Rates of substance use disorder are rising among women and adolescent girls. In this episode, the psychiatrist Shelly F. Greenfield, whose research focuses on gender differences in addiction, explains the situation—and what can be done. Through her work, Greenfield helps us see addiction as what it truly is: a treatable health condition. Released on October 30, 2025. Part of this podcast was recorded in early 2025, before the current federal administration, and reflects the situation at that time. Since then, significant cuts to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration—the agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services that leads efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation—and the termination of grants have dramatically affected federal resources. The resources posted for this podcast, however, reflect the current moment and are accurate as of the date of its release (October 30, 2025). Episode Transcript Guest Shelly F. Greenfield is a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Kristine M. Trustey Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and chief of the Division of Women’s Mental Health at McLean Hospital. Her research investigates the rising rates of substance use, substance-related health and social consequences in women and girls in the United States, and treatment and health services delivery. Related Content Fellowship Biography: Shelly F. Greenfield Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

On Radcliffe Day 2025, we honored Jodie Foster in recognition of her barrier-breaking six-decade career in front of and behind the camera. In this episode, the newly minted Radcliffe Medalist chats with the Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.—a friend and former mentor—and gets deep about her beginnings, her life path, motherhood, and how she’s grown. Released on June 26, 2025. Episode Transcript Guests Jodie Foster is an actor and filmmaker. In her six-decade career, she has won Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award alongside a Cecil B. DeMille Award and an Honorary Palme d’Or. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University. An award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, cultural critic, and institution builder, Gates has published numerous books and produced and hosted documentary films. Related Content Episode 409: The Importance of Representation in Film Radcliffe Day 2025 in Photos Radcliffe Day 2025 Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Productions, Inc. for production support and Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

Women have played essential roles in the American film industry since its inception—as actors, writers, directors, producers, and an array of other positions—but they have long been both underrepresented and underrecognized when compared with men. On Radcliffe Day 2025—as part of a program honoring the 2025 Radcliffe Medalist Jodie Foster—industry insiders took part in a panel discussion to consider the evolving nature of women’s representation and recognition in the film and television industries, both as subjects and as creators. Released on June 13, 2025. ⁠Episode Transcript⁠ Guests Amy Brenneman ’86 is a television, stage, and film actor, writer, and producer and a founding member of Cornerstone Theater Company, which produces site-specific, community-based theater on themes of social justice. Tomiko Brown-Nagin RI ’17 is the dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and a professor of history in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Naomi McDougall Jones is an award-winning filmmaker, author, and ancestral energy healer. Mira Nair ’79 is an Academy Award–nominated director. Saladin K. Patterson is executive producer and showrunner of the revival of the hit animated series King of the Hill, set to premiere on Hulu later this year, as well as The Wonder Years, The Last O.G., The Cops, and The Bernie Mac Show. Stacy L. Smith is an associate professor of communication at USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, where she founded the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the leading global think tank studying inequality in entertainment. Related Content Radcliffe Day 2025 Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Productions, Inc. for production support and Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

There is a long-held belief in the medical field that doctors should maintain a professional distance from their patients. But it’s only human to be affected by one’s everyday experiences—and for professionals who work with serious illness, these experiences can range from distressing to profound. In this episode, a collaboration with Grief Is a Sneaky Bitch, we discover how the Palliative Story Exchange uses storytelling to center human connection and meaning in this setting. Released on May 22, 2025. Episode Transcript Guest Host Lisa Keefauver is a social worker, a grief activist, and the founder of Reimagining Grief. She hosts the podcast Grief Is a Sneaky Bitch, and she recently published her first book, Grief is a Sneaky Bitch: An Uncensored Guide to Navigating Loss (University of Texas Press, 2024). Guests Alexis Drutchas is a palliative care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a cofounder of the Palliative Story Exchange. Her work has appeared on CNN, on NBC News, and in the New England Journal of Medicine. Richard Leiter is a palliative care physician, writer, and researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a cofounder of the Palliative Story Exchange. He also directs the adult inpatient palliative care consult service and leads the Dana-Farber Department of Supportive Oncology Writing Core. His writing has been published in Cell, the New York Times, and STAT News. Related Content Palliative Story Exchange Podcast: Grief Is a Sneaky Bitch Radcliffe Accelerator Workshop Program Lisa Keefauver Personal Website Alexis Drutchas Personal Website Richard Leiter Institutional Website The Palliative Story Exchange on Instagram Palliative & Supportive Care: “The Palliative Story Exchange: An Innovative Storytelling Intervention to Build Community, Foster Shared Meaning, and Improve Sustainability” Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media, including the sound engineer Jeff Hayash and editors Katie Toulmin and Justin Callahan, for their contributions to the production and editing of this episode.

When Devi Lockwood, then a Harvard undergraduate, encountered the papers of the poet Cora Brooks in the Schlesinger Library, she couldn’t have known that the discovery would spark an in-person friendship with a woman her grandmother’s age. In this episode, she talks about how that friendship developed—and the lasting gifts it provided—along with archives, activism, and the power of unexpected discoveries. Released on May 1, 2025. Episode Transcript Guest Devi Lockwood is an editor, a journalist, and the author of 1,001 Voices on Climate Change: Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement from Around the World (S&S/ Simon Element, 2021). Her writing has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Teen Vogue, and WIRED, and she currently serves as the commentary and ideas editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Related Content Radcliffe Moments: Friendship through the Archives Devi Lockwood’s personal website New York Times: The Trick in Life Is to Keep Moving Schlesinger Library: Papers of Cora Brooks 1,001 Voices on Climate Change: Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement from Around the World (S&S/ Simon Element, 2021) Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is your guest host, the executive producer of BornCurious, and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Dartmouth College, namely Mike Murray and Signe Taylor, for generously providing their media studio, and to Cabin 3 Media—especially sound recordist Jeff Hayash—for their expert work in recording and post-production.

The poetry of Gabeba Baderoon often reaches into memory and the small moments that show the complexity of love. In this episode, Baderoon talks about what spurred her to try the art form, reads from her previous work, and shares how memory plays into her next collection, on which she’s working this year. Released on April 17, 2025. Episode Transcript Guest Gabeba Baderoon is a poet and an associate professor of women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, African studies, and comparative literature at the Pennsylvania State University, where she codirects the African Feminist Initiative. The History of Intimacy (Kwela Books, 2018) is her third published collection, and at Radcliffe, she is working on her fourth. Related Content Fellowship Bio: Gabeba Baderoon Fellowship Talk: “Autobiography of Sand: Relief Map of a Drifting Mind” The History of Intimacy (Kwela Books, 2018) A Hundred Silences (Kwela Books, 2006) Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is your guest host and the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

A chance encounter with an engineering journal changed the life trajectory of Diana Dabby, who was then working as a concert pianist. Now, Dabby uses electrical engineering to innovate musical works that have variation at their center. In this episode, she talks about her career and approach to various projects. Released on April 3, 2025. Episode Transcript Guest Diana Dabby is a concert pianist, a composer, and an engineer who teaches at Olin College of Engineering, where she is the music program director and a professor of electrical engineering. At Radcliffe, she is working on a potentially disruptive technology for variation of musical works; a “variation concert” in which seat location determines what is heard; and a book about artists with a knack for science. Related Content Fellowship Bio: Diana Dabby CantoVario YouTube: Olin Conductorless Orchestra performs Gershwin YouTube: Parallel Lives—Distant Mirrors Event: Three-Part Invention: From Lab to Impact Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is your guest host, the executive producer of BornCurious, and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

In his recent—and timely—lecture, Gary Gerstle looks beyond the figure of Donald Trump to inquire into the roots of America’s authoritarian turn. In it, he dissects the events, policies, and resentments that have led to the breakdown of the neoliberal political order, under which the United States has functioned for the past 40 years, and energized the right. Released on March 20, 2025. Episode Transcript Guests Tomiko Brown-Nagin is the dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and a professor of history in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Beverly Gage is the John Gaddis Professor of History at Yale University and an expert in modern American political history. Gary Gerstle, a historian of modern America, is the 2024–2025 Joy Foundation Fellow at Radcliffe and the Paul Mellon Professor of American History Emeritus and Paul Mellon Director of Research in American History at the University of Cambridge. He has published eight books, most recently The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era (Oxford University Press, 2022). Related Content Fellowship Bio: Gary Gerstle Institutional Bio: Beverly Gage A Deep Look into Trump-Era America Event: America’s Authoritarian Turn Report of Harvard University’s Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group Credits Max Doyle is the A/V technician at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI). Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

As part of a pair of programs featuring open dialogue about issues related to the Middle East, Radcliffe Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin sat down with Noah Feldman to discuss his new book, To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2024). Released on March 6, 2025. Episode Transcript Guests Tomiko Brown-Nagin is the dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and a professor of history in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Noah Feldman is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and founding director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law at Harvard Law School. David Stern is the Harry Starr Professor of Classical and Modern Jewish and Hebrew Literature and a professor of comparative literature at Harvard University. He was the 2011–2012 Beatrice Shepherd Blane Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute. Related Content Noah Feldman’s Institutional Biography Tomiko Brown-Nagin’s Institutional Biography Episode 402: Conversation with Aslı Ü. Bâli To Be a Jew Today: A New Guide to God, Israel, and the Jewish People Report of Harvard University’s Open Inquiry and Constructive Dialogue Working Group  David Stern’s Institutional Biography Credits Max Doyle is the A/V technician at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI). Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

As part of a pair of programs featuring open dialogue about issues related to the Middle East, Aslı Ü. Bâli participated in a conversation with Asim Ijaz Khwaja about modern Arab and Muslim identities in the context of university, local, and worldwide communities and events. Released on March 6, 2025. Episode Transcript Guests Aslı Ü. Bâli is the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale Law School and the president of the Middle East Studies Association. Asim Ijaz Khwaja is the Sumitomo-FASID Professor of International Finance and Development at Harvard Kennedy School, faculty director at the Harvard Center for International Development, and cochair of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian Bias at Harvard University. Related Content Event: Conversation with Aslı Ü. Bâli Aslı Ü. Bâli Institutional Biography Asim Ijaz Khwaja Institutional Biography Episode 403: Conversation with Noah Feldman Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

Every year around this time, New Orleans clads itself in the green, purple, and gold of carnival, which culminates in Mardi Gras. But the celebration is much more than a bacchanalia—it’s a citywide expression of community. In this episode, we speak to a guest intimately familiar with these traditions, especially how they play out in the city’s Black communities. Released on February 20, 2025. Episode transcript Guest Kim Vaz-Deville, a scholar in residence at Dillard University in New Orleans, conducts research on the lives of African Americans in New Orleans from the early 20th century to the present. As the 2023–2024 Lillian Gollay Knafel Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, she worked on her second book about New Orleans Black Mardi Gras traditions, “The Art of Resistance.” Related Content Online Exhibition: Mystery in Motion: African American Masking and Spirituality in Mardi Gras Fellowship Biography: Kim Vaz-Deville Fellow’s Presentation: The Art of Resistance: Sacred Visual Creations of New Orleans’ African American Mardi Gras Maskers The “Baby Dolls”: Breaking the Race and Gender Barriers of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Tradition (LSU Press, 2023) Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media, including sound engineer Jeff Hayash and editors Katie Toulmin and Justin Callahan, for their contributions to the production and editing of this episode.

What is sex for? This is only one of the questions we must consider to be better sexual citizens. In this episode, we talk to an anthropologist who hopes that thinking through such questions will alleviate the problem of sexual assault in the context of our institutional lives, such as college. And she tells us about her current work, a case study. Released on December 19, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Jennifer S. Hirsch is a professor of sociomedical sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health who works at the intersection of social science and public health. Hirsch’s research examines gender, sexuality, and migration; the anthropology of love; social dimensions of HIV; and sexual- and gender-based violence. She is the coauthor, with Shamus Khan, of Sexual Citizens: A Landmark Study of Sex, Power, and Assault on Campus (W. W. Norton, 2020), named an NPR book of the year. Related Content Website: Sexual Citizens Fellowship Biography: Jennifer S. Hirsch Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

More than 100,000 people have gone missing in Mexico since the late 1960s—who are they, and why have they gone missing? We talked to two Radcliffe fellows who have devoted their work to telling this history, from an institutional as well as a personal level, as a way to honor the disappeared and empower their families. This episode contains intense subject matter that may be distressing to some listeners. Released on December 12, 2024. Episode Transcript Guests Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo, a professor and senior researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, is an anthropologist whose work promotes indigenous and women’s rights in Latin America. She is working on an ethnographic account of family collectives searching for their disappeared loved ones throughout Mexico. She was the 2023–2024 Perrin Moorhead Grayson and Bruns Grayson Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Oscar Lopez is is a writer and freelance journalist who covers human rights, politics, and violence. His book in progress examines disappearances in Mexico—and how they became both state policy and organized crime practice. He was the 2023–2024 Shutzer Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Related Content Fellowship Biography: Rosalva Aída Hernández Castillo Fellowship Biography: Oscar Lopez Fellowship Talk: Digging for Hope in Mexico: A Feminist Ethnography in the Land of Mass Graves Fellowship Talk: And Then They Vanished: A Hidden History of Mexico’s Disappeared Podcast: Wounds across Borders Reporting by Oscar Lopez in the New York Times Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Sean Hennessy is a freelance sound engineer and recordist. Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, members of our community delivered “lightning talks”—seven minutes on a particular topic delivered by an expert in the field. In this mini episode, Ayodele Casel, whose “unquestionable radiance” has been called out by the New York Times, shares her thoughts on creativity. This episode was recorded on September 27, 2024. Released on December 5, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Ayodele Casel is a tap dancer and choreographer. She was the 2019–2020 Frances B. Cashin Fellow at Radcliffe and can be seen in the American Repertory Theater production Diary of a Tap Dancer from December 12, 2024, to January 4, 2025. Related Content Diary of a Tap Dancer Ayodele Casel: Personal Website Article: “Now That She Has the Floor” Ayodele Casel: Fellowship Biography Radcliffe Event: “Diary of a Tap Dancer” Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Productions, Inc. for production support and Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, members of our community delivered “lightning talks”—seven minutes on a particular topic delivered by an expert in the field. In this mini episode, Nikolas Bowie, who is currently working on a book contesting the idea that the Supreme Court should have final say on what our Constitution allows, talks about justice. This episode was recorded on September 27, 2024. Released on December 5, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Nikolas Bowie is a 2024–2025 Shutzer Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is a historian whose research critically examines the absence of democracy in institutions that construct and constrain our political lives. Related Content Nikolas Bowie: Fellowship Biography Harvard Law School Article: “I Draw My Courage from You” Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Productions, Inc. for production support and Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder can be difficult because there is no medical test—like a blood test—to detect the disorder. Doctors draw on an individual’s developmental history and behavior to make a diagnosis. But some populations receive notably more diagnoses than others. It is not clear how many individuals with autism may be overlooked, which means not all who are affected are equally likely to be treated. We know that four times as many boys as girls are diagnosed with autism. In this episode, we talk to a researcher who is challenging that gender ratio by working to establish a broader context for the intersectionality of female gender and autism. Her hope is to create a better roadmap that includes autistic females in research, advocacy, and service delivery. Released on November 21, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Ruth B. Grossman is a speech and language pathologist, a professor at Emerson College, and the director of the FACE Lab. She was the 2023–2024 Mary Beth and Chris Gordon Fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. Related Content Ruth B. Grossman: Fellowship Biography FACE Lab Fellow's Talk: Intersectionality of Gender and Autism Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist. Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

As part of our 25th anniversary celebration, members of our community delivered “lightning talks”—seven minutes on a particular topic delivered by an expert in the field. In this mini episode, Durba Mitra, whose research sits at the intersection of feminist and queer studies, tackles the topic of gender. This episode was recorded on September 27, 2024. Released on November 15, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Durba Mitra is the Richard B. Wolf Associate Professor in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. Her scholarship brings together feminist studies, sexuality studies, and global intellectual history. She is the author of Indian Sex Life: Sexuality and the Colonial Origins of Modern Social Thought (Princeton University Press, 2020), and her next book is The Future That Was: Third World Feminism and the Crisis of Authoritarianism (Princeton University Press, forthcoming). She was a Carol K. Pforzheimer Assistant Professor and a 2018–2019 fellow at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, where she also served as an interim faculty director at the Schlesinger Library. Related Content Durba Mitra: Fellowship Biography Article: “Indian Sex Life” and the Cultural Control of Women Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Productions, Inc. for production support and Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

The Schlesinger Library is home to more than 3,000 volumes of personal diaries. In this episode, we talk to Kathryn Allamong Jacob, who recently retired as the Schlesinger’s curator of manuscripts, about her intention to read—and describe—as many of these diaries as she can. Not only are these intimate documents crucial for a fuller portrayal of American women’s experiences, but they also include stories that are amusing, confounding, heartbreaking, infuriating, and inspiring. This episode was recorded on May 2, 2024. Released on October 24, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Kathryn Allamong Jacob is a historian affiliated with Harvard University’s Department of History and the former Johanna-Maria Fraenkel Curator of Manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library for the History of Women in America. Jacob is currently reading and describing the Schlesinger’s diaries, and she recently coauthored, with Frank Costigliola, “Elizabeth Morrison Diary—UN 1945” in the September 2024 issue of Passport. Related Content Radcliffe Magazine: “Dear Diary”: American Lives in First Person News & Ideas: Scenes from a Manuscript Curator’s Life Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist. Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

Since last fall, communities across the country—including our campuses—have questioned the role of universities in public debates. In this panel discussion, cosponsored by Harvard Radcliffe Institute and the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard, Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin and three legal scholars consider whether institutions of higher ed should take stances on the issues of the day. This episode was recorded on March 5, 2024. Released on October 10, 2024. Episode Transcript Guests Tomiko Brown-Nagin is the dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, the Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and a professor of history, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. An award-winning legal historian and an expert in constitutional law, Brown-Nagin is most recently the author of Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality (Pantheon, 2022). Tom Ginsburg is the Leo Spitz Distinguished Service Professor of International Law, the Ludwig and Hilde Wolf Research Scholar, a professor of political science, a faculty director of the Malyi Center for the Study of Institutional and Legal Integrity, and a faculty director of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression at University of Chicago Law School. In his work, he focuses on comparative and international law from an interdisciplinary perspective. Janet Halley is the Eli Goldston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and she is an expert on feminist legal theory; sex, sexuality, gender and the law; family law; law and humanities; and critical legal studies.  Robert C. Post is the Sterling Professor of Law at Yale Law School. He specializes in constitutional law, with a particular emphasis on the First Amendment. Related Content Event: Institutional Neutrality in a Polarized World Harvard Gazette: Should Universities Be Taking Official Stances on Political, Social Issues of Day?  Harvard Magazine: Universities in Public Debates  Harvard Crimson: Amid Debates at Harvard, Legal Scholars Discuss Institutional Neutrality at Harvard Radcliffe Institute Event Credits Max Doyle is the A/V technician at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI). Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at HRI, where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Lily Roberts is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.

Did you know that our Sun’s wind generates a kind of protective cocoon that shields our solar system from harmful galactic material, such as radiation? So how did iron-60, a rare radioactive isotope created by exploding stars, end up here on Earth? In this episode, the astronomer Merav Opher talks us through her discovery that explains how iron-60 got into Antarctic ice and tiny shells at the bottom of our oceans—and what this may tell us about some of the key historical moments for planet Earth. This episode was recorded on April 29, 2024. Released on September 26, 2024. Episode Transcript Guest Merav Opher, the 2021–2022 William Bentinck Smith Fellow, is a professor of astronomy at Boston University. Her research is focused on understanding the heliosphere, the cocoon around the solar system, and lays the groundwork to predict habitable astrospheres. Related Content Merav Opher: Fellowship Biography Nature: A Possible Direct Exposure of the Earth to the Cold Dense Interstellar Medium 2–3 Myr Ago Fellow’s Talk: Understanding Our Heliospheric Shield: Laying the Groundwork to Predict Habitable Astrospheres Credits Ivelisse Estrada is your cohost and the editorial manager at Harvard Radcliffe Institute (HRI), where she edits Radcliffe Magazine. Kevin Grady is the multimedia producer at HRI. Alan Catello Grazioso is the executive producer of BornCurious and the senior multimedia manager at HRI. Jeff Hayash is a freelance sound engineer and recordist. Sean Hennessy is a freelance sound engineer and recordist. Sky Jung is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Heather Min is your cohost and the senior manager of digital strategy at HRI. Emerson Prond is a multimedia intern at HRI and a Harvard College student. Anna Soong is the production assistant at HRI. Special thanks to Cabin 3 Media for their invaluable contributions to the editing of this podcast episode.