HEALTH
VIDEO
Kids, Teens, and Covid Vaccines

New information about vaccines is coming at a dizzying pace. With the recent recommendation and rollout of Covid vaccinations for children 12 years and up, the Aspen Institute Science and Society program gathered a robust panel of experts to talk through the latest developments and answer questions from a live digital audience. Watch three M.D.s, closely involved in public health and drug trials, plus an economist and a parenting guru who’s pioneered a method of assessing school safety, in this lively, speed-dating style conversation.

CIVILITY
PODCAST
Why Good People Get Caught Up in High Conflict

The type of conflict that's permeating America today is the intractable kind where normal rules of engagement don't apply. High conflict is the opposite of useful friction or healthy conflict. It's when discord distills into a good-versus-evil kind of feud — an us and a them. Sound familiar? In this time when everything is political, including aspects of the pandemic, everyday Americans are at each other's throats. How can we break free? In her book, High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out, Amanda Ripley examines how cases of high conflict across the globe share similar characteristics. She tells Garrett Graff, director for cyber initiatives for the Aspen Digital program at the Aspen Institute, about a mind-opening new way to think about conflict. Listen

SCIENCE & EQUITY
PODCAST
The Decolonizing Power of African-led Scientific Innovation

Based in Nigeria, Dr. Christian Happi is a molecular biologist whose day job is combating infectious diseases — his team was among the first to map genomes for Ebola and Covid-19. Alongside his life-saving scientific work, he’s on a mission to embolden young African scientists to take the narrative of Africa into their own hands. For far too long, says Happi, the West has failed to credit Africans for innovation and scientific breakthroughs — a legacy of the power dynamics of colonialism and anti-Black racism. His message: Think how much Africa could contribute to the world, if given the opportunity. Hear from Happi in Solvers, a new podcast from the Skoll Foundation in partnership with Aspen Ideas. Listen

EVENT
Save the Dates! Aspen Ideas is Free and Online, June 27-July 1

It’s been a year. A year of lockdown, of racial strife, of argument and disinformation and insurrection. Not a year we want to go through again. But it’s also been a year in which old ideas were tested and new ways of thinking were championed. At the 2021 Aspen Ideas Festival, we’ll highlight new ideas during a digital conference that’s free and available to everyone. Built around the theme "American Futures," our sessions will focus on the future of democracy, work, identity, environment, and our own mental health. We invite you to join us at the Festival, a showcase of the world’s biggest, boldest ideas. Register

OPINION
The Way Forward: Digital Inclusion

The pandemic made clear what we have all known for years: There is an egregious lack of equity and equality as it relates to technology resources and connectivity in our country, and under-resourced populations are suffering the most. In an enlightening interview with Bloomberg, Rose Stuckey Kirk, SVP and Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, Verizon, who has spearheaded initiatives for more than two decades to help close the digital divide, shares her vision for the systems and structures that must be activated to help close this gap. The FCC’s new broadband commitment, while a step in the right direction, is also a signal for private, nonprofit, and public sectors to continue collaborating to maximize meaningful and tangible impact. In short, more work needs to be done. Read more about Stuckey Kirk’s strategy and the way forward here.

COMING UP
Better Arguments 101
May 26

The Better Arguments Project is a national civic initiative created to help bridge divides – not by papering over those divides but by helping Americans have Better Arguments. Join this conversation and together we will reflect on the role of arguments in a healthy democracy, and we will introduce the three dimensions and five Principles of a Better Argument. If you’re new to the Better Arguments Project, this session is a perfect way to get started. Register