Curious stories of coexistence

Curious stories of coexistence

From TED Radio Hour by NPR

March 13, 2026 · 50 min

About this episode

This episode explores the concept of coexistence through various perspectives, including the relationship between happiness and misery, and the possibility of aliens.

Can otters be city dwellers? Are aliens real? Do we have to experience misery to understand happiness? On this episode, we investigate how strange bedfellows can lead to radical realizations. Guests include evolutionary biologist Philip Johns, astrophysicist Avi Loeb and author Laurel Braitman. Original air date: March 21, 2025 TED Radio Hour+ subscribers now get access to bonus episodes, with more ideas from TED speakers and a behind the scenes look with our producers. A Plus subscription also lets you listen to regular episodes (like this one!) without sponsors. Sign-up at plus.npr.org/ted . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy

People in this episode

Guests: Philip Johns, Avi Loeb, Laurel Braitman

Topics covered

  • coexistence
  • happiness
  • misery
  • aliens
  • evolution
  • city dwellers

Keywords

  • otters
  • city dwellers
  • evolutionary biology
  • astrophysics
  • happiness
  • misery
  • coexistence
  • aliens

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TED Radio Hour, NPR

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