Code Switch

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.

Spit into a tube and get in touch with your ancestors! Or not. On this episode we interview the founder of a project that uses DNA tests to talk about race in America. And Kim TallBear, a Native American anthropologist, says why she thinks DNA tests don't really tell you much about yourself.

We live our lives by the calendar and the clock, but time is also an abstraction, even an illusion. In this hour, TED speakers explore how our sense of time changes depending on who and where we are. Guests include director Cesar Kuriyama, poet Rives, psychologist Dan Gilbert, psychologist Laura Carstensen, and cosmologist Sean Carroll. (Original broadcast date: June 19, 2015)

The Census is so much more than cold, hard data. It's about what we call ourselves, the ways we see ourselves and how we're represented. On this episode we ask the former head of the Census bureau why he quit. We talk about how the Census helped create 'Hispanic' identity. And we talk through some of the proposed race and ethnicity categories that may show up on the 2020 questionnaire.

Most of us were raised to believe that tolerance is a good thing, but is it enough or just the bare minimum? This hour, TED speakers on how to move beyond tolerance to a place of deeper understanding. Guests include social scientist Arthur Brooks, diversity advocate Verna Myers, author Aspen Baker, and social entrepreneur and educator Aziz Abu Sarah. (Original broadcast date: April 22, 2016)

Shereen and Gene mix it up with the pioneering hip-hop radio hosts Stretch and Bobbito. These impresarios ran a legendary show in New York City during most of the 1990s. Now they're hosting an interview podcast featuring guests like Stevie Wonder, Dave Chappelle and Mahershala Ali.

We often know how to plan for the future, but find it hard to take the necessary steps. This hour, TED speakers challenge the inevitable and explore what to do today to prepare ourselves for tomorrow.TED speakers include neuroscientists Daniel Levitin and Rebecca Brachman, writer (and neuroscientist) Lisa Genova, epidemiologist Seth Berkley, and behavioral economist Daniel Goldstein.

Leila Day and Hana Baba are hosts of a new podcast called The Stoop. It features conversations black people have amongst themselves — but rarely in public. The pair swing by to talk with Shereen and Gene about their show, and share an episode about a very thorny question: Can African-Americans wear clothing and accessories that originated with African cultures they're not familiar with?

Moments of crisis can upend our lives, but can also help define them. This episode, TED speakers explore how a quick, compassionate or unexpected response can turn crisis into opportunity. Guests include physician Ken Kamler, motivational speaker Matt Weinstein, Melissa Fleming of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, activist Nancy Lublin and photojournalist Kitra Cahana. (Original broadcast date: April 1, 2016)

This encore presentation goes deep on a case involving a white police officer and an unarmed black man in Charlotte, NC. Videos in police-involved shootings can add detail to these cases, but as our colleague Kelly McEvers of the Embedded podcast reports, what you see depends on who you are.