to succeed. Journalist John Dickerson leads a conversation with Georgetown Law Professor Stephen Vladeck, Harvard Law Professor Jack Goldsmith, and Maya Kornberg, a senior research fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice.

With so many problems in the world, it can be easy to skip over what’s actually working. But while progress often isn’t linear, history tells us that a lot of societal issues have actually improved. The experts on this panel help us see those bright spots and reframe our thinking to include hopeful visions for the future. Greg Jackson, a professor at Utah Valley University and the host of the “History Doesn’t Suck!” podcast joins Google Labs editorial director Steven Johnson and the host of the “What Could Go Right?” podcast, Zachary Karabell, for a wide-ranging discussion at the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival about breaking through the doom and gloom.

Since the conflict in Iran began in February, the results have been mixed. It has degraded Iran’s nuclear capacity, reduced its missile arsenal, and sunk its navy. But the war has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, divided America’s Gulf allies, fractured the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and failed to achieve objectives like regime change and nuclear elimination. A panel of Iran experts with different perspectives discuss whether the conflict could mark the end of the Islamic Republic’s long strategy of proxy warfare or the beginning of a far more dangerous Middle East. Journalist and author Fareed Zakaria leads the conversation with Kim Ghattas, Karim Sadjadpour, and Mark Dubowitz. Ghattas is an Emmy-award winning journalist. Karim Sadjadpour is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mark Dubowitz is CEO of Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Their conversation was held June 29.

In an increasingly polarized nation with a divided Congress, the rulings of the Supreme Court’s latest term were as closely watched as ever. The justices took on decisions about birthright citizenship, voting rights, transgender athletes and many other hot button issues, with sometimes surprising results. Immediately after the term wrapped, three experts on the court met onstage at the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival to discuss what these rulings say about the future of the court and American law. And they touch on the big question hovering over all recent decisions – has the court become too politicized? Colleen Sinzdak is a Supreme Court and Appellate partner at Milbank, Melissa Murray is an NYU law professor, and Sarah Isgur is the editor of SCOTUSblog. The panelists don’t hold back as moderator Jonathan Capehart of MS NOW keeps the conversation on track. 

Before this month’s semiquincentennial celebration, the United States’ last milestone anniversary was in 1976–during a difficult period. “The 1970s were a rough time–9 percent unemployment, 15 percent inflation, violent crime tripled, divorce rates tripled. It was a rough time,” says David Brooks, staff writer for The Atlantic. Still, he says, it was a unifying and uplifting moment. He asks Danielle Allen, Reihan Salam, Martha Jones, and Shilo Brooks how today is different from the bicentennial and whether the original ideas that bound us together–laid out in the Declaration of Independence–still apply. Allen is political science professor at Harvard; Salam is president of the Manhattan Institute; Jones is a professor at John Hopkins University; and Shilo Brooks is president and CEO of the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

As artificial intelligence becomes more powerful and pervasive, how will it affect our work, our lives, and our ability to connect? Brené Brown, research professor and best-selling author says she hears a lot of experts trying to soothe people’s anxiety about the pace of technological change by offering platitudes like, What makes us human will ensure our relevance. This is dangerous because, as she explains, we’re not especially good at what makes us human. We’re not hardwired for the current level of uncertainty, and many of us feel as if the constant need to self-protect is driving the humanity right out of us.

Brown joins Kate Crawford, AI scholar and University of Southern California professor, who points out that so much of what’s driving our feelings of emptiness and disconnection around AI is rooted in the fact that artificial intelligence is fundamentally a technology of extraction – it depends on the intensive exploitation of raw materials, human labor, and personal data. Together, Drs. Brown and Crawford encourage us to advocate for authentic connection over algorithmic convenience.

This episode will be our last for a few weeks as we pause for the 2026 Aspen Ideas Festival. We will be back in mid-July with new content featuring brilliant thinkers and inspiring leaders. 

The teachings offered by ancient religious texts are timeless and full of wisdom for today’s world. When hope can be difficult to find in contemporary society, sacred traditions sometimes fill the gap, with help from the interpretations of scholars. In this talk from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, Princeton historian and professor of religion Elaine Pagels unpacks the truths at the center of her life’s work. She talks with writer Pico Iyer about where to look for enduring guidance and how the world’s faiths talk to each other and fit into our daily modern lives. Pagels is the author of many books, most recently “Miracles and Wonders: The Historical Mystery of Jesus.”

Leaders who truly inspire and get the best out of people are few and far between. How do they learn to gain trust and rally a group to action? Steve Kerr has been coaching the Golden State Warriors NBA team for 11 years, four of which have been champion seasons. He joins Maryland Governor Wes Moore, who became the first Black person to hold that office after combat in the Army and a career fighting poverty, for a discussion about leading with respect and purpose. CBS co-anchor John Dickerson moderates the conversation. 

Over the last 50 years or so, the divide between winners and losers in the United States has been deepening, says author and philosopher Michael Sandel. In the era of globalization, inequalities in income and wealth have widened and changed attitudes around success. “Those who landed on top have come to believe that their success was their own doing–a measure of merit. By implication, those who struggle and are left behind, must deserve their fate too,” says Sandel. He says this meritocratic thinking has poisoned our politics and eroded civil life. He tells playwright Anna Deavere Smith how to restore a vision of the common good. Sandel is a Harvard professor and author of The Tyranny of Merit. Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated performer, reads an original work about the complexities of merit.

For those who knew her, Lilly Ledbetter was humble, smart, and determined. For the rest of us, she is a symbol of unequal treatment of women in the workplace. A landmark law, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, bears her name and was the result of years of tireless activism. She sued her employer, Goodyear Tire, after she discovered her pay was as much as $2,000 less a month than her male counterparts. Her case went to the Supreme Court and eventually Congress. The civil rights attorney who represented her, Jon Goldfarb, joins Patricia Clarkson and Suzanne Malveaux for a moving conversation that celebrates Ledbetter’s life and legacy. Clarkson, an award-winning actor, portrays Ledbetter in the 2024 film “Lilly” and Malveaux, a former CNN reporter and CEO of Malveaux Global Media, reported on Ledbetter’s fight.

What does it look like to hope in the face of tough times and undeniable challenges? The speakers in today’s talk might describe true hope as more than a passive platitude, but something closer to a muscle that needs exercise. Krista Tippett, the creator and host of the public radio show “On Being,” reunites with young adult author and MacArthur grantee Jason Reynolds to continue their multi-year conversation about how to find resilience in a world full of obstacles. They explore the relationship between fear and hope, and share experiences of finding light and connection in unexpected places. 

Volatile political and economic conditions make projections about building future wealth difficult in today’s world. This discussion with economic and investment experts spans from the bird’s eye view to the kitchen table, shedding some light on the blend of factors that move our money. David Rubenstein, the co-founder of the Carlyle Group joins consultant and NYU economics professor emeritus Nouriel Roubini and Arjun Sethi, the co-CEO of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, on stage at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival. The executive editorial director of Fortune, Diane Brady, moderates the conversation.

Public exhaustion with top-down decisions about our built environment spurred American progressivists to work successfully over the past several decades to democratize development processes. Community voices can now be heard, but has the pendulum swung too far in the other direction? With many cities facing housing crises and urban infrastructure decay, solutions can be slow-going. In this talk, architect Vishaan Chakrabarti, found of PAU (Practice of Architecture and Urbanism) joins Brown University public affairs fellow Marc Dunkelman for a discussion about removing unnecessary roadblocks and speeding up progress. CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria, who is the 2025 and 2026 guest curator of the Aspen Ideas Festival, moderates the  conversation.

Young people today report feeling sad, anxious, hopeless, and lonely. The youth mental health crisis in the United States has grown in recent years but the adults in kids’ lives can help–with the right tools. Lisa Damour is a best-selling author and psychologist who specializes in the development of teenagers. She joins Sema Sgaier, co-founder and CEO of Surgo Health, and Christopher Pepper, co-author of Talk to Your Boys: 16 Conversations to Help Tweens and Teens Grow into Confident, Caring Young Men, about how to support the emotional lives of children. Jacqueline Howard, health reporter for CNN, moderates their conversation.

What are the solutions to slowing the harmful effects of climate change? Could a plausible one be to block some sun to cool the planet? It may sound far-fetched but scientists are studying solar radiation management as one potential tool in the toolbox. But–it’s a controversial one. Could it be our emergency escape hatch, or a devastating Pandora’s Box? Two environmental pioneers discuss dimming the sun and other tactics to manage climate risk. Energy and Climate Editor for The Economist Vijay Vaitheeswaran speaks with Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense Fund, and David Keith, director of the Climate Systems Engineering Initiative at the University of Chicago.

Growing up in New Jersey without any connections to media, it wasn’t obvious that Jonathan Capehart would become the successful journalist and commentator he is today. But the MS NOW co-host was focused and driven, and kept asking questions until he landed where he wanted to be. He tells the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival audience how he got from one world to another, and how as a Black gay man he’s often felt between spaces. His memoir, “Yet Here I Am: Lessons from A Black Man’s Search for Home” came out just before the festival. Preet Bharara, NYU law scholar and attorney at Wilmer Hale, interviews Capehart.

For those searching for a good life (and who isn’t), psychologist and author Shigehiro Oishi says there’s more to it than happiness and meaning. In his book, “Life in Three Dimensions,” he explains how psychological richness brings joy. In a psychologically rich life, one prioritizes curiosity and exploration and embraces uncertainty and challenge. He tells Allison Aubrey, correspondent for NPR, many Americans attribute happiness to personal success such as a career, a house, and marriage. This is risky, he says, because it can be fleeting. Instead, living a life that includes inquisitiveness and perspective-altering experiences may be a roadmap to a full life.

Societal changes and world events have converged to create our current loneliness epidemic. Despite being in constant contact in some ways, we’ve become extremely isolated in others. But by taking thoughtful action, we might be able to reverse that trend. Today’s talk from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival brings together experts approaching this problem from vastly different perspectives. Marc Dunkelman is a fellow in international and public affairs at Brown University, Virginia Thomas is a psychology professor studying solitude at Middlebury College, and Michael Maltzan is an architect adept at designing public spaces. As the three panelists weave their disciplines together and formulate a vision for a more connected world, journalist and host of “Radio Atlantic,” Hanna Rosin, moderates the conversation.

Humans have had plenty of time to think about it, but still rarely agree on what it means to live a good life. What actually motivates us toward particular actions, and is that the same as what should motivate us? If we don’t already have guiding principles, where can we find them? This lively panel discussion from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival features two philosophers and a writer who approach these questions from diverse angles. University of Chicago philosophy professor Agnes Callard joins Harvard Law School lecturer Adam Sandel and writer David Brooks, the co-founder of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute for an exploration of how intellect meets desire and individualism meets community. Samuel Kimbriel, the founding director of the Aspen Institute’s Philosophy and Society Initiative, moderates the conversation. 

The nature of war is changing quickly. In hot spots around the world, the battlefield is increasingly tech-driven. It’s clear in the Russian-Ukraine conflict where drone expertise has become an essential tool. “The frontlines are incredibly lethal. The moment the Russians show themselves, hundreds of suicide drones can be launched to take them out,” says United States General David Petraeus who commanded US-led coalitions in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, Ukraine recently offered to help the US in its drone warfare with Iran. Petraeus talks with Anne Neuberger, former deputy national security advisor in the Biden Administration, and Politico’s Dasha Burns about the future of modern warfare.

Steve Kerr, head coach of the Golden State Warriors, has a long list of accolades. He has nine NBA championship rings–five as a player and four as a coach. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, he coached the U-S team to a gold medal and, as a player, he holds the title of the NBA’s all-time three-point percentage leader. Rather than basking in glory, Kerr is known for deflecting praise and elevating those around him. He speaks with podcast host and author Kelly Corrigan about influential figures in his life, like his parents and past coaches, and how they shaped his ability to remain grounded. He also talks about his advocacy for gun safety laws and balancing political involvement with his day job.

As younger generations encounter tough job and housing markets and many Americans feel left behind, it’s become more popular to question the utility of the capitalistic system. Can this tide really lift all boats? In this talk from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, three experts in business, economics and anthropology meet to dissect how we got to this point, and what can be done to forge a new path for capitalism. Gillian Tett of the Financial Times and Cambridge University joins Jim Sorenson, the founder of the Sorenson Impact Foundation and Joshua Bolten, the CEO of Business Roundtable for a boundary-pushing conversation. The co-executive director of the Aspen Financial Security Program, Ida Rademacher, moderates the discussion.

Fertility may be more about the daily choices we make rather than factors like delayed maternal age, says fertility physician Dr. Natalie Crawford. Markers of metabolic health, such as chronic inflammation, affect women’s egg quality. Crawford, who experienced four failed pregnancies before having her children, began studying the link between inflammation and infertility. Taking charge of your fertility, she says, means having early conversations about hormonal health and taking steps, like better sleep and nutrition, to improve your chances of getting pregnant. She speaks with Pamela Brown, anchor and correspondent for CNN, about her new book The Fertility Formula: Take Control of Your Reproductive Future.

As fewer and fewer Americans attend traditional houses of worship, the role religion plays in our society is shifting. People will always hunger for spiritual fulfillment and seek value systems, though, so where will they go to meet those needs? Secular life often still draws from deep religious traditions, and faith leaders are in the best position to offer advice about mixing the two worlds. The panelists from this talk at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival examine the evolution of organized religion from several diverse angles. Krista Tippett is the creator and co-host of the public radio show “On Being,” and joins Shira Stutman, a rabbi and co-host of the “Chutzpod” podcast and Gregory Boyle, a Catholic priest and founder of Homeboy Industries, a gang intervention and re-entry program in Los Angeles. David DeSteno, Northeastern University psychology professor and host of the podcast “How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality,” moderates the conversation. 

We all have the ability to be more compassionate, which is scientifically proven to make us healthier, happier, and more connected. It almost sounds like a miracle cure – and it doesn’t even cost anything. So what gets in the way and how do we break down those barriers? Lonnie Ali is the co-founder of the Muhammed Ali Center, which created the Muhammed Ali Index and produced the 2025 Compassion Report. She explains the findings to an audience at Aspen Ideas: Health, joined by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, the director of the Social Connections Lab at Brigham Young University, and Sara Konrath, a social psychologist and professor at Indiana University. They dive into the latest studies on compassion and how to cultivate it in individuals and society at large. Frederick Riley, the executive director of Weave: The Social Fabric Project at the Aspen Institute, moderates the conversation. 

It’s tough to prepare for a future that’s impossible to see, but also critical. How are today’s younger generations balancing the need to save money while responding to current economic uncertainty? What does financial security and preparedness look like for older Americans approaching the end of their careers? Penny Pennington, the head of the financial services company Edward Jones joins Vivian Tu, the CEO of social media financial advice brand Your Rich BFF, for a conversation about finding your own definition of fulfillment while achieving financial goals. Kelly Corrigan, the host of the podcast “Kelly Corrigan Wonders,” moderates the discussion at the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival. 

As humans, we have a deep desire to know we’re needed and that our community values who we are and our contributions. Jennifer Wallace is the author of the forthcoming book Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose. “Mattering is like gravity,” she says, “When we feel it, we feel anchored. We show up to the world in positive ways, we want to connect, we want to engage and contribute.” But, she says, mattering is eroding, leading to loneliness, anxiety, and burnout. She speaks with podcast host and author Kelly Corrigan and Northeastern University psychology professor David DeSteno about how we can build cultures of mattering in our homes, workplaces, and communities.

Gül Dölen is a pioneering neuroscientist in the emerging field of psychedelics. She’s studied how psychedelics may assist in treating trauma, addiction, depression, and even Parkinson’s. A key piece of her research has involved critical periods–when the brain is capable of rapid and deep learning. Psychedelics may be a master key for unlocking these critical periods and curing diseases of the brain. Dölen speaks with Krista Tippett, host of the “On Being” podcast, about what she’s learning about the brain and its capacity to heal. Dölen is a professor at UC Berkeley where she teaches both psychology and neuroscience.

The jobs artificial intelligence could replace and the blunders it makes tend to steal all the headlines. But are there also ways we could use AI to actually make us better people? And how would we even define or assess that? At the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, three experts on the human side of this technology discuss what AI is capable of, how it’s limited and how it could be harnessed for self-improvement. UCLA marketing and psychology professor Hal Hershfield joins MIT researcher Pat Pataranutaporn and co-host of the “Hard Fork” podcast, Kevin Roose, for a lively exploration of AI-assisted human potential. Journalist and host of “Radio Atlantic,” Hanna Rosin, moderates the conversation.

Theoretical physicist Brian Greene says science gives him a sense of meaning and purpose because it uncovers how reality is shaped. “When you use physics to understand reality’s deepest workings,” he says, “you feel a kind of cosmic communion by virtue of seeing beneath the surface.” As co-founder of the World Science Festival and a prolific author, Greene has made a career of bringing accessible stories of science to the masses. People will engage with science when it’s visceral and relevant, he says. He visits with Kelly Corrigan, NPR podcast host and New York Times best-selling author, about how we fit into a larger cosmological story.

Icarus at the Edge of Time, World Science Festival

Icarus at the Edge of Time, Brian Greene

The Denial of Death, Ernest Becker

World Science Festival

Investing in women’s sports is an increasingly appealing and sound business decision, but the sector still has a lot of room for growth. When someone like WNBA star Caitlin Clark comes along, audiences boom and the league benefits. But what happens when she leaves? What will help solidify the business of women’s sports in the long term? In this panel discussion, industry insiders talk about what works and what’s still needed. Carol Stiff, the president of the Women’s Sports Network, joins sports investor and Gotham women’s soccer team governor Carolyn Tisch Blodgett and sports journalist Christine Brennan for a frank discussion about the ongoing cultural and business transformations spurred by female athletes and leagues. Tom Farrey, the executive director of the Sports and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, moderates the conversation. 

Conversations about wellness and our bodies usually don’t focus on what makes all movement possible – our muscles. But these parts of us are more complex than we give them credit for and tied to our overall health in nuanced ways. How we think about strength and muscle also differs based on our gender, upbringing and experience of society. In her latest book, “On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters,” journalist Bonnie Tsui explores how muscles really work, and what doctors and scientists are learning about the importance of strength training and muscle health. In this program from Aspen Ideas Health, Tsui explains to CNN medical journalist Elizabeth Cohen how her curiosity about muscles led her into deep research, anatomy lab visits and reflection on culture, herself and her family. 

Writer Pico Iyer stumbled into a lifelong practice of periodic retreat and reflection after he lost nearly everything in a 1990 wildfire that burned his family’s house down. A friend suggested that he recuperate at a Benedictine monastery near Big Sur, California, and the calm he found there was life-altering. He began returning to the oceanside hermitage regularly, and slowing down became a fundamental part of his life and productive career. In this talk from the 2025 Aspen Ideas Festival, Iyer shares what those times of silence have given him, and how he’s learned to navigate tumult while always coming back to peace. Iyer’s latest book is “Aflame: Learning from Silence,” and he’s also the author of “The Half Known Life” and “The Art of Stillness,” among several other books and many essays.

Aspen Ideas to Go teamed up with our friends at the podcast “Life in Seven Songs” for this special episode recorded live at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Host Sophie Bearman interviews NPR host and reporter Mary Louise Kelly about seven songs that tell a story of her life spanning war zones, motherhood, hearing loss, and late-in-life love.

Hope seems like a simple concept, but the feeling can be difficult to hold onto. And when times are difficult and chaos swirls around us, it’s more important than ever. How do we find and practice hope when it’s elusive? Spiritual and religious leaders rely on centuries of experience and wisdom to continually guide people back to hope, and this episode’s discussion from the 2024 Aspen Ideas Festival draws from these experts. Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber founded the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, and doesn’t shy away from unorthodox methods of ministry. Rabbi Sharon Brous is the founder and leader of IKAR, a nondenominational Jewish congregation in Los Angeles. Humanist chaplain Greg Epstein works with the populations at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Union Theological Seminary professor and the former director of the Religion and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, Simran Jeet Singh, introduces and moderates the conversation.

Weight loss and diabetes drugs in the class called GLP-1s have exploded onto the market, starting to put a real dent in the obesity epidemic. And as doctors are gathering more data, it looks like the medications may also provide real benefits for cardiac health, liver disease, kidney function and possibly even addiction and sleep disorders. In this episode, a panel of experts explains how the drugs work, why they’ve been so effective, and how hopeful we might be about other uses. Cedars Sinai cardiologist Martha Gulati joins Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Diana Thiara, an obesity expert at UCSF, for a forward-looking conversation about this potentially game-changing medical advancement. Time Magazine health reporter Alice Park moderates the conversation.

Aspen Ideas to Go teamed up with our friends at the podcast “Life in Seven Songs” for this special episode recorded live at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Host Sophie Bearman interviews biographer and historian Walter Isaacson about seven songs that tell a story of his life and upbringing in New Orleans. Isaacson was the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute from 2003 to 2018, and is the author of “Leonardo da Vinci,” “Einstein: His Life and Universe,” and “Elon Musk,” among others. His latest book, “The Greatest Sentence Ever Written,” is out on November 17. “Life in Seven Songs” is a production of The San Francisco Standard.

What does it look like to hope in the face of tough times and undeniable challenges? The speakers in today’s talk might describe true hope as more than a passive platitude, but something closer to a muscle that needs exercise. Krista Tippett, the creator and host of the public radio show “On Being,” reunites with young adult author and MacArthur grantee Jason Reynolds to continue their multi-year conversation about how to find resilience in a world full of obstacles. They explore the relationship between fear and hope, and share experiences of finding light and connection in unexpected places.

Arts institutions carry a responsibility for responding to and driving culture. What does it take to lead these organizations and support diverse groups of artists, audiences, and benefactors? Actress, playwright and professor Anna Deavere Smith leads a frank and deep discussion about the role of museums, foundations, and cultural centers in today’s creative environment. Lonnie G. Bunch III, the head of the Smithsonian Institution, joins Mariko Silver, the CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and Yana Peel, the president of Arts, Culture and Heritage at Chanel.