Encore-”Wired For Connection’: The Science of Kindness

This Labor Day weekend, we’re bringing you some of our favorite stories from the California Report Magazine archive.

You may have seen these viral stories on your social media feeds: a frightened shelter dog bonding with their foster; a good samaritan helping a street vendor by buying all their merchandise; an artist drawing a portrait of a stranger and listening to their life story. These acts strike a nerve, and it turns out we humans are actually wired for this kind of kindness, connection and empathy. That’s what Dr. Jamil Zaki has discovered in the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. He’s a professor of psychology and the author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. He sat down with host Sasha Khokha in January and shared some data-driven reasons why we shouldn’t be cynical, even in really hard times. 

And we got to Oakland, where the Freedom Community Clinic is providing free herbal remedies, massage services and healing workshops at their two apothecaries. And last fall, they launched the Ancestral Healing Farm, where people of color are encouraged to learn about ancestral practices and reconnect with the land. The goal of founder Dr. Bernie Lim is to reach people who might mistrust the mainstream medical system because of racism or cultural incompetency. KQED Arts & Culture Editor Nastia Voynovskaya brought us this profile in January.

And we end today in Half Moon Bay, where just a few steps from the ocean sits a 60-year-old music venue with an unusual name, an amazing history and some of the best live jazz music you could ever hope to find. We’re digging into our Hidden Gems archives to bring you a story from Reporter Ryan Levi, who visited the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society back in 2018.

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