COVID-19 and the Future of Us

About This Episode

This episode was recorded on October 28, 2020.

COVID-19 is running rampant in the United States and on this episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Paul Mecurio are investigating how the pandemic is impacting children with the help of Dr. Irwin Redlener, MD, co-founder of the Children’s Health Fund, pediatrician, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, and author of The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America.

To start, Irwin tells us about The Pandemic Resource & Response Initiative. You’ll hear about Irwin’s book The Future of Us, and how his observations working as a pediatrician serving underprivileged children led him to write the book. Find out why Irwin calls children the bellwethers of society. We discuss the societal and civic importance of making sure all children can fulfill their potential. 

Irwin explains why we’ll need an effort equivalent to The Marshall Plan in order to re-build ourselves once the pandemic is behind us. Then, we answer some Cosmic Queries. You’ll learn how the pandemic will have an impact on young children whose brains are still developing. We explore how our mental health is being impacted by quarantine. All that, plus, we look for places to find optimism and why everyone needs, when they can, to take a break from the sorrow and tragedy through laughter.

Thanks to our Patrons Joshua Ratcliffe, Mick Pirgmann, Jason Sills, Mario Dalla Riva, Kaleb Saleeby, Curtis Miller, Shashank Subramanian, Tore Hongset, David Mikhael, and John Kiousis for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.