Ideas

This podcast features an all-star, and bestselling, lineup of CBC Massey Lecturers from the past decade:

Payam Akhavan (2017) and the police officer who pulled over to the side of the road to keep listening; Sally Armstrong (2019) and the women’s rights groups listening to her talks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and China; Ron Deibert (2020) and his conviction that ‘philosophical’ radio is more crucial than ever; Esi Edugyan (2021), Tomson Highway (2022) feeling astonished when a stranger recognizes his voice after hearing him on the radio; Margaret MacMillan (2015); Tanya Talaga (2018) and her surprise when an older white man in the audience declares Indigenous activists should “go forth and conquer”; Astra Taylor (2023) and how her secret desire is to work at IDEAS; Jennifer Welsh (2016) comforting an audience member who’d served in Afghanistan; and Ian Williams (2024) on how his lectures have more meanings than he realized — so much so, that he’d like a “second date” with IDEAS.

*This is the third episode in our special programming marking our 60th anniversary. It originally aired on Dec. 3, 2025.

Listen to other episodes in this series:

The time when a guest said, "I love you!"
How an IDEAS episode on traffic changed a doctor's practice
How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email
The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

Not many people like to think about traffic but Joanna Oda says this very topic on IDEAS in 2005 permanently changed the way she views medical care as a doctor. "It helped me understand how things that make sense for you as an individual contribute to a collective problem." She adds, the episode introduced her to the idea that one car has a big impact.

This episode is the first episode in our special week-long series to mark our 60th anniversary. It originally aired on Dec. 1, 2025.

Listen to other episodes in this series:

The time when a guest said, "I love you!"
CBC Massey Lecturers reveal how the talks changed them
How IDEAS saved a listener from sending a regrettable email
The best — and worst — ideas of the last six decades

Numbers get their due credit in this podcast. Even if we're not aware of them, numbers are essential to how we experience the world. IDEAS explores the most bizarre, surprising, mind-blowing and fundamental numbers in the universe.

This panel discussion was recorded live at The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario.

Guests in this episode:

Asimina Arvanitaki is a particle physicist and the aristarchus chair in theoretical physics at the Perimeter Institute.

Ben Webster is an associate professor in the pure mathematics department at the University of Waterloo, and he’s also an associate faculty member at the Perimeter Institute.

Matthew Johnson is a professor of physics and astronomy at York University, and he's also an associate faculty member at the Perimeter Institute.

For the past decade, Canadians have been split 50/50 on new pipelines — that's changed. Two recent opinion polls found roughly three quarters of eligible voters in Canada want at least one new pipeline built to export more fossil fuels. Yet, 70 per cent of people consider climate change a serious threat. IDEAS producer Tom Howell explores the incompatibilities and future scenarios. *This episode originally aired on Oct. 7, 2025.

If you liked this episode, you may want to listen to this podcast: A machine that could save us from war — and global warming

Alexandria has been the source of invention, innovation, and beauty for millennia — capturing the imagination of Napoleon, the Prophet Muhammad and, of course, Alexander the Great. He envisioned a place that thrived on cultural, intellectual, economic, political and religious exchange. IDEAS examines the big ideas of this port city in Egypt with Islam Issa, author of Alexandria: The City That Changed the World.

Part three in our ongoing series about how port cities shaped the world as we know it.

Listen to Part Two: How port cities of Elmina shaped the world

Listen to Part One: How port cities like Singapore shaped the world