Inheriting Trauma
New Thinking for a New World - a Tallberg Foundation Podcast
12/11/25
•32m
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The number of active conflicts today is the highest since the end of World War II. The world has clearly entered a new, more violent, and fragmented era.
We can and should debate "why?" But we also need to focus on "so what?" What are the consequences, not only for warriors but also for the innocents caught up in spreading conflict? Is it possible that the impacts of traumatic violence could be transmitted across generations?
A group of scientists believes their work proves that war trauma can alter gene expression, thereby impacting the children and grandchildren of victims of war. Among the authors of a profoundly important scientific paper published last year was Rana Dajani, a Jordanian molecular biologist and long-time participant in the Tällberg network. Listen as she explains the science and its implications.
What do you think?
Read the paper: Epigenetic signatures of intergenerational exposure to violence in three generations of Syrian refugees
Podcast website: https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/inheriting-trauma/
Previous Episode
What Has the Whale to Say?
December 4, 2025
•36m
| "The whale has no voice," Herman Melville wrote in Moby Dick. "But then again," he went on, "What has the whale to say?"
Turns out he was wrong: not only do sperm whales have voices, but these massive, amazing mammals talk constantly to each other. They are humongous creatures: males can be 18 meters long and weigh 45 tons. Think something the weight of an industrial dump truck, but twice as long. Despite their massive size and the capacity to dive more than a mile into the depths of the ocean, they apparently are quite sociable.
How amazing would it be if we could decipher what they are saying? That's the passion of David Gruber, a marine biologist and technologist who organized and leads Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative). He has gathered a team of 50 global scientists and technicians dedicated to understanding what the sperm whales are saying to each other---not so we can talk to them, but so that we can understand how they think about the world we share.
David is also one of the recipients of the 2025 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Global Leadership Prize, who was honored for his work with CETI and his underlying drive to help humans and nature co-exist.
Listen as he discusses what drives him and CETI here: https://tallbergfoundation.org/podcasts/what-has-the-whale-to-say/
Learn more about Project CETI here: https://www.projectceti.org/ |
Next Episode
Thinking Differently About the Rainforests
December 18, 2025
•65m
For decades, environmentalists and climate scientists have warned about the catastrophic consequences of the shrinking and erosion of the Amazon and Congo rainforests. Politicians have echoed and amplified the warnings, but have done little of consequence to slow the actual pace at which the rainforests are moving towards tipping points.
The recent UN climate summit in Belem was supposed to change all that. However, it would take an unusually large dose of magical thinking to believe what happened at COP 30 will have much more impact than what happened at its twenty-nine predecessors, at least concerning the Amazon and Congo River Basins.
Maybe what's needed is new thinking. Protecting the Amazon and the Congo isn't just an environmental challenge but also a governance challenge, a justice challenge, and an economic development challenge. And stopping---or even slowing---the tipping probably requires bottom-up local action, not just top-down global declarations of intent.
To discuss potential new approaches, we gathered three people who have skin in the game: Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, Ugandan wildlife veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health; Dr. Fernando Trujillo, Colombian marine biologist and world-leading expert on river dolphins; and Sam Muller, Dutch lawyer with extensive experience in global justice and environmental practices.
Listen as they explore how to define and execute new approaches to saving the rainforests.
Here's the link to the webinar on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RxbWsGUosyM
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