Espiritismo traces its roots to the sacred knowledge of West and Central African peoples carried into the Americas by enslaved ancestors between the 15th and 19th centuries. Marta Moreno Vega, Ph.D., scholar and co-founder of Corredor Afro, explores how these traditions—sustained in Cuba, Haiti, Brazil, Puerto Rico, other Caribbean islands, and U.S. urban centers—function as systems of memory, survival, and continuity. Drawing on personal and family experiences, Moreno Vega reflects on the challenges of centering African Diaspora spiritual practices in academia, which often privileges “objective” distance over embodied knowledge. She emphasizes the resilience of these ancestral practices and the ways they continue to manifest in contemporary life through remembrance, ritual, and cultural expression. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 40425]

Public health often works behind the scenes—preventing illness, protecting communities, and generating research that too often stays hidden behind paywalls. In a world of eroding trust and rising falsehoods, Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and scientific communicator, explores how we can make the value of public health visible: by telling better stories with data, making science more accessible, and ensuring communities see themselves in the work before, during, and after crisis. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 41066]

Peter Godfrey-Smith, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney, explores the evolutionary roots of consciousness by surveying animal evolution and the emergence of felt experience in several lineages. He examines two central philosophical questions: how such experience might arise gradually, existing in partial forms, and whether it represents a single unified feature with variations or instead a cluster of distinct traits. Author of "Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection," and "Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness and the Making of the World," Godfrey-Smith brings his expertise in philosophy of biology and mind to illuminate how consciousness may have emerged and why its origins remain a profound puzzle. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 41065]

Chef-turned-chemist Vayu Hill-Maini has a passion: to turn food waste into culinary treats using a fungus called Neurospora intermedia. Visit the postdoctoral researcher in the lab and in the kitchen to learn how this mold could make our food system more sustainable and delicious. Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Science] [Show ID: 40983]

Legal scholar Annabel Brett explores the idea of “moral possibility”—the boundary between what laws demand and what people can realistically or ethically be expected to do. Drawing from early modern thinkers like Aquinas, Suarez, and Hobbes, Brett shows how moral impossibility has long shaped debates about legal obligation, resistance, and political agency. Commentators Melissa Lane and David Dyzenhaus join the discussion, examining how this concept applies to everything from climate action and military conscription to unjust regimes and democratic norms. Together, they highlight how institutions, customs, and time shape the space between legal duty and human capacity—and why recognizing this gap is vital to both justice and legitimacy. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 40431]

Political theorist Annabel Brett of Cambridge University explores how the concept of “moral possibility” shapes law, politics, and public obligation. She explains that laws must be realistic for people to follow—what is morally possible varies by individual, culture, time, and circumstance. Drawing on early modern Catholic legal theory, Brett discusses how extreme demands (like enduring war or plague) may justify higher expectations, but only temporarily. She examines how colonial Spanish officials misused this framework to justify forced labor in Peru, wrongly claiming it aligned with indigenous customs. Brett contrasts this with more democratic approaches to law, like Domingo de Soto’s defense of beggars’ rights, which take individuals’ real conditions seriously. Ultimately, she shows how moral possibility is deeply tied to time, virtue, and justice. Commentary is provided by David Dyzenhaus of the University of Toronto. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 40430]

It's time for a new narrative for the ocean, one that reflects current scientific knowledge and acknowledges innovative new partnerships and solutions that center the ocean in our future. In this program, Jane Lubchenco, Professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University and with expertise in the ocean, climate change, and interactions between the environment and human well-being, talks about the two current dominant narratives for the ocean are anchored in the past. The older one considers the ocean to be so vast, bountiful, and resilient that it is simply too big to fail. This first narrative drives pollution and over-exploitation of resources. A second, more recent narrative is that the ocean is now so depleted, polluted, and disrupted, and the drivers of those outcomes are so powerful and complex, that the ocean is simply too big to fix. A third, new narrative is emerging, based on scientific findings, existing solutions, and innovative partnerships and policies. This new narrative acknowledges that the ocean is central to a safe, clean, healthy, just, and prosperous future. This new narrative tells us that the ocean is neither too big to fail, nor is it too big to fix. But it is too important and too central to our future to ignore. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 40427]

Three major global challenges – climate change, loss of biodiversity and its benefits, and inequality and inequity among people – are typically tackled within three separate silos. However, scientific knowledge tells us that the three are inextricably linked. If the problems are not considered together, solutions to one may undermine solutions to the others. Moreover, more holistic, integrated solutions can deliver multiple co-benefits. Success requires integrated solutions. Jane Lubchenco, Professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University, talks about the historically ambitious, innovative policies implemented by the Biden-Harris Administration to achieve this integration. Lubchenco is a marine ecologist with expertise in the ocean, climate change, and interactions between the environment and human well-being. From 2021-2025, she served as Deputy Director for Climate and Environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 40426]

There's a powerful idea in the history of European legal and political thought: that laws must be possible for people to follow. Annabel Brett, professor of Political Thought and History at Cambridge University, describes how from ancient times through the Renaissance, thinkers believed that demanding the impossible—whether physically or psychologically—was a hallmark of tyranny. A classic example is Pharaoh in the Book of Exodus, who ordered the Israelites to make bricks without straw. Brett analyzes how legal thinkers balanced the need for law to be both realistic and aspirational, and how these ideas shaped the development of modern legal systems. Brett is joined by Princeton University's Melissa Lane for commentary. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 40429]

The "energy transition" is actually a shift from relying on fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and gas) to using metals to generate energy. However, extracting metals has always been a significant environmental and political issue, especially for cities. This problem has been around for centuries, even ancient Roman writers wrote about it. In this program, Helen Thompson, Professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University, talks about the historic use of fossil fuels and its economic, social and environmental impacts to the transition today to extracting metals for energy, dominated by China. Thompson points out that extracting resources will always have environmental and social costs. To mitigate these risks, she says we need to find ways to reduce international competition and ecological damage. This requires acknowledging that the idea of endless progress, which was fueled by fossil fuels, has its limits. And she says we must prioritize sustainability and responsible resource management to create a better future. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Business] [Show ID: 40428]

A look at the iconic Sather Gate at UC Berkeley. Series: "UC Landmarks" [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 40500]

Historian and political commentator Heather Cox Richardson joins UC Berkeley professor of law and history Dylan Penningroth in a timely conversation about the reshaping of the United States’ two major political parties. A professor of 19th century American history at Boston College, Richardson provides an incisive perspective on current politics to the more than three million readers of her nightly newsletter, Letters from an American. She has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the Guardian, and is the author, most recently, of the best-selling book "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America." Penningroth is the author of the award-winning "Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights." Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40424]

We are at a critical moment in our society. While we advance efforts to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, across the globe, millions are experiencing issues of energy affordability, reliability and equitable access to modern energy technologies. In this program, Tony Reames, Professor of Environmental Justice at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability, explores the intricate intersection of energy, class, race and place, shedding light on inequities in access to and the distribution of energy resources. Reames discusses how various factors, including socio-economic conditions, policy landscapes and environmental characteristics contribute to energy inequities. The talk underscores the importance of understanding and addressing these issues in the pursuit of energy justice, emphasizing the need for inclusive scholarship, policies and funding that empower marginalized communities. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Science] [Show ID: 40223]

Does giving cash up front improve the health and wellbeing of people in poor communities? In this program, Edward (Ted) Miguel, professor of economics and co-director of the Center for Effective Global Action at UC Berkeley, talks about his work in Kenya on the impact of cash transfers on infant mortality, leveraging a unique large-scale census of local households’ birth histories. The findings provide novel evidence on the broader impacts of cash transfers on wellbeing of a poor rural population, and illustrate the value of the experimental approach in development economics for public policy. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40309]

This program explores the decolonizing potential of Indian aesthetic-social philosophy by challenging two entrenched colonial prejudices: the supposed radical dissimilarity and inferiority of pre-modern Indian traditions compared to modern social theory. Through an analysis of the Upanishads and Vaisnava theology and poetry, Sudipta Kaviraj, professor of Indian Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, examines conceptions of paradise as a life without suffering, arguing that divergent ideas of paradise have shaped Indian aesthetic thought. Central to this philosophy is the interdependence of cognitive curiosity and aesthetic enjoyment, seen as essential for fully accessing and understanding the universe. Kaviraj suggests that these traditions offer valuable insights for modern secular thinkers reflecting on the human condition. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 40222]

What defines a person’s character, and how does it shape who they are? In this lecture, Susan Wolf, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of North Carolina, challenges traditional ideas about character. She argues that character is more than just a set of traits or values an individual endorses—it can include aspects of ourselves we may not even recognize or approve of. Wolf explores how a deeper understanding of character, rooted in active intelligence and thoughtful reflection, can reshape how we view agency, moving beyond just actions and intentions. This thought-provoking talk offers fresh insights into what makes us who we are and how we navigate the complexities of identity and selfhood. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Humanities] [Show ID: 40221]

Oil and gas are the most traded commodities on the planet; they are also the chief causes of the most grievous harm our species has yet faced, the burgeoning climate crisis. Bill McKibben is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and a founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 to work on climate and racial justice. He examines how the export of hydrocarbons, in particular, has become an enormous threat to efforts to rein in greenhouse gasses. It explores the role that America – the world’s biggest exporter of gas – plays in this ongoing catastrophe. And it looks at the role that non-tradeable commodities – sunshine and wind – play in easing this crisis. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 40220]

As voters prepare to head to the polls on Election Day, join the Goldman School of Public Policy and Cal Performances for a critical look at the moment we’re in, the issues that have shaped and led us to this year’s tumultuous election, and the future of American democracy. UC Berkeley experts from former presidential administrations—Janet Napolitano, former Secretary of Homeland Security under the Obama administration (2009-2013); Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under the Clinton administration (1993-1997); and Maria Echaveste, former Assistant to the President and Deputy White House Chief of Staff under the Clinton Administration (1998-2001)—as well as PolicyLink founder-in-residence and Chief Vision Officer for the Goldman School of Public Policy’s new Democracy Policy Initiative, Angela Glover Blackwell. Series: "The Goldman School - Berkeley Public Policy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 40302]

This program aims to recover Plato’s idea of craft or art, Greek technê, in the expansive sense which includes not only the handicrafts but skilled practices from housebuilding to navigation. Rachel Barney, professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, examines Plato and other Greek thinkers who were fascinated by the craft model: the idea that both the moral virtue of the good person and the political widom of the expert ruler are — or could be made into — skilled practices as reliable as shoemaking or carpentry. Similar ideas appear in classical Chinese philosophy, developed in very different ways by Daoist and Confucian thinkers. In our time, craft is in a bad way: marginalized in theory and everywhere endangered in practice. Ancient thinkers can help us to see what remains valuable and urgent about craft today, and what a reinvigorated understanding of it might contribute to our ethical and political thought. Crafts to be considered include carpentry, medicine, drawing, film editing, the ‘multicraft’ of the restaurant, tennis, and traditional Polynesian navigation. Philosophical points of reference, in addition to Plato, Aristotle, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi, include Murdoch, MacIntyre, Korsgaard, and the Hart-Fuller debate, as well as literary reflections from Kazuo Ishiguro and Cormac McCarthy. Barney is joined by Adam Gopnik, Rachana Kamtekar, Christine Korsgaard, and Alexander Nehamas to discuss the topic of craft. Series: "Tanner Lectures on Human Values" [Humanities] [Business] [Show ID: 39865]

Across the United States, homelessness has been on the rise. In California, there have been over 181,000 people without a stable place to call home—about 30 percent of the nation’s homeless population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers continued to rise as earnings dropped and the housing affordability crisis worsened. What interventions have prevented people from becoming homeless? What lessons have we learned from local, regional, and statewide efforts to reduce unsheltered homelessness in the Bay Area and beyond? The Terner Center for Housing Innovation, the Goldman School of Public Policy, and a diverse panel of cross-sector experts and advocates collaborated for a discussion on reducing poverty and addressing homelessness in California. Series: "The Goldman School - Berkeley Public Policy" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 39849]