Cancer has been part of life since the origins of evolution.Steve Scher

Baseball inspires poets and scribes to wax on about some essential baseball-ness that reflects larger values. Maybe baseball is not simply a game, but something grander, a philosophy that might help people order the broader human experience? Alva Noë is a writer and a philosopher who thinks about baseball. His latest book is Infinite Baseball: Note…

We think of the astronauts, those brave people who took a ride on a giant rocket ship into the unknown on their way to the moon. Charles Fishman got to thinking about the more than four hundred thousand working people who actually invented the space program, switch by switch, stitch by stitch, making the dream a reality.…

What will the digital world of the future be like? Will humans, or our eternally humming digital simulacra, live in heaven or hell?Steven Scher

Journalist Rachel Louise Snyder has looked at domestic violence around the world in her new book “ No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us.”Steve Scher

health, according to Dr. Sandro Galea, isn’t going to actually occur, for individuals or societies, if we stay focused at that level of attention and care. Health should be considered how everyone lives in their neighborhoods, the opportunities that exist in education and employment. Sandro Galea is an innovator in epidemiology. He is Dean and Prof…

After a career of carefully editing so many accomplished writers, language and punctuation remain a joy to Marry Norris, renowned New Yorker Copy Editor. Her first book, “Between You and Me: Confessions of AComma Queen,”was nominated for a Thurber Prize for American Humor. In her follow up,“Greek To Me: Adventures of The Comma Queen,” Norris shares…

A broken democracy, perhaps like a broken clock, can be right sometimes. Journalist Hedrick Smith’s new film, “Winning Back Our Democracy,” profiles citizen activists around the United States who are making a difference. As one Florida activist put it, if it can happen in their state, maybe community by community, an end to gerrymandering and a com…

A broken democracy, perhaps like a broken clock, can be right sometimes. Journalist Hedrick Smith’s new film, “Winning Back Our Democracy,” profiles citizen activists around the United States who are making a difference. As one Florida activist put it, if it can happen in their state, maybe community by community, an end to gerrymandering and a com…

Siri Hustvedt talks about scholarship, teaching story to psychiatry residents and her new book about memory and time in her new novel, “Memories of the Future.”Steve Scher

“Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell us About Ourselves” by Frans De Waal raises a troubling question that challenges humans place in the world. If animals, from mice and fish to apes and birds, have emotional intelligence, can recognize happiness or distress in themselves and in others, then aren’t we humans obligated to at least a…

Arne Duncan served as President Obama’s Secretary of Education. His assessment of the nation’s efforts to educate children and of his own tenure in federal office is “How Schools Work: An Inside Account of Failure and Success from One of the Nation’s Longest-Serving Secretaries of Education.”Steve Scher

Octavio Solis is an award-winning working playwright immersed in the culture and politics of our time. His plays tell the stories of rural America, of Latino America, of border America. He comes to Town Hall Seattle December 4th,the Rainier Arts Center, to read from his new book, a collection of short dream-like stories of his life growing up along…

An extended walk through Seattle’s Chinatown/International District with scholar Marie Wong. “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels”is the Seattle University professor’s historical examination of this vibrant Seattle neighborhood. The interview came out of an assignment for Seattle Magazine, published in the Decem…

An extended walk through Seattle’s Chinatown/International District with scholar Marie Wong. “Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels” is the Seattle University professor’s historical examination of this vibrant Seattle neighborhood. The interview came out of an assignment for Seattle Magazine published in the Decem…

Through their wealth, philanthropists influence society. Is that fair? As it is currently set-up, Rob Reich says it isn’t. Reich (pronounced “reesh”) is a professor of political science and faculty co-director for the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at Stanford. He has written “Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy An…

Uber has disrupted the taxi industry around the world. But its way of doing business may be reshaping other industries. Alex Rosenblat is a technology ethnographer, a social scientist who learns from strangers and analyzes the technologies they use that shape their place in society. She took hundreds of rides with hundreds of drivers around the US.…

Peter Sagal, the very funny host of NPR’s News quiz “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!” has written a serious and funny book about his attraction to the physical and psychological benefits he gets from running. Sagal talks about his history with running, his hair-raising experience at the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, and the way running helped him as h…

Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Truthdig columnist and RT TV talk show host Chris Hedges reports on what he sees as a declining empire, where oligarchs rules, people are disenfranchised, poorly served by their media and racing towards global climate disaster. He is talking about America.Steve Scher

The origins of humanity have become less uncertain as scientists like David Reich and his colleagues extract ancient DNA from the bones of our distant ancestors. The fast moving science is revealing our common ancestry and our surprising relationships with ancient humans. Reich notes there is much more knowledge to come as more tests are done on an…

People need bees. Since the first wasp got a taste for pollen 125 million years ago, bees and flowers have co-evolved in a way that brings almonds and apricots to our tables. But honeybees, as well as the less well known but equally critical miner, leafcutter, sweat and mason bees are in trouble, getting slammed by climate change, habitat loss and …

“The Tangled tree: A Radical New History of Life,” looks new scientific understanding that tangles up human understanding of the tree of life. Award winning science writer David Quammen says maybe life is more like an elaborate topiary.thehouseofpodcasts

Ray WIliams and Allison Rinard are urban farmers. Their goal is to bring communities together around flowers and food.Steve Scher

The next time you fear for the state of the union, turn your attention to small cities across America. James Fallows and Deborah Fallows say it is in Erie, Pennsylvania and Fresno, California that a brighter American future is being forged. The Fallows new book, Our Towns: A 100,00 mile journey into the heart of America, reads like a call for hope …

It is very hard to stamp out a weed.Steve Scher

Next time you're contemplating the fate of the world over a pint of ale, take a few moments to consider that amber nectar's own role in shaping society.Steve Scher

Will we innovate our way out of looming crises in climate, water, food and energy? Will cutting back and living within our means save us? Or are we like most species, devouring our resources until it is too late? Charles Mann explores the arguments and the values behind two ways of viewing the future- that innovations will save us or that reducing …

From the 1920’s until television permanently settled into our living rooms in the late 1950’s, radio blasted out comedies, variety shows, adventures and dramas to waiting listeners. Radio launched performers like Jack Benny and Fred Allen into stardom. It offered established stars like Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart and Frank Sinatra…

At Length features interviews by Steve Scher with artists, authors and scholars visting Town Hall Seattle Our irrational behavior interferes with our best efforts to curb spending and increase saving. Dan Ariely has come up with some rules of thumb that can help us make better decisions. Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Sma…

At Length is a podcast featuring interview with visiting scholar and authors to Town Hall Seattle. How far removed is Vladimir Putin, the leader of Russia, from the Czars of old and the Soviet Premiers of the past century? What is the source of his grip power in Russia? What happened along the path to democracy envisioned after the end of the Sovie…

Nancy Pearl, the only public librarian featured as an action figure, has written her first novel. “George and Lizzie” is a funny, acerbic look at an always troubled, always promising marriage. We talked at Bryant Corner Cafe in the Northeast Seattle neighborhood of Ravenna-Bryant. Nancy and I had another podcast for a year or so called That Stack o…

Air Force Major Margaret Witt (Ret.) sued the Military over Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which prohibited discrimination against closeted homosexuals but barred openly gay, lesbian, trans or bisexual individuals from service. Her decision to confront the 17 year policy helped overturn the military’s treatment of gays and lesbians and ushered in a new era …

Professor Marieka Klawitter Over the last few years, the debate in America over the rights of people of different gender identities has become a key civil rights issue. Professor Marieka Klawitter is the final speaker in the UW’s Equity and Difference series. Her widely published research, focuses on poverty, family savings and the economic impact …

What are the norms for public and private behavior in these modern times? Well, different norms for different occasions, sure. Different norms for different people too, of course. And too often different norms depending on the color of our skin. That last notion, pointing to the prejudice we carry around inside ourselves, is the most insidious and …

School reform could succeed in the U.S. if the cultural paradigm is flipped and urban schools led by strong leadership among principals, community activists and students are acknowledged as leaders in promoting quality education. University of Chicago scholar Dr. Charles M. Payne talks with Steve Scher about real reform. Dr. Payne spoke in Seattle …

Why aren't Indians often heard in mainstream America? Scholar K. Tsianina Lomawaima says it’s because of the simple but challenging reality that this country is built on Native lands. The recipient of the UW Distinguished Teaching Award talks to Steve Scher about American Indians, citizenship, identity and strength. Professor K. Tsianina Lomawaima …

Dr. Mehnaz Afridi is a Muslim scholar of the Holocaust. She is director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan College, a Catholic college in New York City. The Center’s mission is to promote interfaith dialogue among Muslims, Jews, and Christians. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, raised in Europe, the Middle East and Sca…

Welcome to At Length, our second season of conversations where we take a little more time and delve a little deeper into the profound issues of our era. As part of the UW Graduate School’s Equity and Difference Series, Associate Professor Ralina Joseph has a public lecture, “What’s the Difference with ‘Difference’?” Her talk is about the power of l…

Steve Scher talks to producer, actor and activist Kathy Najimy about women and body image. Powerful forces are at work shaping our body image. Self-esteem, family norms, peer group pressures and the media all influence our feelings about our own bodies. Actor, activist and producer Kathy Najimy wrapped up the UW’s Weight and Wellness lecture series…

We swim in a sea of chemicals. Some of them are harming our environment, some are harming us. In part two of Steve Scher's conversation with scientist Bruce Blumberg, we hear more about the science of hormone disrupting chemicals, what action the regulatory agencies are taking and whether an approach called green chemistry could keep suspect chemic…

Steve Scher talks with Professor Bruce Blumberg about obesogens, hormone disrupting chemicals that seem to change human metabolism. We eat too much. We eat too much processed foods high in calories. We don’t exercise enough. It is being called an obesity epidemic, and it is putting more and more people at risk for heart disease, diabetes, cancer an…

Dr. Ellen Schur talks to Steve Scher about our bodies internal regulatory systems and how they change as we gain weight. She says the body's changes mean that simply exercising more and eating less is not the only factor to consider when we try to lose weight. Obesity is medically defined through the body mass index – BMI- an indirect measure of ho…

Sonia Nazario on a train in Mexico Sonia Nazario, author of “Enrique’s Journey: the story of a boy’s dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother” talks to Steve Scher about the plight of one of the tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors who illegally cross Mexico by freight train and then the U.S. border in order to reunite with their families …

Dr. Regina Benjamin, 18th Surgeon General of the United States, talks with Steve Scher about bringing joy to efforts at losing weight and staying healthy. She spoke in Seattle as part of the UW's Weight and Wellness Series of Lectures. Dr. Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General from 2009-2013 says we have to rediscover the joy in being healthy. "Being he…

Steve Scher talks with Dr. Adam Drewnowski about the links between obesity and poverty. Simply put, people with more money can pay for better food. But people with an attitude researchers are calling 'nutritional resilience' manage to put together a good diet at low cost. So, how can those strategies for eating better on less money spread to the re…

Steve Scher talks with obesity epidemic scholar Shiriki Kumanyika about giving people the tools to understand the health implications of their personal choices. There is an obesity epidemic in America and it is spreading around the world, according the World Health Organization. Most of the world population now lives in countries where overweight a…

Michael Pollan talks with Steve Scher about our national eating disorder. Michael Pollan has helped move food issues toward the center of American politics. His books and articles have focused on how the foods we eat shape our health, environment and culture. He recently co-authored an article, with Mark Bittman and others, calling for a national f…

Steve Scher talks with renowned choreographer Mark Morris, who was raised in Seattle and returns in March presenting a performance with his dance group and a talk at the UW. Mark Morris is one of the most highly regarded arists of our era. The Macarthur fellow is an innovator, a satirist and a romantic. He is most of all, a choreographer suffused w…

Steve Scher talks to former SETI DirectorJill Tarter about the search for life in the universe. Are we alone in the universe? That question drives SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Jill Tarter has been on the hunt for decades. She currently holds the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View,…

Steve Scher talks to Christoph Bode about future narratives. Story creates culture, illuminates morality and explores mortality. Stories have rules that transcend different societies and languages. Christoph Bode is a scholar of the story and a student of the emerging changes in narrative structure. Christoph Bode is focused on story. Not necessari…