In the 1980s a new and unknown disease began rampaging through the United States, leaving devastation in its wake. As doctors and scientists learned more about AIDS, they realized that it could be transmitted via blood transfusions and enacted policies that categorically prohibited members of “high-risk” groups from donating blood. Despite a transformed landscape over the last half century, those policies remained in place with little change — until this year. In "A Historic Shift Toward Inclusion" Dr. Lauren Crowder, epidemiologist and executive scientific officer at the Red Cross, is joined by the Hidden Compass co-founders in a timely discussion of one of the most significant changes to blood donation in U.S. history.

Are we losing our ability to understand each other? To be sensitive to the experiences of those who are different from us? Concerns about the decline of empathy and the rise of division have built over recent years — and at the heart of this global discussion is the role of media. But while some point to new forms of media — particularly social media — as accelerators of empathy decline, recent research is unveiling that some media may, in fact, boost empathy. In “The Future of Empathy,” Dr. Mar will share how social scientists measure empathy and track its shifts. He’ll discuss why engaging with immersive stories may help foster empathy. The full promise of immersive narratives could be to create a world that’s more empathetic than ever. What might that world look like?

For “The Future of Travel: An Award-Winning Travel News Reporter on Where We’re Headed and How We Choose to Get There,” award-winning journalist Lebawit Lily Girma joins Sivani Babu and Sabine K. Bergmann for a lively discussion about where this multi-trillion-dollar industry is headed.