We often have the honor of getting to ask large questions about the human condition. Sometimes those questions invite us to venture far beyond our studio in Durham, NC, to talk with researchers who are doing innovative research. A refreshing example of that happened when we interviewed Cecilia Heyes of the University of Oxford regarding her Harvard University Press book,…

Originally posted on Tricia C. Bruce, Ph.D.:
Thanks to Brian Southwell, host of the radio show / podcast “The Measure of Everyday Life” for our thought-provoking conversation about the changing context of US religion for young Americans. The focus moved from religion to the non-religious to millennials’ declines in fertility and marriage rates…and even into some of my reasons…

Each week, WNCU (90.7 FM in the Raleigh-Durham listening area) broadcasts an episode of The Measure of Everyday Life. We are grateful for that effort, but we also are proud to be associated with people who support their neighbors and contribute to community life in myriad ways. A great example of that has been the courageous effort of WNCU news…

We often have the opportunity to celebrate efforts to apply social science thinking to real-world problems. Recently, we sat down with Duke University ethics professor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong to talk about his work with Duke’s Bass Connections program to bring together an interdisciplinary team to reduce the incivility that stems from political polarization. We talked about what mathematicians and philosophers can…

Quantitative analysis has enjoyed a new spotlight in recent years, as prognosticators in fields ranging from politics to sports have embraced advanced analytic techniques to make decisions. In the 2011 film Moneyball, Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, a former professional baseball player who became a front office executive for the Oakland A’s and embraced unconventional methods for using statistics to…

The public radio station that produces our show, WNCU, has long stood as a platform for the arts. If you walk into the WNCU studio, you’ll find the signatures of many famous musicians and artists. From that vantage point, it might seem surprising that our program, a program that explores how research can improve the human condition, would have a home at WNCU and…

This past week, I started working with The Measure of Everyday Life as an intern. That has meant I have had a chance to listen to lots of the show’s past episodes, including the recent exploration of opioid use, abuse, and remedies. In this episode (and many others), I observed an intersection of different fields of study, something that was…

Juggling finances and financial information can be a challenge for people in all walks of life. Recently, a team of collaborators including United Way of North Carolina, RTI International, and the University of Washington developed a tool to help people make sense of money in the context of everyday finances. You can find the tool here. We had the honor…

We love connecting not only with researchers but also with journalists and so what a treat it was recently to sit down with Marco Werman of Public Radio International to talk about his experience hosting The World. We explored Marco’s thoughts on the roles of academic sources in contemporary reporting and he was refreshingly candid in his remarks. Thanks to…

We are pleased to announce new underwriting support from the Craig Newmark Philanthropies for WNCU and The Measure of Everyday Life. Later this year, we will be putting our spotlight on innovations to curb the spread of misinformation in collaboration with the Rita Allen Foundation, the Aspen Institute, and RTI International. The new underwriting will support our reporting and production…