Why should kids not choose where they sit in a classroom? How does where we sit affect our relationships and chances of success, both socially and academically?

In the third episode of In a Nutshell, host Jara explores seating plans, distance, and proximity. Together with her guest, Yvonne van den Berg, she investigates why it matters where we sit and how we use distance to communicate our feelings.

Yvonne is an assistant professor of developmental psychology. In her research, she investigates how proximity influences our social relationships, with a particular focus on the role that physical proximity plays in classroom social dynamics.

Would you like to learn more about the importance of physical proximity? Make sure to follow Yvonne’s recommendations and read Relationships 5.0 by Elyakim Kislev, or check out the experiment mentioned by Yvonne on YouTube.

Edit: Jara Majerus

Cover: Antonia Leise

Can we predict the future? How is identity shaped by the past? And how can history help with making sense of our present? In today’s episode, Antonia and guest Adriaan Duiveman go – quite literally – back to the future and talk about how a historian ends up studying a time that hasn’t even happened yet. And why being a “futurologist” is anything but straight-forward. Adriaan Duiveman is a postdoc at the Faculty of Arts, where he researches crises – and the stories citizens, authorities and opinion makers tell in and about them. Would you like to learn more about the future, the past and the present (or at least one way of looking at it)? Then Adriaan recommends the novel “Time Shelter” by Georgi Gospodinov.

Edit: Jara Majerus

Cover: Antonia Leise

Can we overcome capitalism? What alternatives to communism exist? And what keeps us from imagining new economies?

In the first episode of In a Nutshell’s third season, we delve into the challenges of capitalism. Together with this week’s guest, Querine Kommandeur, we discuss whether it is possible to exit capitalism and learn why it matters how we talk about economics.

Querine is a PhD candidate at Radboud University. In her research, she focuses on alternative economic discourses. With her work, she aims to better understand how these discourses emerge and develop, and how they can lead totransformations.

Do you want to delve deeper into alternative economics? Make sure to follow Querine’s recommendations and listen to the podcasts “Economics for Rebels” by Dr. Köves Alexandra, “Leven na de groei” by Just Enough, or “Ecosofie” by MarnixKluiters.

And if you want to stick your nose into some books, check out “Doughnut Ecomics” by Kate Raworth, “Mission Economy” by Mariana Mazzucato, and “Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World” by Jason Hickel.

Edit: Jara Majerus

Cover: Antonia Leise