Ask a Harvard Professor
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Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Ask a Harvard Professor episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Ask a Harvard Professor for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Ask a Harvard Professor episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Preview: Ask a Harvard Professor, Season Four
Ask a Harvard Professor
10/28/21 • 1 min
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
For a transcript of this episode, go to https://harvardmagazine.com/2021/preview-ask-a-harvard-professor-season-four
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Lydialyle Gibson, Jonathan Shaw, Jacob Sweet, and Nancy Walecki, and produced by Jacob Sweet and Niko Yaitanes. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Caroline Buckee: Can Mobile-phone Data Help Control the Spread of the Coronavirus?
Ask a Harvard Professor
10/26/20 • 30 min
Can cellphone technologies play a role in controlling the coronavirus pandemic? Knowing how public health policies interact with people’s actual behavior, even at an anonymous population-level view, can help guide the decisions of leaders. Mobile phone location data can reveal large-scale patterns of activity and travel between regions. In this episode, associate professor of epidemiology Caroline Buckee explains how such data—carefully stewarded to ensure individual privacy—can even be used to help predict where outbreaks are likely to flare next.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
For a transcript of this episode, go to https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/caroline-buckee.
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw, Marina Bolotnikova, Jacob Sweet, and produced by Jacob Sweet and Niko Yaitanes. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Marcyliena Morgan: How has Harvard Cultivated Hiphop?
Ask a Harvard Professor
10/21/19 • 44 min
What does hiphop culture—rap music, break dancing, and graffiti—have to do with Harvard? In this episode, Monrad professor of social sciences Marcyliena Morgan explains that hiphop began with the children of people who marched in the civil-rights movement: teenagers taking apart their parents’ jazz recordings and expressing their distress with a world that hadn’t changed for them, despite their parents’ efforts. They made a new urban poetry of social dislocation, set to music. Now the movement is pushing change in the broader culture, and a Harvard archive seeks to document its beginnings and significance.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw and produced by Lydia Carmichael Rosenberg. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Robin Kelsey: Is a Photograph a Work of Art?
Ask a Harvard Professor
10/07/19 • 32 min
What makes a photograph art? A great photograph may be the result of artistry, or it may be the result of dumb luck: a fleeting, perfect composition captured by chance. At a time when there is a camera in every pocket, how do curators distinguish between documentary and artistic work? In this episode, Burden professor of photography Robin Kelsey, the dean of arts and humanities, explores the role of chance in artmaking generally, and in photography in particular.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
For a transcript of this episode, go to https://harvardmagazine.com/podcast/2019/robin-kelsey.
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw and produced by Lydia Carmichael Rosenberg. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Edward Glaeser: Should We All Be Living in Cities?
Ask a Harvard Professor
09/30/19 • 30 min
Cities are an integral part of Earth’s future: by 2050, 68 percent of the world’s population will be living in an urban area. Solutions to social problems, from climate change to poverty, will therefore be tied to the fates of cities. In this episode, Glimp professor of economics Ed Glaeser explains why he is overwhelmingly optimistic about urban growth. Cities, he says, are engines of innovation and economic activity that create opportunity. “Humans are a social species that gets smart,” he explains, “by being around other smart people.” When they do, their impact on the planet’s climate is lessened in surprising ways—and in surprising places across the United States.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
A full transcript of this episode can be found at https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2019/podcast/edward-glaeser
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw and produced by Lydia Carmichael Rosenberg. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Staci Gruber: How Does Marijuana Affect the Brain?
Ask a Harvard Professor
09/16/19 • 31 min
Weed, ganja, pot, flower, dope, grass, bud: marijuana has many names, but an even greater number of chemical constituents, from THC, the psychoactive component, to cannabidiols such as CBD, often touted for its therapeutic potential. In this episode, Dr. Staci Gruber, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who directs the longest-running study of medical cannabis use in the United States, discusses the effects of the plant’s components on human health. At a time when access to marijuana is progressively legalized, Gruber lays out the surprising ways in which its cognitive effects differ between youths and adults, and between medical marijuana patients and those who use the drug recreationally.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
A full transcript for this episode can be found at https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2019/podcast/staci-gruber
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw and produced by Lydia Carmichael Rosenberg. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Introducing: Ask a Harvard Professor
Ask a Harvard Professor
07/29/19 • 1 min
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw and produced by Lydia Carmichael Rosenberg. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Jeannie Suk Gersen: Do Elite Colleges Discriminate Against Asian Americans?
Ask a Harvard Professor
11/09/20 • 37 min
Harvard Law School professor Jeannie Suk Gersen breaks down the use of race in college admissions and the future of affirmative action at the Supreme Court.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
For a transcript of this episode, go to https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/jeannie-suk-gersen.
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw, Marina Bolotnikova, Jacob Sweet, and produced by Jacob Sweet and Niko Yaitanes. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Carrie Lambert-Beatty: What Happens When an Artwork Deceives its Audience?
Ask a Harvard Professor
11/30/20 • 36 min
The term “parafiction” refers to an artistic performance or presentation that depicts fiction as fact. This idea has particular relevance for our current post-truth moment, in which Americans find themselves overrun with conspiracy theories, misinformation, and fake news.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
For a transcript of this episode, go to https://harvardmagazine.com/2020/carrie-lambert-beatty.
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw, Marina Bolotnikova, Lydialyle Gibson, Jacob Sweet, and produced by Jacob Sweet and Niko Yaitanes. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
Benjamin Sachs and Sharon Block: When did labor law stop working?
Ask a Harvard Professor
03/30/20 • 30 min
Why would it take an Amazon worker, employed full time, more than a million years to earn what its CEO, Jeff Bezos now possesses? Why do the richest 400 Americans own more wealth than all African-American households combined? And how are these examples of extreme income inequality linked to the political disenfranchisement of the lower- and middle-income classes? The established “solutions” for restoring balance to economic and political power in the United States have been tax increases on the rich, on the one hand, and campaign-finance reform on the other. But in this episode, we’ll explore the idea that retooling labor laws for the modern economy may be the most effective way to address both these issues. Harvard Law School’s Kestnbaum professor of labor and industry Benjamin Sachs, together with Sharon Block, executive director of the school’s Labor and Worklife Program, explain.
For more information about Harvard Magazine and this podcast, visit www.harvardmagazine.com/podcast and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
For a transcript of this episode, go to https://harvardmagazine.com/podcast/2020/benjamin-sachs-and-sharon-block
Ask a Harvard Professor is hosted by Jonathan Shaw and produced by Jacob Sweet. Our theme music was composed by Louis Weeks.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Ask a Harvard Professor have?
Ask a Harvard Professor currently has 32 episodes available.
What topics does Ask a Harvard Professor cover?
The podcast is about Photography, Harvard, Art, University, Medicine, Podcasts, Education, Hip Hop, Science and Ethics.
What is the most popular episode on Ask a Harvard Professor?
The episode title 'Caroline Buckee: Can Mobile-phone Data Help Control the Spread of the Coronavirus?' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Ask a Harvard Professor?
The average episode length on Ask a Harvard Professor is 30 minutes.
How often are episodes of Ask a Harvard Professor released?
Episodes of Ask a Harvard Professor are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Ask a Harvard Professor?
The first episode of Ask a Harvard Professor was released on Jul 29, 2019.
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