Topic: History

Social innovation can both ease the terrible consequences of the xenophobia and insularity inherent in nationalism, and enhance the positive opportunities for social change within established heritage and cultural traditions. In this discussion, sponsored by the Stanford Center for Social Innovation, experts consider topics ranging from multiculturalism within countries to cross-national and international cultural challenges and opportunities.

Dr. Moira Gunn interviews Eric Simons, author of the book Darwin Slept Here, a portrait of a young Charles Darwin. 2009 is the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

How can the United States and the world benefit from the work of people who have been dedicated to social change over the last 30 years? What can those with the most diverse array of backgrounds and careers do to impact social, economic, and political policy, particularly in this unprecedented era of new political leadership? In this panel from the 2008 Encore Careers Summit, activist leaders from the women's, civil rights, and environmental movements discuss how we can reinvent this country by drawing on lessons from the past.

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Zachary Shore of the Naval Postgraduate School about blunders, looking back through history and gleaning insights on life in the present. The techno-snafu's start with no other than Thomas Alva Edison.

In this 2003 archive interview, Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with the late Michael Crichton about his then latest book, Prey.

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Russel Shorto, author of "Descarte's Bones: A Skeletal History of the Conflict between Faith and Reason," about the peculiar role played by Descarte's bones.

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Keith Devlin, author of "The Unfinished Game," who talks about the letters exchanged between two mathematicians -- Pascal and Fermat -- changed our lives.

Jeff Waugh reaches back to the Middle Ages to bring the lessons that three giants of distant history can teach the free software community. A passionate advocate for software freedom and open source, he speaks about the historical influences on Ubuntu. Waugh also describes how the modern giants Python, Debian, and GNOME have each lent something to the values and culture of Ubuntu.

Defense journalists Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger have traveled globally to visit sites where the infrastructure of the nuclear arms race still remains. On this edition of IEEE Spectrum Radio, Hodge and Weinberger, who are husband and wife, talk about nuclear tourism and their motivations for writing the book A Nuclear Family Vacation which chronicles an array of discoveries from a one-eyed baby in Kazakhstan to radioactive deer hunting in Tennessee.

How has the "fundamental right" to vote evolved since the colonial period? In this excerpt from the historical public radio show, BackStory, the hosts review how elections were handled as the country was formed and how voting fraud has always been a major problem. They interview Mark Summers, Professor of History at the University of Kentucky about how things have changed in the last two hundred years.