Notre Dame Stories

In this episode of Notre Dame Stories, Melissa Kearney, economist and director of the Strengthening Families Research Initiative, explores the decline in marriage, the rise of single-parent households, and falling fertility rates in the United States. Drawing on decades of research, she connects these trends to economic inequality, child well-being, and public policy—making the case that strengthening families is essential to improving outcomes across society.

Watch on YouTube

Episode page

Listen and subscribe

What does it really mean to be successful? 

Joe Holt has lived enough lives to make most résumés look boring—including time as a Jesuit priest, a stockbroker, a corporate attorney, and even an Ironman triathlete—and he’s convinced that success can’t be measured by titles, prestige, or what you can show for your work. 

In this podcast episode, Holt joins host Jenna Liberto, and together they explore why so many people feel disengaged at work, how to set goals that stretch you without burning you out, and why dreaming about the life you want should come before planning it.

Holt shares the simple tactics he uses to stay accountable, the difference between a “good” job and a “prestigious” one, and why wisdom—more than achievement—may be the measure that matters most. Along the way, he reflects on faith, stillness, and leaving room for a God of surprises.

Listen and subscribe

Notre Dame Stories is the official podcast of the University of Notre Dame, wherever you get your podcasts.

What can extreme cold teach us about the human body—and ourselves?

In this episode, Director of the Human Energetics Laboratory and anthropologist Cara Ocobock takes listeners inside her research on human adaptation, from subzero fieldwork in Finland with reindeer herders to lab studies on metabolism, cold exposure, and hunting unicorns.

She also unpacks popular cold-plunge trends, what science actually says about them, and how lessons from our ancestors can help us understand resilience, wellness, and the remarkable ways humans have survived across time.

Show links:

Episode page

The Winter Olympics, equality in sports, and exercising in the cold

‘Woman the hunter’: Studies aim to correct history

Women’s higher resting metabolic rates in cold environments could be thyroid requirements for pregnancy, researcher says

Questions about artificial intelligence are everywhere—shaping public debate, influencing industry, and surfacing deep uncertainties about what it means to be human. At Notre Dame, philosopher Meghan Sullivan is helping lead that conversation. In this episode, she explains the DELTA framework, a human-centered approach to AI ethics—and why the choices we make today will define how this powerful technology shapes our future.

---

Show links:


Episode page (https://fightingfor.nd.edu/podcast/a-human-centered-framework-for-ai-ethics/)


DELTA framework (https://ethics.nd.edu/programs/faith-based-frameworks-for-ai-ethics/delta/)


Listen and Subscribe (https://link.chtbl.com/notre-dame-stories?sid=megaphone)

On a family farm in Ohio, more than a million hens produce eggs that fill grocery shelves across the Midwest. Behind the scenes, farmers like Jordan and Thomas Hertzfeld are working tirelessly to keep their flocks healthy and thriving.

Now, researchers at Notre Dame are helping them do just that—developing an “electronic nose” that can detect disease before it spreads, turning science into a lifeline for farms, food systems, and families.

---

Show links:


Episode Page (https://go.nd.edu/04040c)


Fighting for faster virus detection (https://fightingfor.nd.edu/stories/fighting-for-faster-virus-detection/)


Listen and subscribe⁠ (https://go.nd.edu/nd-stories-podcast)

---

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:19 A brief history of the Hertzfeld Family Farm
02:02 How bird flu affects poultry farms
02:56 Biosecurity measures used to reduce the risk of avian flu outbreak
03:42 Why early detection of bird flu is so important
04:44 A new device from Notre Dame researchers can sniff out bird flu
05:55 How new technology helps farmers detect bird flu
07:37 How farms test for bird flu
08:57 The future of disease detection
11:24 Leveraging technology to solve big, meaningful problems
12:16 Potential uses for sensing technology