Podcast: Berkeley Talks

Berkeley Talks is a Berkeley News podcast that features lectures and conversations at UC Berkeley. It's managed by the Office of Communications and Public Affairs. A new episode is released every other Friday. Follow Berkeley Talks.

To suggest a UC Berkeley talk to be featured on the podcast, email Anne Brice at [email protected].

Also, check out Berkeley Voices, an award-winning Berkeley News podcast about the people who make UC Berkeley the world-changing place that it is. And see our guide to starting your own podcast at Berkeley.

A closeup of the U.S. Constitution resting atop an American flag.

Law

Berkeley Talks: Law professors debate originalism

Advocates say the U.S. Constitution must be interpreted strictly according to what the authors intended nearly 250 years ago. But is that workable in modern society?

Heather Cox Richardson and Dylan Penningroth speak on stage

Events at Berkeley

Berkeley Talks: Heather Cox Richardson on the evolution of the Republican Party and what gives her hope for America

a large crowd of people wave small American flags at a political gathering outside

Politics & society

Berkeley Talks: Does democracy work?

a doctor writes in a notebook while she examines medicine held in the other hand

Campus & community

Berkeley Talks: The transformation of US medical debt collection

two images side by side: book cover of

Berkeley Talks: Coming of age as an unaccompanied migrant youth in the U.S.

john powell, ashley gallegos and stephen menendian sit at the front of a room in front of an audience

Berkeley Talks: A blueprint for creating a world where everyone belongs

Ocean Vuong and Cathy Park Hong

Berkeley Talks: Poet Ocean Vuong on disobedience and the power of language

a panel of four Berkeley professors sit in front of an audience

Berkeley Talks: How do we make better decisions?

From left: Marty Baron and Dean Baquet speak to an audience

Berkeley Talks: Veteran news editors on how the media covered the election

Timothy Tangherlini

Berkeley Talks: Computational folklorist on how storytelling becomes belief

four headshots of Robert Reich, Maria Echaveste, Janet Napolitano and Angela Glover Blackwell

Berkeley Talks: The future of American democracy

J.D. Vance and Charlie Kirk giving a talk on stage at an event with

Berkeley Talks: A return to monarchy? Bradley Onishi on Project 2025

About a dozen volunteer rescue workers wearing GoPro cameras on their white helmets, carry a person on a stretcher out of rubble in Syria

Berkeley Talks: With white helmets and GoPros, these volunteers risk it all in Syria’s civil war

Two students hold an Israeli flag and two students hold up a Palestinian flag standing next to one another on the Berkeley campus with at least one hundred students on Sproul Plaza in the background

Berkeley Talks: Legal scholars on free speech challenges facing universities today

Aileen Liu, Hernan Garcia, Christian Paiz and Arianne Eason sit in chairs on a dark stage and talk

Berkeley Talks: What is understanding? Berkeley scholars discuss

Michael Pollan and Mina Kim sit on stage in conversation

Berkeley Talks: It’s not just psychedelics that change minds, says Michael Pollan. Storytelling does, too.

All Berkeley Talks