In an era of rampant commodification of life-saving medicines, healthcare must be secured as a global public good, argues health justice advocate Fatima Hassan. In her Boehm Lecture on Public Health she explores ideas of solidarity and leadership in pandemic, epidemic and war responses.

The world is full of problems — our broken healthcare, out-of-reach housing, a democracy in shambles and a dying planet. Is it actually possible to fix this mess? IDEAS hears from people working to fix our most intractable problems at a time when it can feel easier to just give up. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 21, 2023.

Canada’s veterans have a conflicted relationship with Remembrance Day, an idea that may be shifting as older war vets leave us. In a two-part series, IDEAS continues exploring postwar experiences from The Canadian War Museum’s oral history project called In Their Own Voices. *This is part two of a two-part series.

Even when wars end, they go on — transforming the people who fought them, their families, and even society. The Canadian War Museum interviewed more than 200 veterans of Canada’s wars for a project called In Their Own Voices, exploring the profound changes after veterans return home. *This is part one of a two-part series.

Doris Lessing addressed Canadian audiences with her CBC Massey Lectures in 1985, warning warn us against groupthink and what she called the intellectual “prisons we choose to live inside." Now, a response from the present day: Professor Miglena Todorova reflects on Lessing’s message and puts it into the context of today’s politics.

More than 2,000 years ago, someone sat down and drafted a list of what they thought were the seven man-made wonders of the ancient world. From the Pyramid of Giza to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, historian Bettany Hughes shares her enthusiasm for the monumental achievements brought into existence by ancient cultures.

Animals — what on earth are they thinking? A panel of scientists explore the notion of animal cognition from what your dog means when it wags its tail, to the incredible problem-solving skills of crows, as part of the Aspen Ideas Festival. *This episode originally aired on November 5, 2021.

Ahead of the U.S. presidential election, there are growing fears that American democracy is headed toward a crisis point. In this 2022 episode, IDEAS contributor Melissa Gismondi unpacks the idea that America as we've known it may be ending, while exploring where the country may be headed, and what — if anything — can save it.