UnDisciplined: When is throwing something away more environmentally sustainable?
We tend to think that using something until it wears out is good for the planet. But what do we do if the thing we’re using up and wearing o...
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UnDisciplined
Each week, UnDisciplined introduces its audience to two scientists, working in different fields – and then introduces them to each other. The result is a lively, informative and accessible d...
Episodes
20 of 332 episodesUnDisciplined: How do we handle internal propaganda?
We all know politicians, advertisers and social media algorithms are trying to influence what we believe. But what about our own brains? How...
UnDisciplined: Surviving a wildfire evacuation
When wildfire threatens a community, what determines who makes it out safely? Emergency managers, firefighters, and weather all play critica...
UnDisciplined: How should we think about cancer?
When we think about cancer, we tend to think about what doctors can do. But what about what patients can do? How much of that is hope? How m...
UnDisciplined: What can marine microorganisms tell us about the ocean?
The ocean takes up roughly 70% of the planet, but we still don’t know too much about everything that is out there. Most ocean life is very s...
UnDisciplined: The power of noticing
Twenty years ago, Richard Louv helped us begin to think differently about childhood and nature.Now, he's asking a related but perhaps even m...
UnDisciplined: What can theatre teach us about kindness?
For years, comedy thrived on cynicism. The world was a mess, people were selfish, and anyone who believed otherwise was the punchline.But fr...
UnDisciplined: Learning relevance from relegated soccer teams
In the United States, we tend to celebrate people who pick a destination, set a goal, believe in themselves, and refuse to quit until they g...
UnDisciplined: How science fiction reflects science fact
If one of the most important roles of science fiction is that it makes unfamiliar ideas emotionally legible, what are the ideas that we need...
UnDisciplined: How athletes change their perception of time
A few years back, we had David Sinclair on the program. David is one of the world’s top researchers working on the question of whether we ca...
UnDisciplined: How A.I. is remaking the university experience
There is no denying it: A.I. has changed higher education, and teachers are trying to catch up — to figure out how to live in this new world...
UnDisciplined: What Animals Know About Us
Scott Simon has spent a lifetime telling other people’s stories on national public radio. But every now and then, along the way, he’s found...
UnDisciplined: Why we ‘reward’ motivated employees with more work
In workplaces everywhere, the most engaged employees often become the go-to for extra work. It feels logical, but management scholar Sangah...
UnDisciplined: The Joy of Polymathy
A geologist, a planetary scientist, a NASA mission leader, and an expert on team-building walk into a bar. The bartender says, “hey, Lindy,...
UnDisciplined: The Future of Meat Is Clean, Climate-friendly, and Moral
For decades, the case against industrial animal farming has been framed as a moral one—and it hasn’t slowed consumption. As countries grow w...
UnDisciplined: Return to the Moon
Jani Radebaugh, a planetary scientist at Brigham Young University, has spent her career studying the landscapes of other worlds — and for de...
UnDisciplined: The Climatologist and the Dendrochronologist
This winter’s snow drought may leave a mark that lasts for centuries. Justin DeRose, a dendrochronologist and assistant professor of silvicu...
UnDisciplined: What does climate migration really look like?
For years, many people have assumed that climate change will send massive waves of “climate refugees” across borders around the world. But J...
UnDisciplined: Building a future with climate-conscious architecture
In 2011, an EF-5 tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri, claiming 161 lives. Almost immediately researchers like Marc Levitan, from the Nat...
UnDisciplined: Is climate change funny?
Is the greatest existential threat our species has ever faced really something to joke about? Aaron Sachs thinks so. And, in fact, he thinks...