Code Switch

Design is all around us, but much of it could be better, bolder, more elegant. This episode, TED speakers on the essence of good design in buildings, brands, the digital realm and the natural world. Guests include computer engineer Tony Fadell, architect Marc Kushner, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, design critic Alice Rawsthorn, and science writer Janine Benyus. (Original broadcast date: May 20, 2016)

How do you get black people to buy cigarettes made for cowboys and antebellum-style beer? Turns out, you don't. On this episode: Tom Burrell, who transformed the ad industry with a simple motto, "Black people are not dark-skinned white people."

El primer podcast de NPR en español iniciará su nueva temporada el próximo 12 de septiembre. Se vienen 30 episodios en los que podrás oír historias increíbles y conmovedoras sobre Latinoamérica y la comunidad latina en Estados Unidos, que narran cómo es la vida en la región en toda su complejidad y diversidad. Acompáñanos todos los martes.

In this episode, we explore ways to find quiet in our busy lives. How can we step back and make time to reflect in an increasingly distracted and hurried world? (Original broadcast date: November 21, 2014)

On this week's episode, a viral video gives us the opportunity to talk about racism towards and within the Latino community. When a Latino flipped over a street vendor's cart in Los Angeles, many were surprised it was a Latino-on-Latino incident. We'll talk about why the video is surprising and why it isn't.

How much of who we are is biology? How much is learned? And how much can we change? This hour, TED speakers on how genes and experience collaborate — and compete — to make us who we are. Guests include neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, epigeneticist Moshe Szyf, pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris, and psychologist Brian Little.

As calls to remove Confederate memorials grow louder, we head to Richmond, Va., where the veneration of Confederate leaders has been a source of local pride — and revulsion — for more than a century.

Cancer is merciless. It can strike any time, spread without warning, and return unannounced. In this hour, TED speakers reframe not only how we treat cancer, but how we live with it and survive it. Guests include cancer technologist Jorge Soto, Dr. David Agus, Dr. Jay Bradner, Dr. Dean Ornish, and minister Debra Jarvis. (Original broadcast date: July 31, 2015)

After a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville spiraled into deadly violence, residents of the Virginia town do some soul-searching. Plus: a scholar on the politics of white resentment, and a GOP operative worries about the party's long-term future.

For most of modern history, humans have placed smaller humans in institutions called schools. But what parts of this model still work? And what must change? This hour, TED speakers rethink education.TED speakers include teacher Tyler DeWitt, social entrepreneur Sal Khan, international education expert Andreas Schleicher, and educator Linda Cliatt-Wayman.