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IDEAS is a place for people who like to think. If you value deep conversation and unexpected reveals, this show is for you. From the roots and rise of authoritarianism to near-death experiences to the history of toilets, no topic is off-limits. Hosted by Nahlah Ayed, we’re home to immersive documentaries and fascinating interviews with some of the most consequential thinkers of our time.

With an award-winning team, our podcast has proud roots in its 60-year history with CBC Radio, exploring the IDEAS that make us who we are. 

New episodes drop Monday through Friday at 5pm ET.

Ideas

When he was eight, 2025 CBC Massey Lecturer Alex Neve watched his mother fight for daycare in Alberta. It’s shaped how he thinks about human rights. Ahead of his Massey Lectures next week, Neve shares the pivotal moments in his life that led to his human rights advocacy — and shines a light on the chorus of people he carries with him.

The people who inspire Alex Neve to fight for human rights

There’s history, and then there’s oral history. And when it comes to the impacts of war on those who fight them — oral history opens doors to the past that would otherwise stay firmly shut. Michael Petrou, an historian with the Canadian War Museum, argues oral history is especially valuable because it allows us to hear from people "whose voices are quiet, downplayed, or ignored." Their untold stories provide a fuller picture of how war shapes people and societies.

How overlooked veterans make history in their own words

Remembrance Day. Every year we are called on to remember, to reflect on the sacrifices of those who fought in Canada’s wars. Veterans of those wars have a conflicted relationship with Remembrance Day: sometimes their own acts of remembrance include official ceremonies, while others avoid them altogether.

*This the second and last of a two-part series exploring the post-war experience, gathered by the Canadian War Museum’s In Their Own Voices oral history project.

Why Canadian veterans are conflicted about Remembrance Day

Why Canadian veterans are ambivalent about Remembrance Day

Even when wars end, they go on — transforming the people who fought them, their families, and even society. A former war correspondent interviewed more than 200 veterans of all of Canada’s wars for an online oral history project by The Canadian War Museum. The focus is not so much on preserving memories of their combat experiences, but to reflect on what came after. *This is part one of a two-part series.

Not a war story. This is about what comes after for veterans

For someone who died more than 2,400 years ago, Herodotus's voice is still very much alive. "He knows the way [a good story] can elevate but also corrupt and destroy our thinking," says professor Lindsay Mahon Rathnam in this IDEAS episode. The ancient Greek writer observed different cultures first-hand, while capturing the stories they share in an attempt to better understand how they came into being, and why they came into conflict with each other. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 16, 2023.

First historian Herodotus knew the power of story

Political analyst Rachel Maddow and author/activist Rebecca Solnit are sharp observers of Trump 2.0. They both share a common ground: opposition to anti-democratic actions taken by the second administration of U.S. President Trump, and where those actions are taking America, if not the world. 

The two American writers spoke with Nahlah Ayed about the existential issues of this American moment, a public conversation hosted by the International Festival of Authors and PEN Canada. The onstage event, in front of a Toronto audience, was part of the 5th annual Graeme Gibson Talk in Toronto.

Hope lies in knowing that "we've changed the world before”

Physics has been full of astonishing discoveries over the past century. But they open up even bigger mysteries that scientists are working feverishly to explain. What is dark energy? And why is the expansion of the universe accelerating? 

In public talks at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, two prominent physicists – Sarah Shandera of Penn State University and Stanford University’s Savas Dimopoulos – discuss the breakthroughs of recent decades and what it will take to solve the most nettlesome mysteries that have deepened in their wake.

How mind-bending theories could solve mysteries in physics

The true story of America is that it was built on a caste system comparable to India’s, says Pulitzer-prize-winning American journalist Isabel Wilkerson. The author argues that it's key to recognize the roots of the U.S. caste "structure" as she calls it, to understand why conflicts relating to race and class persist. Wilkerson delivered the 2025 Beatty Lecture at McGill University in Montreal.

To fix America's caste system, acknowledge it exists: author

There’s a burgeoning genre of fiction coming from Mexico — stories that merge socio-political history and the impact of drug-related violence with fantastical stories of eerie ghosts, zombies, and monstrous cannibals. IDEAS explores dozens of gothic, horror and crime fiction novels. *This episode is part of our ongoing series, IDEAS from the Trenches, about outstanding PhD scholars across the country. It originally aired on June 5, 2023.

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Mexican fiction turns drug kingpins into vicious vampires

In today's fractured world, the many threats facing humanity seems to be an empathy deficit. Writer and journalist Leslie Jamison discusses the complicated nature of empathy and the dearth of it at a time when it’s needed more than ever. She says maintaining humility when it comes to understanding people is integral.

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Why practicing empathy is far from simple

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