February 3, 2025: Lives in contact

Now, more than ever, you probably need a good laugh and, perhaps, a reason to be hopeful. So we’re doing both with an added dose of science for good measure. We head to Hadley where a comedy dream has come to life and has continued to grow in the past 10 years. Happier Valley Comedy may have started on a personal dare, but it has since become a philosophy of improv that can apply to any aspect of human interaction. We chat with Pam Victor and Scott Braidman about how to craft community around and with the chaos as the organization enters its second decade. There’s a new audio documentary exploring the lives of lifelong activists and idealists Wally and Juanita Nelson in their own words and through the perspectives of people who knew them. We speak with one of the producers of the “Eyes on Freedom: Evolving Gifts of Simple, Nonviolent Living,” Carrie Kline, and get you ready to hear the whole piece in person later this week at their community listening sessions.And, Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of  Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College, shows us how life may be finding more ways in space as the OSIRIS-REx mission returns with fascinating discoveries about amino acids on the asteroid Bennu.