How to use science to help us manage life’s toughest moments is the theme of this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas.

Here, we revisit three discussions MPR News host Kerri Miller had with authors this past year and learn what they’ve discovered about grief, heartbreak and talking with people with whom we fundamentally disagree.

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe kicks us off with a conversation about how we can find common ground when talking about climate change.

Then we turn to Florence Williams, and her personal and clinical look at what science now knows happens in our bodies when we are dealing with heartbreak.

Last, we hear from grief researcher Mary-Frances O’Connor about what loss looks like in the human brain.

Guests:

• Katharine Hayhoe is a climate scientist, the chief scientist for The Nature Conservancy and the author of “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.”

• Florence Williams is a journalist, author and podcaster. Her new book is “Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey.”

• Mary-Frances O’Connor is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Arizona and director of the Grief, Loss and Social Stress Lab, which investigates the effects of grief on the brain and the body. Her new book is "The Grieving Brain."

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. 

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