Ideas

How? Some scientists believe in the power of nuclear fusion. Environmentally, these machines would have the potential to meet our energy needs with zero carbon cost. But the other advantage is removing a significant motivation behind war — the control of energy sources. Think about it. The Middle East would look a lot different today. This podcast explores what the transition to fusion energy would entail from the challenges, the rewards and the risks.Guest in this episode:Mustafa Bahran is a physics professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. He came to Canada after his life in Yemen became too dangerous. There he founded the Yemeni Scientific Research Foundation and National Atomic Energy Commission.Greg Twinney is the the CEO of General Fusion.Mike Donaldson is senior vice president in technology development at General Fusion.Michael Mann is a climate scientist and director at the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media.JC Btaiche is founder and CEO of a nuclear fusion company called Fuse.

Elmina is a place in Ghana that poet Sarpong Osei Asamoah describes as a "two-sided wonder." A bustling, lively fishing town in contrast to the painful history of a 400 year old 'slave castle' — a UNESCO World Heritage site. Historically, it's considered 'ground zero' for global economic and racial injustice. This podcast takes you on a tour inside the dark and brutal past of the Elmina castle and through the vibrant town that's full of life.Guests in this episode:Philip Amoa-Mensah is an Elmina tour guide with more than 20 years of experience.Ato Quayson is chair of the department of African and African American studies and professor of English at Stanford University. He is the author of Oxford Street, Accra: City Life and the Itineraries of Transnationalism.Bayo Holsey is a professor of African American studies at Emory University. She is the author of Roots of Remembrance: Refashioning the Slave Trade in Ghana.Sarpong Osei Asamoah is a Ghanaian poet. His poetry includes At Elmina Castle, I Bleed.

The ancient Greek story of Jason and Medea starts as a love story and ends as a horror show — just the way the Greeks liked it. The met, fell in love, stole the magical golden fleece (a symbol of authority and kinship) and escaped like a primeval Bonnie and Clyde. Find out why one of our guests calls Jason "an absolute hypocritical pig of a husband" as IDEAS explores their turbulent relationship. *This episode originally aired on Sept.19, 2022.Guests in this episode:Edith Hall is a professor of Classics at Durham University.Florence Yoon is an assistant professor of Greek Language and Literature at the University of British Columbia.Rosie Wyles is a senior lecturer in Classical History and Literature at the University of Kent.James Clauss is a professor of Classics at the University of Washington.Lucy Jackson is an assistant professor of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University.Connor Heaney is a collections manager at the Ray & Diana Harryhausen Foundation in Edinburgh.Vanessa Harryhausen is Ray Harryhausen's daughter.Lyndsy Spence is the author of Cast a Diva: The Hidden Life of Maria Callas, published by The History Press.

"AIDS exacerbates and accentuates inequality," Stephen Lewis said in his final CBC Massey Lectures he delivered in 2005. Back then the willingness of the world’s richest countries to help in the HIV/AID crisis was in question. The former ambassador to the UN and Canadian political leader died March 31st at 88. He will be remembered for his unwavering efforts to bring international attention to the HIV pandemic in Africa — calling out Western governments and financial institutions. This podcast revisits Lewis's Massey Lectures and his overall message to make a difference."I thought I understood the way the world works. I don't. I'll devote every fibre of my body to defeating this viral contagion, but I cannot abide the willful inattention of so much of the international community. I cannot expunge from my mind the heartless indifference, the criminal neglect of the last decade [1995-2005], during which time countless people have gone to their graves, people who should still be walking the open savanna of Africa." — excerpt from Stephen Lewis in his 2005 CBC Massey Lectures.

The Queen of Sheba is a holy figure to some; a demon in disguise to others. Her indelible presence has haunted religious scholars and fuelled nationalist visions in East Africa and Southern Arabia. IDEAS explores the many afterlives of the Queen of Sheba — and how ideas about gender and power have shifted in each retelling of her life.Guest in this episode:Shahla Haeri is a professor of anthropology and a former director of the Women's Studies Program at Boston University, and one of the pioneers of Iranian anthropology. Her books include Law of Desire: Temporary Marriage in Shi'i Iran, No Shame for the Sun: Lives of Professional Pakistani Women and The Unforgettable Queens of Islam: Succession, Authority, Gender.Jillian Stinchcomb is a director's visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey working as a postdoctoral fellow in the "Interactive Histories, Co-Produced Communities: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam" project. In 2020, she defended her dissertation, "Remembering the Queen of Sheba in the First Millennium," a reception history of the Queen of Sheba across Jewish, Muslim, and Christian texts from the biblical to the early medieval period. She works with material in Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Ge'ez.Safia Aidid is an interdisciplinary historian of modern Africa and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Her research addresses anticolonial nationalism, territorial imaginations, borders, and state formation in the Horn of Africa, with a particular focus on modern Somalia and Ethiopia.Eyob Derillo is a reference specialist in the Reading Room of Africa and Asian Studies at the British Library, and previously served as curator for the library's Ethiopic and Ethiopian Collections. He is a Ph.D. student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, focusing on the history of Ethiopian magic.Yousra Ishaq is a director and producer in Yemen, facilitating local productions and coordinating multinational teams including international media outlets such as the BBC and PBS. In 2017, she co-founded the Yemen-based film foundation and production company, Comra Films.

St. John Passion — the complex masterpiece by Johann Sebastian Bach tells the story of Jesus during his final days. It's a work that speaks to the heart of the Christian narrative, which itself lies at the heart of Western culture. Tafelmusik Chamber Choir Director Ivars Taurins and music broadcaster Robert Harris zoom in on the work from the conductor's perspective to show how the notes translate into meaning — at a level of detail we listeners rarely discern.

The guided principles on this list are based on Jesuit Bernard Lonergan's philosophy. His thought will likely shape the world for centuries to come, according to John Dadosky who has studied and taught Lonergan’s work for decades. It’s a bold statement to make, but as he points out, Lonergan’s talking about YOU. The prolific thinker dedicated much of his life's work to understanding human consciousness. In this podcast, IDEAS explores how his insights can play a role in our every day lives.On our website: Five principles to lead a good life.

The face we give to our monsters says much about our anxieties as a culture. But birds? Two classic works of 20th-century horror featured a violent avian army. This podcast looks at why a Daphne du Maurier short story, and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller inspired by it, imagined “The Birds” as humanity’s mortal enemy. Seeded with fears of technological overreach and environmental disaster, and terror at the rise of the violent irrational, our reality was anticipated. *This episode originally aired on Sept. 6, 2023.Guests in this episode:Lynn Kozak is an associate professor in history and classical studies at McGill University and editor of Scapegoat Carnivale's Tragic Trilogy.W. Scott Poole is a professor in the department of history at the College of Charleston. He is the author of Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire.Catherine Wynne is a reader in English, and an associate dean for Research and Enterprise at the University of Hull. Her most recent book is on the war artist, Lady Butler. She wrote about The Birds for The Conversation.

There are 19 centibillionaires and a growing list of 3,000 billionaires worldwide. So it might not surprise you that the richest one per cent possesses nearly half of the world’s wealth. History has never seen such an extreme concentration of wealth. Some economists argue the battle of the 21st century is between oligarchy and democracy. How did we get here? IDEAS begins a four-part documentary series The Billionaire Age.Guests in this episode:Ingrid Robeyns is a philosopher and economist. She is the chair in Ethics of Instutions at Utrecht University and the author of Limitarianism: The Case Against Extreme Wealth.Lucas Chancel is the co-director of The World Inequality Lab and a professor at the Paris School of Economics.Gabriel Zucman is also the co-director of The World Inequality Lab. He is a professor at the Paris School of Economics and the University of California, Berkeley.Nitin Bharti is an economist and lecturer at The University of Western Australia. He is the South and South Asia coordinator at the World Inequality Lab.Lars Osberg is an economics professor at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His latest book is The Scandalous Rise of Inequality in Canada.Abigail Disney is an American film producer, philanthropist and social activist. She is a member of Patriotic Millionaires which advocates for higher taxes on the wealthy.Paul Krugman is an American economist and the winner of the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.Tim Wu is a Canadian/American legal scholar and a professor at Columbia Law School. He is also a contributing opinion writer at the New York Times. His latest book is The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity.Nick Hanauer is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He co-authored his latest book with Joan Walsh and Donald Cohen, Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing The Lies and Half-Truths that Protect Profit, Power and Wealth in America. And he hosts the podcast: Pitchfork Economics.Guido Alfani is a professor of economic history at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy. His latest book is As Gods Among Men: A History of the Rich in the West.

Earthworms are supposed to be a sign of healthy soil. But they're actually an invasive species that can even damage forests. So have we been sold a lie about worms and soil? Not exactly. The relationship between the two depends on the context. And the way we garden — or farm — can make all the difference. IDEAS producer Annie Bender unearths the complicated truth about the not-so lowly earthworm.Guests in this episode:Joshua Steckley is a political ecologist, postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University and the author of The Nightcrawlers: A Story of Worms, Cows, and Cash in the Underground Bait Industry.Peter Groffman is a professor at the City University of New York Advanced Science Research Center and Brooklyn College, with research interests in ecosystem, soil, landscape and microbial ecology, with a focus on carbon and nitrogen dynamics.Mike McTavish is a conservation scientist at a rare Charitable Research Reserve in Cambridge, Ontario.Janet Browne is a historian of science and Darwin biographer, author of a two-volume set called Darwin: A Biography.

In more than 40 years on the front lines of international human rights Alex Neve has heard Canada described as ‘the land of human rights’ — and seen the profound ways Canada has failed to uphold universal human rights, both at home and abroad. In his final Massey Lecture, he lays out his vision for a way forward.

The bombing of civilians has been called one of the "great scandals" of modern warfare. So why, despite nearly a century of drafting laws and signing conventions protecting the sanctity of human life, does bombing civilians remain a widespread military tactic? IDEAS producer Naheed Mustafa looks at a century of bombing civilians to try and answer that very question.Guests in this episode:Yuki Tanaka is a historian and emeritus research professor of history at the Hiroshima Peace Institute.Mark Selden is senior research associate in the East Asia program at Cornell University, and the founder of Asia-Pacific Journal.Azmat Khan is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and an investigative journalist with the New York Times.

"Our democracy is what’s at stake," says Karen Hao, an engineer who used to work in Silicon Valley. Now she’s an outspoken critic of its AI giants. The investigative journalist argues AI companies run their businesses like empires and it has to stop. In her 2025 bestseller, Empire of AI, Hao digs into the global impact of Big AI and explores how we need to rethink AI to build a better future. This podcast includes a lecture by Karen Hao and a discussion with host Nahlah Ayed.

Fact and fiction may seem poles apart but writers Esi Edugyan and Tiya Miles find the two intertwine perfectly in their award-winning storytelling. Both authors try to imagine past lives in their work, in part so that we may reimagine our own. They may operate in different realms but what they share is the telling of profoundly important stories that would otherwise go untold. It's been a longtime goal for IDEAS to bring these two accomplished authors together for a discussion — and it was worth the wait.This podcast was recorded in front of an audience in January 2026 at a Toronto Public Library event.

Poetry can find you when you need it most. It can be life-altering to read that poem just at the right moment. It was for six IDEAS producers who join Nahlah Ayed in studio to share poems they return to, year after year.This special episode is to mark UNESCO's World Poetry Day, March 21st.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that universal human rights begin in “small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world.” In his fourth Massey Lecture, Alex Neve reflects on moments when people power won the day.*Read this article to learn about the "most powerful" moment in Alex Neve's 40-year-career.

A case before the Supreme Court of Canada is challenging Quebec’s law on secularism. Legal scholar Benjamin Berger is a prominent voice in the study of constitutional and criminal law in Canada. He argues secularism "is a concept that hides more than it shows." In this podcast, Berger examines how secularism obscures the impact of religion on our legal and political systems. "We end up speaking abstractly about what secularism is, what it demands, instead of whether our government is treating people equally and fairly."Benjamin Berger is professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. He delivered Memorial University’s 2026 Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture.

If journalist Vince Beiser had his way the term 'clean energy' wouldn't exist — it's a misnomer. He argues green energy comes with cost. Sure, solar power or wind power are both better than power from fossil fuels but Beiser points out they are still harmful to the planet and people. "There's no magic solution." Beiser tells IDEAS we need to shift to renewable energy but we also need to recognize it's not a "magic solution" — there is a downside with consequences.Vince Beiser's book is called Power Metal: The Race for the Resources that Will Shape the Future.

Port cities are where worlds collide. They are a place of cultural, economic, political and religious contact. They've existed for millennia and facilitated the birth of empires and the rise of a globalized economy. Without port cities, our world would look very different. In the first episode of our series on how port cities shaped the world as we know it, UBC journalism professor Kamal Al-Solaylee visits Singapore — a constantly-evolving port city whose maritime roots go back to the 13th century. 

“One of your tribe is enough.” That’s what Margaret Rossiter was told when she said she wanted to study female scientists. Nevertheless, Rossiter persisted. She found and documented hundreds of women whose contributions to science had been overlooked, under-credited and misappropriated. Then she made history herself by coining the term “The Matilda Effect” to describe why those women failed to get the credit they deserved.Who is Matilda? Matilda Joslyn Gage was a suffragist erased from history. She was known as being too radical for Susan B. Anthony. This podcast shares her story.Guests in this episode:Katie Hafner is a former NYT reporter, host and co-executive producer of Lost Women of Science podcast.Sophie McNulty is the producer of the Lost Women of Science podcast.Ellen Abrams is an assistant professor at the University of Toronto Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. She was a graduate student at Cornell University, who shared an office with Margaret Rossiter and was influenced by her work.Sally Gregory Kohlstedt is a professor emerita of history of science and technology at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and a close friend and colleague of Margaret Rosstier, fellow science historian.Ailsa Holland is a historian and a co-author of On This Day She Putting Women Back into History One Day at a Time.Margaret Rossiter (deceased Aug 3, 2025) was the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History of Science Emerita and Graduate School Professor. She coined “The Matilda Effect” and wrote a three-volume series, Women Scientists in America.