Best Alda Communication Training Podcasts (2025)

1
Noah Wyle: Learning from The Pitt 40:59

5d ago40:59

40:59

Playing attending physician “Robby” Robinson in the hit HBO Max series The Pitt has given him insights into how the harrowing world of the emergency room could be improved in real life.By Bobi NYC

1
Mario Livio: Hello? Anybody Out There? 40:31

11d ago40:31

40:31

The recent discovery on a distant planet of a chemical that could be a sign of life has this astrophysicist intrigued if not convinced. But if it turns out to be real it would mean that not only are we not alone – “It would really mean that our Galaxy is teeming with life.”By Bobi NYC

1
Colman Domingo: Magnetic. Fearless. Unstoppable. 40:38

19d ago40:38

40:38

Now starring in the Netflix series The Four Seasons – based on Alan’s 1981 movie – he’s won an Emmy and has been nominated for two Oscars and two Tony awards. In 2024, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. And you surely didn’t miss him at this year’s Met Gala!By Bobi NYC

1
Eric Topol: Live Longer, Better 40:19

26d ago40:19

40:19

While promises of extending the human lifespan to 125 and beyond are premature, recent breakthroughs in the early detection of killer diseases of the major organs and brain offer a healthier old age – especially when paired with behavioral changes that Dr Topol calls “Lifestyle+.”By Bobi NYC

1
Sarah Bell: Alexa’s Ancestors 36:34

1M ago36:34

36:34

AI generated voices like Alexa and Siri are now so much a part of our everyday experience that disembodied chatbots that talk are edging ever closer to being accepted as real. And not for the first time: attempts to generate artificial human voices date back over two centuries.By Bobi NYC

1
Carl Zimmer: The Living Sky 39:33

1M ago39:33

39:33

Stories of the discovery that the air is full of invisible life – and how that discovery was tragically overlooked when the covid pandemic struck.By Bobi NYC

1
John Leguizamo: Meticulously Spontaneous 35:47

2M ago35:47

35:47

His far-reaching career acting, writing and producing on television and film spans voicing a sloth in the movie Ice Age to hosting a PBS series on the untold history of Latinos in the US. He’s fast talking, funny, outspoken and possesses a rare quality in his acting – on display in his new movie Bob Trevino Likes It.…

1
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: Season 29 Trailer 28:18

2M ago28:18

28:18

Alan and Clear and Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd chat about and play clips from some of the shows coming up in season 29. Guests include actor John Leguizamo, science writer Carl Zimmer, and astrophysicist Mario Livio.By Bobi NYC

1
Bill Pullman: From a Stage Fall to Curtain Calls 41:36

2M ago41:36

41:36

A chat with an actor who does it all. After recovering from a near fatal fall on stage as his career was beginning, Bill Pullman has not only had a busy and award-winning career on stage, screen and television, he’s also getting into science communication – while working on a one-man play and making hard cider for his friends and neighbors.…

1
Alison Wood Brooks: Talking About Talk 42:56

2M ago42:56

42:56

How the letters in the acronym TALK can have a profound effect on the next conversation you have.By Bobi NYC

1
Kafui Dzirasa: An Electrical Path to Mental Health? 39:00

3M ago39:00

39:00

A psychiatrist, engineer and neuroscientist, Kaf Dzirasa is researching ways to reengineer the brain to make it better able to cope with stress and so improve mental health.By Bobi NYC

1
Shannon Vallor: The AI Illusion 41:21

3M ago41:21

41:21

Artificial intelligence is poised to reshape our world, in many ways for the better. But the gains come with great risks – above all that its seductive appeal lulls us into believing that AI machines know better than we do.By Bobi NYC

1
Malcolm Gladwell: Tipping Points Old and New 39:25

3M ago39:25

39:25

His new book Revenge of The Tipping Point takes a fresh look at the tipping points of social change he opened our eyes to 25 years ago – and unearths unexpected explanations for such new questions as: what really drove the opioid crisis, why diversity matters, and why Harvard University has a women’s rugby team.…

1
Ann Patchett: Bel Canto Revisited 42:09

3M ago42:09

42:09

In a remarkable and illuminating tour de force, the novelist recently took a fresh look at her best-known book, going through it line by line and annotating it with handwritten notes in the margins – notes on things she both loved and hated. “It shows,” she says, “a lot about how to write a novel.”By Bobi NYC

1
Matt Strassler: What Are You Made Of? 35:54

3M ago35:54

35:54

The answer, regrettably, is unbelievable. That is, unbelievable to most of us, because we cannot imagine a universe – including ourselves – made of waves. Quantum physicist Matt Strassler braves the task of convincing Alan he is a collection of waves, and in doing so helps Alan answer a question that’s haunted him for more than a decade.…

1
Julie Sedivy: How Language Shapes Us 41:10

4M ago41:10

41:10

Her new book, Linguaphile: A Life of Language Love is an ode to the power of language to both shape us and be shaped by us. It’s informed by her own experience with languages: she spoke five before learning English as an immigrant to Canada as a child.By Bobi NYC

1
Mala Murthy: From a Fly’s Brain to Yours 37:27

4M ago37:27

37:27

The 500 feet of wiring packed into fruit fly’s brain has been fully mapped – giving insights into how the more that 300,000 miles of wiring packed into your brain generates your thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions. These insights could also lead to novel treatments for the diseases caused when the wiring goes wrong.…

1
Brenda Wineapple: When Evolution Was on Trial 37:57

4M ago37:57

37:57

In 1925, a trial in a small town in Tennessee riveted the nation. In the dock was a young man named John Scopes, charged with violating a state law outlawing the teaching of evolution. The trial exposed fault lines in society that are opening again today, a century later.By Bobi NYC

1
Daniel Levitin: Music as Medicine 40:46

4M ago40:46

40:46

Music can lift our spirits, bring us to tears, spark our creativity, pace our workouts. Neuroscientist and musician Daniel Levitin explores all these benefits of music – and adds the recent scientific evidence that in some chronic medical conditions, music is medicinal.By Bobi NYC

1
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 28 trailer 36:32

5M ago36:32

36:32

Alan and Clear and Vivid’s executive producer Graham Chedd chat about and play clips from some of the shows coming up in season 28. A major theme of the season is language –from babies picking up clues about their mother’s language while still in the womb, to male fruit flies singing courtship songs to female fruit flies, to a best-selling novelist…

1
Marcia Bjornerud: The Wisdom of Rocks 32:37

5M ago32:37

32:37

Offsprings of the Earth – Earthlings – we are most of us ignorant of the 3.5 billion years of experiments our planet has been through to produce us. Yet the story is there in the rocks all around us – if only we can decipher what they have to say.By Bobi NYC

1
Matt Abrahams: Off the Cuff and in the Zone 40:22

5M ago40:22

40:22

So much of our communication is spontaneous and yet we never really learn or are taught how to do it well – we’re just expected to do it. How to avoid being tongue-tied, whether when called upon to give an impromptu speech or when sitting next to a stranger at a dinner party.By Bobi NYC

1
Dean-David Schillinger: The Power of Patients’ Stories 37:27

5M ago37:27

37:27

Eliciting the story behind a patient’s visit to the hospital can lead to better diagnosis and treatment than medical tests alone – and also reveals much of what needs fixing in health care today.By Bobi NYC

1
Kristin Andrews: Is that spider conscious? 40:53

6M ago40:53

40:53

Alan’s fleeting thought while chasing a spider around the floor sparked a conversation with an animal minds expert who argues that many more creatures than we imagine are conscious. What could this mean for our relationship with the rest of the animal kingdom – including those that annoy us and those we eat?…

1
John Pollack: The Surprising Power of Puns and Analogies 39:05

6M ago39:05

39:05

Good analogies led to cheaper cars and Apple computers; bad ones to lives wasted and lost. And while puns might not always make you smile (or grimace), they helped pave the way for written language.By Bobi NYC

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Alda Communication Training Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Alan Alda

1
Noah Wyle: Learning from The Pitt 40:59

1
Mario Livio: Hello? Anybody Out There? 40:31

1
Colman Domingo: Magnetic. Fearless. Unstoppable. 40:38

1
Eric Topol: Live Longer, Better 40:19

1
Sarah Bell: Alexa’s Ancestors 36:34

1
Carl Zimmer: The Living Sky 39:33

1
John Leguizamo: Meticulously Spontaneous 35:47

1
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda: Season 29 Trailer 28:18

1
Bill Pullman: From a Stage Fall to Curtain Calls 41:36

1
Alison Wood Brooks: Talking About Talk 42:56

1
Kafui Dzirasa: An Electrical Path to Mental Health? 39:00

1
Shannon Vallor: The AI Illusion 41:21

1
Malcolm Gladwell: Tipping Points Old and New 39:25

1
Ann Patchett: Bel Canto Revisited 42:09

1
Matt Strassler: What Are You Made Of? 35:54

1
Julie Sedivy: How Language Shapes Us 41:10

1
Mala Murthy: From a Fly’s Brain to Yours 37:27

1
Brenda Wineapple: When Evolution Was on Trial 37:57

1
Daniel Levitin: Music as Medicine 40:46

1
Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda - Season 28 trailer 36:32

1
Marcia Bjornerud: The Wisdom of Rocks 32:37

1
Matt Abrahams: Off the Cuff and in the Zone 40:22

1
Dean-David Schillinger: The Power of Patients’ Stories 37:27

1
Kristin Andrews: Is that spider conscious? 40:53

1
John Pollack: The Surprising Power of Puns and Analogies 39:05