For years, comedy thrived on cynicism. The world was a mess, people were selfish, and anyone who believed otherwise was the punchline.But from Ted Lasso, to Paddington, to Come From Away, some of our most beloved stories are finding humor, heart, and even heroism in empathy, earnestness, and human decency.This summer, Lyric Repertory Company is producing Gutenberg! The Musical! It’s a delightfully ridiculous show about two aspiring theater makers who are convinced they have created a masterpiece. They haven't, but their unwavering enthusiasm is part of what makes the show so charming.And it's not the only production in Lyric's season that seems interested in the power of human decency.

In the United States, we tend to celebrate people who pick a destination, set a goal, believe in themselves, and refuse to quit until they get exactly where they always knew they’d be.But real life is messier than that. Dreams change. and sometimes careers stall — we get relegated to something less than what we dreamed of.That's what happened to Todd Smith, a part-time sports writer and full-time landscape supplier.Then he found himself watching an English football match between a billion-dollar giant and a club that most people, even in England, have never heard of, and he fell down a rabbit hole.

A few years back, we had David Sinclair on the program. David is one of the world’s top researchers working on the question of whether we can extend human lifespans.A couple years after that, Nate Price was with us. Nate is also looking at this question, though from a different angle: he wants to know how we can pack more healthy years into the lifespans we already have.But here on the program, we find ourselves returning to another version of that same question: what does it actually mean to lengthen a life?Brett Popplewell has been thinking about that too — about whether a life can feel longer not only through years added, but through attention, novelty, memory, movement, and the refusal to let the days become interchangeable.

There is no denying it: A.I. has changed higher education, and teachers are trying to catch up — to figure out how to live in this new world, and how to make learning meaningful.Stephen Aguilar studies how emerging technologies shape teaching, learning, and motivation. He’s also co-leading work at the USC center for generative A.I. and society, which just released a new report examining how students and teachers are actually using artificial intelligence in real classrooms.

In workplaces everywhere, the most engaged employees often become the go-to for extra work. It feels logical, but management scholar Sangah Bae believes that instinct might be backfiring — a lot. Her recent work shows that intrinsically motivated workers are disproportionately assigned additional tasks, often at a cost to their performance, satisfaction, and long-term retention. The reason isn’t just that they’re capable—it’s that managers assume they’ll actually enjoy the extra work.

A geologist, a planetary scientist, a NASA mission leader, and an expert on team-building walk into a bar. The bartender says, “hey, Lindy, are you drinking alone today?” In this episode, we talk about what it takes to be a polymath, and why it can be such a joy.

For decades, the case against industrial animal farming has been framed as a moral one—and it hasn’t slowed consumption. As countries grow wealthier, meat consumption rises right along with them. But according to Bruce Friedrich, a different kind of change is now underway. From plant-based meat to cultivated proteins, a technological shift may be emerging—one that could make animal farming obsolete, not because people changed their minds, but because the system changed around them.

Jani Radebaugh, a planetary scientist at Brigham Young University, has spent her career studying the landscapes of other worlds — and for decades, that work has depended on images and data sent back by robotic missions. Now, as humans re-enter deep space, she’s asking a different question: What changes when we see these worlds with our own eyes?

This winter’s snow drought may leave a mark that lasts for centuries. Justin DeRose, a dendrochronologist and assistant professor of silviculture and applied forest ecology at Utah State University, says trees across the West are already recording the story of climate in their rings — wet years, dry years, fire years, and sometimes years so harsh they leave almost no growth at all. And as drought years begin stacking up closer and closer together, those forests may be telling us something important about how fast the West is changing.

Is the greatest existential threat our species has ever faced really something to joke about? Aaron Sachs thinks so. And, in fact, he thinks that, in many cases, we’re not joking about it enough.