Big World

There is, perhaps, no better measure of a country than how it treats its workers, and Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, is a manufacturing powerhouse that is known for its progressive ideal...

31 Maj 201925min

Small businesses are often referred to as the engine or the backbone of the economy. Entrepreneurs, the people who build new businesses and come up with innovative ideas, can help deter economic stagn...

1 Maj 201919min

At the heart of the 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in US history, was a fiery debate over funding for the border wall. Throughout that period, Americans were constantly reassured by o...

8 Apr 201932min

Over the years, environmental activism in America has evolved. The movement began with a concern for wilderness and focused on pollution as we transitioned into the Industrial Revolution. Events that ...

1 Apr 201928min

Far-right extremists are often opposed to values such as equality—especially the idea that all races are equal. They reject the notion that America is a country comprised of immigrants and that the go...

1 Mars 201927min

The education of sexuality and reproduction, or (as we called it in high school) sex ed, is a controversial topic around the world. Discussions on how to teach sex ed can often get mired in a combinat...

1 Feb 201919min

Why do aid projects in Haiti so often seem to fail? In this episode of Big World, Professor Scott Freeman joins us to discuss the colonial history of foreign intervention in the country [01:28] and ur...

2 Jan 201925min

From hyperdrives to the Vulcan salute, science fiction and fantasy have provided the abundance of worlds and characters that comprise our pop culture. But can these genres inform or reflect our thinki...

30 Nov 201823min