Shows / The Next Big Idea
The Next Big Idea
The Next Big Idea is a weekly series of in-depth interviews with the world’s leading thinkers. Join hosts Rufus Griscom and Caleb Bissinger — along with our curators, Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — for conversations that might just change the way you see the world. New episodes every Monday and Thursday. For ad inquiries, please reach out to: Network+NBI@yapmedia.com
Episodes
- The Next Big Idea
DAWN OF EVERYTHING: The True History of Humanity
What if everything we think we know about the history of our species is wrong? That’s the provocative question at the heart of a new book by today’s guest…
- The Next Big Idea
DOPAMINE NATION: Why the Modern World Puts Us All at Risk for Addiction
In “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence,” Dr. Anna Lembke says today’s superabundance of pleasurable stimuli makes us all vulnerable to…
- The Next Big Idea
AMBITION: How to Achieve Success on Your Own Terms
From the time she was in high school, Shellye Archambeau had one dream: she wanted to run a business. Ultimately, she pulled it off, becoming one of Silicon…
- The Next Big Idea
FRIENDSHIP: The Science Behind Life’s Deepest Bond
Friends aren’t just fun to hang out with and handy in a pinch. They’re also a biological necessity. Rufus talks to journalist Lydia Denworth, author of the…
- The Next Big Idea
EXPONENTIAL AGE: Everything Is Accelerating. Who’s at the Wheel?
We’ve all seen the meme. Two images, side by side. On the left, a photo of Jeff Bezos circa 1998. His hair is receding, his smile geeky, his sweater bulky and…
- The Next Big Idea
NEW POWER: How to Spread Ideas, Build Movements, and Leap Ahead
Colleges, businesses, and bureaucracies have long operated on an "old power" model — rigid hierarchies that rule from the top down. But Henry Timms says that…
- The Next Big Idea
SPORTS: Life Lessons From an Olympian, a Hockey Coach, and a Middle-Aged Beginner
In this special episode, three writers share the hard-won wisdom they acquired running track, coaching hockey, and attending surf camp in Costa Rica. First…
- The Next Big Idea
FEELING & KNOWING: Unlocking the Secrets of Consciousness
Look up the term “Renaissance man” in the dictionary, and you'll probably find a photo of Antonio Damasio. He is a polyglot, an avid reader of fiction, a…
- The Next Big Idea
Bonus: Adam Grant and Annie Murphy Paul
Our curators — Malcolm Gladwell, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink — recently named “The Extended Mind” by Annie Murphy Paul one of the best books of the…
- The Next Big Idea
LAZINESS: There's No Such Thing
Are you lazy? Social psychologist Devon Price doesn’t think so. In their provocative new book, “Laziness Does Not Exist,” Devon invites us to imagine a world…
- The Next Big Idea
HOW TO CHANGE: Science-Backed Tips for Becoming Your Best Self (Katy Milkman & Daniel Pink)
When Katy Milkman was a newly minted professor at Wharton, she came across a statistic that stopped her cold: 40 percent of premature deaths result from…
- The Next Big Idea
RATIONALITY: Steven Pinker’s Love Song to Critical Thinking
In his new book, “Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters,” Steven Pinker writes: “When humans set themselves the goal of improving the…
- The Next Big Idea
LOONSHOTS: The Science of Generating Crazy Ideas (Safi Bahcall & Daniel Pink)
What if the fates of careers, companies, even entire industries depend on nurturing crazy ideas? In “Loonshots," physicist turned biotech entrepreneur Safi…
- The Next Big Idea
DEADLINE EFFECT: Can You Work Like It's the Last Minute Before the Last Minute?
The deadline is one of the most powerful tools we have for getting work done. So why are we all so afraid of it? After studying organizations that manipulate…
- The Next Big Idea
EXTRA LIFE: We Doubled Life Expectancy in the Last Century. Can We Do It Again?
Over the past century, the average human lifespan has doubled. That astonishing statistic is the subject of a new book and PBS series by acclaimed science…
- The Next Big Idea
PARENTING: Learn How to Do It Better With Science, Data, and Mr. Rogers
Every season, we invite the authors of the best new non-fiction to distill their books into five big ideas. Then they read those ideas aloud. We call these…
- The Next Big Idea
PERSONALITY: The Science of Being Who You Want
Cognitive neuroscientist Christian Jarrett believes your personality is not etched in stone. Instead, he says, it's made of soft clay, and with the right…
- The Next Big Idea
JOYFUL: Ingrid Fetell Lee and Adam Grant on the Objects That Make Us Happy
Conventional wisdom tells us that real joy comes from within: from exercise or meditation, acts of service or the way we look at the world — pretty much…
- The Next Big Idea
CULT OF WE: How WeWork's CEO Vaporized $40 Billion
Adam Neumann, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home (eight of them, actually) and a happy (if slightly hyperactive) disposition, seemed to unite…
- The Next Big Idea
BREATH: Is Deep Breathing the Secret to Long Living?
We do it 25,000 times a day, but most of us rarely give breathing a thought. Author James Nestor says we’re missing out on one of the most powerful pathways to…
- The Next Big Idea
DRUNK: Can Alcohol Make You More Creative, Sociable, and Attractive?
Do we have alcohol to thank for civilization? The answer, according to Edward Slingerland’s new book, “Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to…
- The Next Big Idea
DEATH, SEX & MONEY: Anna Sale Talks About Hard Things
A lot of us run away from tough conversations. Anna Sale runs toward them. For nearly a decade, as the host of the podcast “Death, Sex & Money,” she has been…
- The Next Big Idea
THE BOMBER MAFIA: Malcolm Gladwell on Warfare, Audiobooks, and the Future of Storytelling
Malcolm Gladwell’s extraordinary new book, “The Bomber Mafia,” tells the story of a group of pilots who met on a muggy airbase in central Alabama and hatched a…
- The Next Big Idea
EFFORTLESS: Embrace the Easy Option
Teddy Roosevelt once said that nothing is worth doing “unless it means effort, pain, and difficulty.” And to that bestselling author Greg McKeown says…
- The Next Big Idea
HIGH CONFLICT: How to Defuse Any Squabble (Amanda Ripley & Susan Cain)
Have you ever lain awake at night, obsessing over a conflict with a colleague or a relative or a politician you’ve never met? That’s what journalist Amanda…
- The Next Big Idea
EXTENDED MIND: Want to Get Smarter? Try Thinking Outside of Your Brain
Modern life has not been easy on our brains. Average IQ scores rose steadily throughout the last century. Now they appear to be leveling off. The problem…
- The Next Big Idea
DELUSIONS: How Self-Deception Can Help You Flourish (Shankar Vedantam & Daniel Pink)
Is it really so bad to be a little bit delusional? Not according to Shankar Vedantam. In his new book, “Useful Delusions: The Power and Paradox of the…
- The Next Big Idea
AI: The Extraordinary Story of the Tech That’s Changing the World
In 1958, a psychologist named Frank Rosenblatt took a five-ton computer, fed it a steady diet of punch cards, and taught it how to recognize the letter “A.” He…
- The Next Big Idea
MINE: How the Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives
Ownership is simple, right? Something is either yours or it isn’t. Case closed. But who owns the space behind your airplane seat, the results of the DNA you…
- The Next Big Idea
GATHERING: Mastering the Art of Hanging Out
You’ve posted a photo of your vaccine card on Instagram. The CDC says it’s okay to leave your bunker. Some of your friends have expressed interest in taking…
- The Next Big Idea
EMAIL: Would the World Be Better Without It?
What’s the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you do before bed? If you’re a modern knowledge worker, your answer is…
- The Next Big Idea
WORK: Should You Do Less of It? Adam Grant and James Suzman on the 15-Hour Workweek.
Our work consumes us. But does it have to? Anthropologist James Suzman has spent decades living in the Kalahari Desert with one of the world’s last…
- The Next Big Idea
CODE BREAKER: Why Walter Isaacson Thinks CRISPR Will Change Life As We Know It
Almost a decade ago, the biochemist Jennifer Doudna and her team at Berkeley figured out how to rewrite our genetic code using a system called CRISPR. Thanks…
- The Next Big Idea
FOOD: Can We Taste Climate Change?
What’s for dinner? How will we answer that question in 50 years? In this thought-provoking (and occasionally hunger-inducing) conversation, science journalist…
- The Next Big Idea
CHATTER: Learning to Love the Voice in Your Head
Whether or not we care to admit it, we all talk to ourselves. A lot. The voice in our heads yaks it up about half the time we’re awake, and it can speak at a…
- The Next Big Idea
HUMOR: How to Turn Levity Into Your Secret Weapon
Humor is no laughing matter. It inspires innovation, strengthens relationships, disarms tension, and makes you look smart. Seriously. So why are we all afraid…
- The Next Big Idea
BEGINNERS: The Joys of Being an Amateur
A few years ago, as he watched his young daughter try out one hobby after another, a thought crossed Tom Vanderbilt’s mind: Why do we work so hard to get our…
- The Next Big Idea
THINK AGAIN: Adam Grant on the Power of Changing Your Mind
We’re taught that the mark of surefire intelligence is the ability to think and learn. But in his new book, “Think Again,” Adam Grant says that in our…
- The Next Big Idea
VOICE: You Are What You Speak
Sure, opposable thumbs are handy. But in his brilliant new book, “This Is the Voice,” John Colapinto says the voice is our species’ greatest attribute. We rely…
- The Next Big Idea
THE BRAIN: A User’s Guide to the Blob Between Your Ears
If you managed to stay awake during Bio 101, then you probably think you have a basic understanding of how your brain works. Not so, says neuroscientist Lisa…
- The Next Big Idea
SERENDIPITY: Good Luck and How to Get It
In all likelihood, some of the biggest moments in your life, like meeting your spouse or finding your job, were the result of a chance encounter or fortunate…
- The Next Big Idea
DRUG USE: Is Getting High an American Right?
Every day, Dr. Carl Hart goes into his laboratory at Columbia University and gets people high. That research has led him to a surprising conclusion: the…
- The Next Big Idea
POST CORONA: Predicting the Future With Scott Galloway
We don’t know when the pandemic will end, but we do know this: while we’ve been stuck at home, the world has been spinning faster than ever. Name any existing…
- The Next Big Idea
LET’S BE REASONABLE: Sam Harris and Rufus in Conversation
Neuroscientist, philosopher, podcaster, author, meditation guru, and unabashed atheist Sam Harris is one of our best-known — and most controversial — public…
- The Next Big Idea
MIND GAMES: What Poker Can Teach Us About Luck, Skill, and Ourselves
You have to play with the hand you’re dealt. At least that’s what we’re always told. But is it really true? How much of what we achieve in life is the product…
- The Next Big Idea
TRANSCENDENCE: Finding Fulfillment Beyond Ourselves
You may have heard about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which sees human development as a sort of a pyramid, with survival needs at the bottom, social and…
- The Next Big Idea
HUMANKIND: Finding Hope in Human History
Our society is built on the assumption that we’re all a broken stoplight away from reverting to our animal selves. It’s what we’ve come to call “realism.”…
- The Next Big Idea
MIGRATION: Why Human Beings Were Built to Move
Birds do it, bees do it, even fishes in the seas do it. So why do we have such a hard time when people migrate from one place to another? Science writer Sonia…
- The Next Big Idea
BREATH: Harnessing the Power of a Lost Art
We do it 25,000 times a day, but most of us rarely give breathing a thought. Author James Nestor says we’re missing out on one of the most powerful pathways to…
- The Next Big Idea
PERSUASION: How to Change People’s Minds
Businesses want people to buy their products. Parents want their kids to eat their vegetables. We all want to convince someone to do something. So we push and…
- The Next Big Idea
ALCHEMY: How Our Creations Recreate Us
Since humans sharpened the first stick and lit the first fire, we have been on an innovation spree, constantly developing new tools and materials to solve our…
- The Next Big Idea
UPSTREAM: Solving Problems Before They Happen
We knew a pandemic was coming. We knew our police were treating some of us differently than others. So why were we so unprepared for what happened? In this…
- The Next Big Idea
CIVILIZATION: Recalculating the Price of Progress
Cutting-edge science, music and art, powerful technology, plentiful food. It’s no wonder we sing the praises of civilization. But do we really have it so good?…
- The Next Big Idea
TOGETHER: A Doctor’s Prescription for Health and Happiness
When Dr. Vivek Murthy became U.S. Surgeon General in 2014, he went on a listening tour. What he heard surprised him. Americans were lonely, and it was killing…
- The Next Big Idea
WEIRDNESS: How to Make it Your Superpower
Olga Khazan describes weirdness as not fitting neatly into a box — regardless of what that box may be. It doesn’t just make other people see you as different —…
- The Next Big Idea
BOYS & SEX: Coming of Age in America
Hook-ups, sexting, friends with benefits, ubiquitous porn — sometimes it seems like boys today are growing up in a world of easy sex and mindless…
- The Next Big Idea
FRIENDSHIP: The Science and Power of Life’s Deepest Bond
Friends aren’t just fun to hang out with and handy in a pinch. They’re also a biological necessity. Rufus talks to journalist Lydia Denworth, author of a new…
- The Next Big Idea
THINKING AHEAD: How to Make Life’s Big Decisions
We all face fork-in-the-road moments in our lives. In his 2005 bestseller “Blink,” Next Big Idea Club curator (and this episode’s guest interviewer) Malcolm…
- The Next Big Idea
LISTENING: What You’re Missing and Why it Matters
In the cacophony of modern life, it can seem that talking, scoring points, and being heard are more important than paying attention to what others have to say…