State of the Human

State of the Human, the award-winning radio show of the Stanford Storytelling Project, shares stories that deepen our understanding of single, common human experiences—belonging, giving, lying, forgiveness—all drawn from the experiences and research of the Stanford community.

From 2013-2022, the Storytelling Project created shows in the style of This American Life (i.e. one-hour episodes focused on a single theme that typically included 3-5 stories). In 2023 we shifted to a new format that allows students to see their work published more quickly and expand the number of stories they could include. Beginning with “Reclaiming What's Been Lost,” each show theme includes a series of stories, each with their own episode of varying length. Many of these stories include bonus episodes where students articulate the craft of their process as they created these stories. Explore by year below or by show theme using the menu to the left. You can also listen to all of our shows here.