Podcasts about Scientific American Frontiers

In this episode Garth and guest host Jane Halonen (University of West Florida) interview Dan Schacter from Harvard University in Cambridge, MA. Born in Brooklyn, NY, Dan's undergraduate education occurred at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his passion for golf continued and he studied psychology. (Later stops in his career would include the University of Toronto, the University of Arizona, and Harvard University.) The adventures in his life are numerous, including working with Alan Alda on the Scientific American Frontiers series, writing a successful book about memory while a graduate student, working in William James Hall at Harvard, and living in the same home that William James lived in for a time; serving as department chair at Harvard for 10 years, and so, so much more.

This and all episodes at: https://aiandyou.net/ .   Are you good at bluffing? Do you think you could beat a computer? What if I told you that it was mathematically proven that the computer would beat you? That's what Michael Bowling did for his program that plays heads-up, limit Texas Hold'Em: he proved that it was impossible to do better than draw against it. Michael is a professor at the University of Alberta, a research scientist at DeepMind, and has been on Scientific American Frontiers, National Geographic Today, and featured in exhibits at the Smithsonian. This is an interview from an unreleased archive interview from 2016, recorded at the Canadian Artificial Intelligence Association annual conference. I was pretty green at this then, but Michael's answers are illuminating and just as useful today despite advancements in computer poker since then. He also talked about work being done on video games, and the conversation about artificial general intelligence that was just starting to become intense around the AI community then. All this plus our usual look at today's AI headlines. Transcript and URLs referenced at HumanCusp Blog.        

When you think of models of clear writing and easy communication, do you think of the Federal Government? It turns out one of the leading perpetrators of the bureaucratic lingo and dense legalese that most people detest has been quietly cleaning up its act for the past 10 years. Guests, Katherine Spivey and Katina Rae Stapleton, are federal employees who volunteer their time and expertise to help their colleagues across multiple agencies and offices create government documents and other written resources in plain language. Guided by the Plain Writing Act of 2010, they work to improve U.S. citizens' ability to access and understand government information and services. In this episode, we talk with them about the importance of clear communications, from everyday interactions that help make policy more understandable, to more urgent situations where words can have life-and-death consequences. GUESTS Katherine Spivey and Katina Rae Stapleton Co-Chairs, Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN)Katherine Spivey is co-chair of the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), which is a community of federal employees who volunteer time and expertise to support the use of clear communication in government writing. She is a senior communications specialist for the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Strategic Communications and coordinates the agency's plain language program. She also teaches plain language courses for DigitalGov University and other federal agencies. Katina Rae Stapleton is co-chair of the Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN), where she also provides training for federal employees on how to clearly communicate with their audiences. As a program officer with the Institute of Education Services (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education, Katina oversees research training programs and provides guidance to the department on communications, diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility issues. She is the co-chair of the IES Diversity Council and was secretary of the agency-wide Diversity and Inclusion Council.  LINKS:PlainLanguage.govLaw - https://www.plainlanguage.gov/law/Guidelines - https://www.plainlanguage.gov/guidelines/History/Timeline - https://www.plainlanguage.gov/about/history/Digital.gov presence - https://digital.gov/communities/plain-language/Center for Plain Language's Federal Report Card - https://centerforplainlanguage.org/reports/Clarity International - https://www.clarity-international.org/Plain International - https://plainlanguagenetwork.org/Alan Alda – Clear + Vivid podcast, https://omny.fm/shows/clear-vivid-with-alan-aldaScientific American Frontiers TV show https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-American-Frontiers/dp/B000H0SVZOWIRED – 5 Levels https://www.wired.com/video/series/5-levelsFollow us on Twitter @speakgoodpodCheck out our blogGot an episode idea?

This week The TV Boys sit down to discuss the TV Hall of Fame icon, Alan Alda. Whether acting in the role of Hawkeye or being himself on PBS he's always a fan favorite. *We had some audio issues this week, part of the growing pains of new tech, we should have things back to our normal perfect clarity next week.*

With many children spending more than 40 hours every week in front of “screens”, what is the impact of growing up immersed in this media world? Educational media is a growing industry, but there is no regulation for what can be labeled as educational. How can parents and educators identify quality educational material? To discuss the research and practical insights on what good educational media and technologies entail, I am joined by a leading expert in children's media.   Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) Senior Lecturer, Joe Blatt is Faculty Director of the Technology, Innovation, and Education program. He has received HGSE's highest faculty honor, the Morningstar Award for Teaching Excellence. As Joe was one of my professors during my master's degree, I know first hand what an inspiring teacher he is, and his courses are extremely popular among students every year. Joe's research and teaching focus on the effects of media content and technology on human development, learning, civic behavior, and informal learning. Joe has created television series and interactive media for many types of informal learning environments. He was the executive producer of Scientific American Frontiers, and made documentaries for NOVA, and close to 100 other programs for public broadcasting. He also advises major media and technology companies, including Sesame Workshop, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, and Google.   Joe Blatt: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/faculty/joseph-blatt   Resources Discussed: Common Sense Media: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/ Tap, Click, Read: http://www.tapclickread.org/

In this episode of “Beyond the Expected,” Alan Inkles, Director of the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University, sits down with American actor, director, screenwriter, and author Alan Alda, visiting professor and founder of the Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. Alan has honed his skills as a masterful interviewer over 11 years on the award-winning PBS series Scientific American Frontiers where he spoke with hundreds of the world's greatest scientists. When meeting with academic leaders around the country, Mr. Alda started suggesting to university presidents that they teach scientists how to present their research to the public. Stony Brook accepted his challenge by opening the Center for Communicating Science where Alan used his experience as an actor: whether in relating to the people he interviewed or acted. Using exercises derived from improvisational theater, he and the Center's trainers help participants connect with their audience and bring clarity to complex ideas. The Center has trained over 15,000 doctors and scientists in eight countries to be world class communicators. The Center has also trained Stony Brook University Discovery Prize Award young scientific finalists to present their nominated presentation to judges for consideration of winning $200,000 to further their research. Alan's new podcast, “Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda®,” which looks to help listeners connect better with others in every area of their lives, launched in July 2018 and now has over seven million downloads. A seven-time Emmy Award winner as well as six Golden Globes Awards and recipient of the 2019 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, Alan Alda played Hawkeye Pierce and wrote and directed many of the episodes on the classic TV series M*A*S*H. He has starred in, written and directed many films, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Aviator. He appeared in continuing roles on ER, The West Wing, 30 Rock, The Blacklist, Horace and Pete, The Good Fight, and a recurring role on Showtime's Ray Donovan. Having most recently starred in the Academy Award nominated Noah Baumbach film, Marriage Story, Alan is also the author of several New York Times Best Selling books, the most recent being the 2017 break out book on relating and communicating, “If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?” Production Credits Thanks to Alan Alda, legendary actor, director, writer, author, and, for more than 11 years, the host of “Scientific American Frontiers” on PBS. In 2010 he founded the Alda Center For Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, where he is a visiting professor. More recently, through his Alda Communication Training program, he launched “Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda®,” a podcast which looks to help listeners connect better with others in every area of their lives. Guest Host: Alan Inkles, Director of the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University Executive Producer: Nicholas Scibetta Producer: Lauren Sheprow Art Director: Karen Leibowitz Assistant Producer: Joan Behan-Duncan Podcast Director and Chief Editor: Jan Diskin-Zimmerman Engineer/Technical Director: Phil Altiere Production Manager: Tony Fabrizio Camera/Lighting Director: Jim Oderwald Camera: Brian DiLeo Camera: Greg Klose Original score: “Mutti Bug” provided by Professor Tom Manuel Special thanks to the Stony Brook University School of Journalism for use of its podcast studio.

A Q&A with Alan Alda on November 19, 2019. Moderated by Brian Rose. Alan Alda is indelibly linked to his eleven seasons as Dr. Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H, which debuted in 1972. His work on the comedic drama set in the Korean War made him the only person to win acting, directing and writing Emmys® for the same series. M*A*S*H became a ratings juggernaut, and remains popular with old and new audiences on streaming services and DVD. In addition to his starring role, Alda directed and co-wrote its feature-length final episode in 1983, “Goodbye, Farewell and Amen.” That episode still ranks in the top ten list of most-watched programs in the U.S., bested only by Super Bowls; when it originally aired, over 70 percent of all televisions in the country tuned in. In 2004, Alda joined the sixth season of the Peabody Award winning The West Wing as Senator Arnold Vinick. He received an Emmy® for his performance in that role, which he portrayed throughout the critically acclaimed show’s finale twenty-eight episodes later. In all, he has received 7 EMMY awards. Alda made his first major foray into nonfiction between those two series. He was invited to take over as the host of Scientific American Frontiers in 1993 and continued with what became Alan Alda in Scientific American Frontiers until the PBS show ended in 2005. Alda broke the mold by actively helping scientists communicate their work to viewers on a personal level, chipping away at the jargon and specialized knowledge until he – and therefore the viewer – could understand. Throughout his television career Alda has also been in demand for guest roles, starting with a role on The Phil Silvers Show in 1958 and continuing to the present day in shows including ER, 30 Rock, The Blacklist (for which Alda received an Emmy® nomination), The Big C, Horace and Pete, The Good Fight and, most recently, Ray Donovan. Alda has won a total of seven Emmy awards—including an International Emmy in 2012—and has been nominated 34 times. In January 2019, he was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. Alda landed his first movie role in 1963’s Gone Are the Days!, which starred the legendary Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. He went on to show his range in dozens of additional movies, including his Oscar® nominated role as Senator Ralph Owen Brewster in 2004’s The Aviator. Among Alda’s many other films are Bridge of Spies (2015), The Longest Ride (2015), Wanderlust (2012), Tower Heist (2011), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Neil Simon’s California Suite (1978), Same Time, Next Year (1978), The Mephisto Waltz (1971) and Paper Lion (1968). He also starred in and wrote The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), and starred in, wrote and directed A New Life (1988), Sweet Liberty (1986) and The Four Seasons (1981). Alda plays attorney Bert Spitz in Noah Baumbach’s 2019 film Marriage Story, which is currently in theaters, and will stream on Netflix in December. Alda began his acting career on stage in improvisational theater and the Cleveland Play House acting company, but was soon working on Broadway. In 1962 he was in Purlie Victorious as Charley Cotchipee (a role he reprised in the movie version, Gone Are the Days!). By 1964 he was starring as F. Sherman (Felix, the “Owl”) in The Owl and The Pussycat. Two years later, his tripartite role performance earned a Tony® nomination as Best Actor in a Musical for the Mike Nichols-directed The Apple Tree. Two additional Tony® nominations followed, one for the title role in Jake’s Women and the other for playing Shelly Levene in Glengarry Glen Ross. Alda most recently was seen on stage starring in the 2014 revival of Love Letters opposite Candice Bergen.

Do you remember Hawkeye Pierce? That surgeon from M*A*S*H played by Alan Alda? He was a surgeon with great hands and wit, but with even better communication skills with his patients. Alan became interested in communication when a life-long interest in science led to his hosting Scientific American Frontiers for 11 years on PBS. The Alda Center is the result of his combined interest in science and communication, and is celebrating a 1o year anniversary. Dr. Susmita Pati, the chief medical advisor for the center, talks with me about their mission. And how they accomplish it. They use improvisation skills taught to actors to helps professional caregivers improve their skills. Listen to today's episode and find out: how an acting workshop can improve your communication skills why physicians (and other healthcare providers) often are not prepared to have difficult conversations with you what you can do to improve communication with your healthcare provider Follow the Alda Center on Social Media Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Go behind the scenes with the Clear+Vivid team! Alan Alda sits down with his friend and long time producer, Graham Chedd, to talk about podcasting, their years together on Scientific American Frontiers, and their enduring friendship. Alan and Graham are joined by Associate Producer, Sarah Chase, who is also the voice of the ads and helps Alan run his company, Alda Communication Training (ACT). Our "Tech Guru," Allison Coston also joins in and tells us about her 6 years in the U.S. Navy. The team has some fun turning the tables on Alan and asking him his own 7 questions. Find out what Alan has to say! Support the show.

Game on, comics enthusiasts! In this episode, fast breakers Chris (@AceComics) and Reggie (@reggiereggie) take it to the key when they read Dark Horse Comics' Godzilla vs. Barkley #1 by Mike Baron and Jeff Butler from 1993! After some biographical information on the creators--and Charles Barkley and Godzilla--they dribble through every page of this humorous and possibly unfactual comic book. After a break, they continue to describe the illustrious careers of these characters, and provide a bibliography of every appearance of Godzilla in comics! It's a slam dunk of an episode, don't miss it! find Mike Baron at bloodyredbaron.net find Jeff Butler at jeff-butler.com weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com facebook.com/cosmictmillhistory cosmictmillhistory.tumblr.com @cosmictmill weirdsciencedccomics.com chrisisoninfiniteearths.com weirdcomicshistory.blogspot.com search "weirdcomicshistory" on YouTube BREAK: A snippet from "The Making of Nike's Godzilla vs. Barkley," Scientific American Frontiers ep. 301, aired on PBS in 1992 https://youtu.be/IW36Vj9XzMY

Alan Alda (M.A.S.H., Scientific American Frontiers, The West Wing) talks to Chris about recording the audio book of his book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face?, teaching scientists and doctors communication skills and how he pursued jobs that interested him personally. Alan also talks about how he got into training people in communication, his love of improv, how M.A.S.H. was able to create comedy out of such a serious topic and why he thinks everyone should work on their communication skills!

One of America’s most distinguished actors, Alan Alda is widely known for his roles as Captain Hawkeye Pierce in the American TV series M*A*S*H, as Arnold Vinick in The West Wing and for many films throughout his career. He has a longstanding fascination with science and for 14 years hosted the television show Scientific American Frontiers.  Alan brings these interests together to help scientists communicate about their work, drawing on techniques and insights from improvisational theatre. In this conversation, he and Roger discover unexpected parallels between their worlds and explore how communication underpins science, medicine and theatre. Recorded in New York before the publication of Alan’s latest book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face?, the podcast explores the inseparable nature of art, science and communication.

As an award-winning actor, director, writer, and science communicator, Alan Alda has become something of an expert in empathy, relating to others, and facilitating greater communication and understanding.  Today he returns to the podcast to share some of what he's learned.  He recalls how an unfortunate experience with his dentist set him on a path to teaching better communication between doctors and their patients, and how he became a much better interviewer on Scientific American Frontiers when he stopped trying to be a know-it-all and just indulged his own curiosity.  He talks about theory of mind, how he experimented in his daily life to develop greater empathy for others, how to heal the political divide one conversation at a time, and whether his wife of 60 years thinks he's really a great communicator. Order Alan Alda's new book If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating on Amazon or download the audiobook for free with a special trial offer just for our listeners at www.audibletrial.com/kickassnews. Visit his website at www.alanalda.com and support The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at www.alanaldacenterlearning.org.  Follow Alan Alda on Twitter at @AlanAlda. Today's episode is sponsored by Aspiration, Revisionist History, USMarkerboard.com, and Couchbase.  If your fed up with big banks and poor interest rates, go to www.aspiration.com/kickass.  Malcomb Gladwell's podcast Revisionist History returns for a new season. Subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.  Find out why US Markerboard is the premium supplier of whiteboards and visual display products in North America.  Go to www.USMarkerboard.com and use the promo code KICK for 10% off.  The Couchbase Data Platform is built on the most powerful No SQL technology to give your web, mobile, and internet-of-things apps unparalleled agility, manageability, and performance at any scale.  You can learn more at www.couchbase.com/KickassNews. Subscribe to Kickass News on iTunes and take a minute to take our listener survey at www.podsurvey.com/KICK. Support the show by donating at www.gofundme.com/kickassnews. Visit www.kickassnews.com for more fun stuff.

Alan Alda has been a household name for decades. He is a rare breed of celebrity -- down to earth, funny, kind and a deeply thoughtful human. He is an advocate for women's rights, a passionate devotee of science and an artist still fiercely committed to the craft of acting, writing and directing. On this episode of Little Known Facts, Alda shares very personal stories from his life. He discusses in heartbreaking detail growing up as the only child of a schizophrenic mother in a time when no one spoke of such things; he talks of his father who was a well known performer on the Burlesque circuit, someone who went on to international stardom only to go back to square one again and again. Alan Alda saw firsthand from an early age the great highs and lows of an acting career. Yet with the role of 'Hawkeye Pierce' on the groundbreaking, iconic hit television series M*A*S*H, Alda became a huge star  He reinvents himself with every role and in his conversation with Ilana, he shares his process for creating a character and how to live in the moment. Listen as Alan share his insights on fame and how his passion for art, science, activism and family make him a deeply curious and mindful person. Alan Alda has earned international recognition as an actor, writer and director. In addition to The Aviator, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award, Alda’s films include Crimes and Misdemeanors, Everyone Says I Love You, Flirting With Disaster, Manhattan Murder Mystery, And The Band Played On, Same Time, Next Year and California Suite, as well as The Seduction of Joe Tynan, which he wrote, and The Four Seasons, Sweet Liberty, A New Life and Betsy’s Wedding, all of which he wrote and directed. Most recently, his film appearances have included Tower Heist, Wanderlust, and Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies. In 2016, he appeared as Uncle Pete in Louis CK’s groundbreaking web series Horace and Pete. He has the distinction of being nominated for an Oscar, a Tony, and an EMMY - and publishing a bestselling book - all in the same year (2005). In all, he has received 6 EMMYs and has been nominated for an EMMY 34 times. Alda played Hawkeye Pierce on the classic television series M*A*S*H, and wrote and directed many of the episodes. His EMMY nominations include performances in 2015 for The Blacklist, in 2009 for 30 Rock, in 2006 for West Wing (for which he received an EMMY), and in 1999 for ER. In 1994 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. He hosted the award winning series Scientific American Frontiers on PBS for eleven years. On Broadway, he has appeared as the physicist Richard Feynman in the play QED. He starred in the first American production of the international hit play ART. He has received 3 Tony nominations. In addition to his nomination for the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, he was also nominated for the Tony Award for his performances in Neil Simon's Jake’s Women and the musical The Apple Tree. Other appearances on Broadway include The Owl and the Pussycat, Purlie Victorious and Fair Game for Lovers for which he received a Theatre World Award. He helped found the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and is the author of a play entitled Radiance – the Passion of Marie Curie. His wife, Arlene, is the author of nineteen books. They have three daughters and eight grandchildren.

Alan Alda, the award-winning actor and bestselling author, discusses his decades-long quest to understand the intricacies of communication. With his trademark humor and candor, Alda’s new book, If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?: My Adventures in the Art and Science of Relating and Communicating, chronicles communication breakdowns in his own life from a life-changing misunderstanding with a dentist to learning how to make science relatable to the masses as host of PBS’s Scientific American Frontiers. Drawing on improvisation training, theater, and storytelling techniques from a life of acting, and with insights from recent scientific studies, Alda equips himself with a range of tools to relate to others more effectively. Sharing with audiences his strategies to build empathy and improve the way we communicate, Alda will demonstrate the art of conversation as he talks with Lisa Wolpe—a master communicator in her own right as an actress, director, teacher, and the Artistic Director and Founder of the Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company.

The absolute legendary actor, comedian, director, author, and oh so much more, Prof. Alan Alda, returns to Caltech to talk about his new online streaming melodrama "Horace and Pete" with Louis C. K. and Steve Buscemi. The M.A.S.H. and Scientific American Frontiers star explains to Kevin the fundamentals of science communication, reveals to Jimmy the secrets of acting, and tells Griff the trick of holding back the pressure to catch a big laugh.

[intro music]   Hello, and welcome to Episode Twenty-Five of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller.   This week’s podcast features a special interview with actor and science advocate, Alan Alda, whom you may remember as Hawkeye Pierce in M*A*S*H. But to begin, here’s a brief summary of some of the latest developments on the MS Discovery Forum at msdiscovery.org.   Positive thinking may lead to positive clinical outcomes, according to a new meta-analysis. The investigators found that interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy helped patients deal with physical symptoms like fatigue and pain. They suggested that psychological well-being should be assessed and treated along with physical disability in people with MS. The researchers also called for studies that examined the connection between the psychological and the physical more directly.   Moving from the macro to the micro, we recently published an article about axonal transport. Axons rely on motor proteins to carry cargo across long tracks of microtubules in order to survive. A disruption in this process is associated with neurodegeneration. Recently a team of researchers discovered that axonal transport is disrupted in mice with EAE. In this animal model of MS, even normal-appearing axons failed to transport organelles as quickly or as effectively as healthy axons. But the researchers were able to reverse the process, suggesting a potential new therapeutic target for drug development.   [transition music]   Now to the interview. Alan Alda is an actor known for his television roles in M*A*S*H and The West Wing. But he’s also a longtime advocate of science and scientific literacy and the founder of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. He met with MSDF recently to talk about the art of good science communication.   [Interview]   Interviewer – Dan Keller What, at this point, would you say are the one or two biggest pieces of advice you could give to any technical person or a scientist trying to get his point across to the general public?   Interviewee – Alan Alda I think the most important thing to remember is that it’s not nearly so important to worry about what you have to say to the other person, as it is to think about how the other person is receiving what you have to say. We know this intellectually because everybody knows that you want to know your audience, everybody knows you want to start where the student is, you know, find out what they know and build on that, that kind of thing. We all know that.   But one of the things that I think that we’ve found at the Center for Communicating Science that I helped start is that you need to get in the habit of doing that; you need to really go through the experience of actually opening up to other people, getting their feedback, being able to read from the signals that they give you on their face and their body language – all the various signals you can get – whether or not they’re really paying attention and really following you. If you miss one of the crucial words I say at the beginning of a paragraph, the rest of the paragraph is dead; you’re spending most of your time trying to figure out what I’m talking about.   MSDF As an example, say, in Scientific American Frontiers, you elicited great storytelling; I mean, I assume part of that was picking the right speakers, but how do you coax it out of them in an understandable way? I mean can you essentially guide people without saying, “Hey, come on, bring it down, bring it down.”?   Mr. Alda I think Scientific American Frontiers worked as well as it did because in a way it was a rare thing – I hadn’t seen it done before and so maybe it has, but I hadn’t seen it – where you had a naïve person – ignorant, played by me – and I wasn’t acting. I made use of the natural fund of ignorance that I came in with. I didn’t aspire to an ignorance I didn’t possess, it was real; I really didn’t know what these people did in the laboratory, and I really did want to know what it was. And I wanted to understand it, so I badgered them until I understood it, and I didn’t pretend I understood it if I didn’t. That step where they actually had to come to terms with this person standing right next to them looking up in their faces where they had to actually make it clear to this one person, that changed them in some way, that brought out the human being in them. And they forgot about the camera, they forgot about the millions of people that they might have gone into lecture mode to explain this to. They were talking to one individual and that made a big difference, because they became much more human.   So, yeah, I think that we had people who were comfortable being in front of a camera, but regardless of how comfortable they were in making their language plain-spoken, they had to get even more so when they talked to me because I really, I just tugged at their coat until I understood it. And something happened between us, there was some kind of connection between us that was very watchable, very interesting. I think that helped draw other people in. After we did that, I really wondered if a scientist didn’t have this person dogging him or her to get the information out, but to get it out understandably, what would do it? How could they get accustomed to speaking as though they’re talking to another person who really wants to know? And that’s when it occurred to me that I bet we could teach them improvising and that would help them get more personal, and it has.     MSDF To envision one person.   Mr. Alda Well, when you improvise, at least the way we improvise with scientists, it’s not for the purpose of getting them to be comical, or to make things up on the spot, or to be clever. The whole thing is designed to get the scientists to be accustomed to observing the person they’re talking to, because you can’t play these improvising games unless you’re tuned into the other person in a very powerful way. Once they get used to that and when they turn and talk to an audience, they carry with them that same ability to talk to the people and not over their heads and not at them. They don’t spray information at them anymore, they actually engage the audience, and that’s a tremendous difference.   MSDF Let me switch gears a little bit. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed it, I’ve certainly noticed it, between different closely related scientific disciplines – I mean, I cover medicine mostly – and people in just very closely related things, there’s no cross-pollination. They’re surprised when they hear something that’s going on. Oh, you know, that could be applicable to me. And I think there’s even a lack of communication between the disciplines between scientists. They can certainly speak in the same jargon, but I don’t know if there’s a barrier or if they’re just so wrapped up in their own stuff.   Mr. Alda It seems to be a really serious problem that scientists need more and more to collaborate across disciplines, and the problem is that they often – I think I could say often – don’t understand one another much better than a layperson understands a scientist in a specialized field. So at a certain level, at a certain distance from one another’s work, they’re really in the position of an interested layperson rather than a collaborator, rather than a colleague. And we have to bridge that gap if we’re going to get the benefits of collaboration. And I’ve heard some horror stories of scientists getting together and not understanding one another. And on the other hand, I’ve heard these really heartbreakingly wonderful stories.   When we have a workshop with a range of scientists, scientists from several different fields, one of the wonderful things they say is this has been great, I got to understand, I got to hear about this guy’s work and I never knew anything about it before. They’re hearing an explanation of another person’s work in terms that they might say it to the lay public. It’s acceptable to the other scientists because we don’t ask them to dumb it down, we ask them NOT to dumb it down just to make it clear. So they’re getting a clear version of somebody else’s work that doesn’t include the jargon of that specialized field. It’s stripped of its jargon, it’s spoken in plain language. And the emotion, the passion that the scientist feels about it is allowed to come out because that’s part of the human story that science is. Science, rather than being passionless, is generated by passion. So it’s great that that comes out in this work.     MSDF In the training, obviously you can tell if there’s a difference between before and after. But have you ever been able to test the durability of this, that these people retaining these? Or do they lapse back? Or can you tell?   Mr. Alda It’s hard to get measurements on the success of this, but we’re beginning to get some early results because we’ve been working with teaching assistants. And teaching assistants are graduate students who are asked to give courses to undergraduates to see if the undergraduates want to go into science. And one of the problems has been that a lot of them drop out because they can’t get interested in the science partly because the teaching assistants don’t have any training in communication or in education; they know the material but they’re not really experienced at communicating. So we put them through a course of communication, and then we find some of the numbers we’re getting back are that the students are rating them as highly or higher than people who have been doing this for five years, and these are first-time teaching assistants.   Next thing we’ll check on is are their grades getting better and other things you can measure. But so far, the acceptance of the teachers is already better because there’s an attempt to personalize the experience. And so the students are accepting the teachers more, and by the same token, I assume they’re accepting the science more.   MSDF Have you ever thought of designing a curriculum that could be put into the science graduate programs, because these people are going to become scientists?   Mr. Alda What we’ve actually done is introduced a curriculum into Stony Brook University where I helped the Center for Communicating Science. And there are courses for credit taught to graduate students, and in addition there’s even at least one department that requires that the students take these communication courses. So it’s beginning to be seen as an essential element of the science education. And it’s a small beginning. But my feeling has always been isn’t communication essential to science itself, don’t we need to communicate science in order for it to take place or for the benefits of science to come to the surface? And not only that, that’s practical, but for the beauty of science to be enjoyed by the whole world, you definitely need communication. And that will help more science get done, and better science get done. More people entering science, if they understand how beautiful and engrossing it is – exciting. So it seems to me that since communication is such an important part of science, shouldn’t it be taught as part of a science education so that when you graduate as a capable scientist, you’re also a capable communicator?   MSDF Maybe you don’t even have an idea of this answer, but what got you into this passion for science?   Mr. Alda I’ve always been curious and that made me want to know more. I started reading Scientific American in my early 20s and since then I’ve read almost every article in almost every issue. And I love it, I just love it! I mean, I put the magazine down and I read other science magazines – I read Science & Nature and Science News, which I think does a very good job. Just the other day, I just slammed it down on the table and I said to my wife, “Arlene, you won’t believe this, listen to this.” You hear these wonderful stories of things you never imagined.   MSDF No, I agree. I mean, some people get turned off by it, some people get turned on by it.   Mr. Alda Well, it’s hard to believe anybody would get turned off by it unless they’re not hearing it the right way.   MSDF I think that a lot of people are turned off early because they weren’t encouraged or they were led to believe they couldn’t understand it.   Mr. Alda Yeah, it’s true.   MSDF I appreciate it. Thanks.   Mr. Alda Well, thank you very much.   [transition music]   Thank you for listening to Episode Twenty-Five of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, our final episode for 2014. We’ll be taking a two-week hiatus for the holidays, but we’ll be back with new weekly episodes starting on January fifth.   This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Robert Finn. Msdiscovery.org is part of the non-profit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is vice president of scientific operations.   Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances.   We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org.    [outro music]  

In 1995, Alan Alda was the featured speaker at a special dinner on Monticello's West Lawn. Fresh from a filming trip to China for PBS's Scientific American Frontiers, the award-winning actor related his efforts to look for "clues into [Jefferson's] character" and made connections between efforts by a Chinese scientist to produce a high-yield strain of rice and Jefferson's commitment to the sciences and freedom of thought. (Added to Monticello Podcasts on Jan. 28, 2010. Approx. 22 min. )

In 1995, Alan Alda was the featured speaker at a special dinner on Monticello's West Lawn. Fresh from a filming trip to China for PBS's Scientific American Frontiers, the award-winning actor related his efforts to look for "clues into [Jefferson's] character" and made connections between efforts by a Chinese scientist to produce a high-yield strain of rice and Jefferson's commitment to the sciences and freedom of thought. (Added to Monticello Podcasts on Jan. 28, 2010. Approx. 22 min. )