Happy New Year! As we start 2016, The Takeaway is examining the state of the world and the big issues facing society. From the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, to the high-profile tech innovations shaping the future, today you’ll hear a number of conversations from a variety of esteemed guests:

• Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, explains how the ongoing unrest in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan will shape U.S foreign policy, the European refugee crisis, and the 2016 election.

• The names Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, and Tamir Rice were chanted throughout the streets of America in 2015. Where does the conversation about race go in the new year? For answers, we turn to Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

• Gaby Pacheco, an immigrant rights activist, describes the way immigration issues have changed throughout 2015, and what to expect from the debate in the year ahead.

• Artist Maya Lin achieved international fame at the age of 21 when she designed the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. Nearly 40 years later, she’s exploring the pressing questions facing the environment with her project “What’s Missing?” Today on The Takeaway, she discusses art and the environment in 2016.

• On New Year’s Day, the whole year is stretched out in front of us. From the summer Olympics to the presidential election, what are you looking forward to in 2016? A number of Takeaway listeners share their thoughts on the year ahead.

• One hundred years ago, the world was in the throes of World War I. What has society learned since the Great War? Margaret MacMillan, author of “The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914” and professor of international history at Oxford University, explains what the people of 2016 can learn from the year 1916.

• 2015 was a good year for rockets and the rocket men who want to turn their personal billions into space-travel dreams for the millions. Where will commercial space travel go in 2016? Bill Ostrove, an aerospace and defense analyst with Forecast International, answers.