In this latest installment of Inquiring Minds, Indre explores the intricate world of photography with the renowned Dan Winters, whose career spans the realms of celebrity portraiture, scientific ...
Among his many achievements, the esteemed Venki Ramakrishnan has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth, served as the President of the Royal Society, and shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Toda...
Join Indre and guest Kurt Wagner, renowned business and technology journalist and author of Battle for the Bird: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul, as they emba...
Welcome back to Inquiring Minds, where, after a brief hiatus, host Indre Viskontas returns with yet another memorable episode, this time featuring Charan Ranganath, Director of the Memory and...
This week we talk to Robert Sapolsky—MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and professor of biology, neurology, and neurosurgery at Stanford—about his new book Determined: A Science of Life without F...
This week we talk to medical anthropologist and science writer Theresa MacPhail about her new book Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World.
This week we talk to journalist and sustainable fashion expert Alden Wicker about her book To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick—and How We Can Fight Back.
This week we talk to writer Cody Cassidy about his new book How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History's Deadliest...
This week we talk to psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris about their new book Nobody's Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It.
This week we talk to social psychologist and Stanford professor Brian Lowery about his new book Selfless: The Social Creation of “You”. In it, he proposes that what you think of as “you” ...
This week we talk to Hugh Howey, author of the bestselling Silo series of books and executive producer of the new Apple TV+ series of the same name.
This week we talk to accelerator physicist Suzie Sheehy about her most recent book The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World.
On the show this week we talk to Nita A. Farahany, distinguished professor of law and philosophy at Duke University and the founding director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, about h...
Last December, a team of scientists made history by creating a fusion reaction that—for the first time ever—gave off more energy that it took to start. It’s a groundbreaking milestone. We...
This week we talk to pioneering art & science researcher Susan Magsamen along with vice president of design for hardware products at Google, Ivy Ross, about their new book Your Brain on Art: How ...
This week, with guest co-host Majel Connery, we talk to author and researcher Karen Bakker about her new book The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Ani...
This week we talk to neuroscientist and author Patrick House about his new book Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness. The book explores the complexity of consciousness and how it’s possibl...
This week we talk to cognitive neuroscientist and multi-platinum record producer Susan Rogers about her new book This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You. In this e...
This week we talk to behavioral scientist Michael Slepian about secrets: keeping them, telling them, and the powerful ways in which they influence our lives. His new book is The Secret Life of Se...
The show this week features an interview with science writer Maria Konnikova about her book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time. We recorded this interview back when the book...
This week we welcome back theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll to talk about how his most recent book, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion, attempts to bridge...
This week we’re joined by returning guest, animal behavior scientist, and autism rights advocate Temple Grandin to talk about her latest book Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Thi...
This week: new research into using nanoparticles and programmable magnets to clean your teeth; a potentially breakthrough study on a drug for Alzheimer's disease featuring the first positive tria...
This week we talk to theoretical physicist and cosmologist Antonio Padilla about his new book Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Quest from Zero to Infinity. It’s a book about...
This week we talk to Alexandra Horowitz from the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College about her new book The Year of the Puppy: How Dogs Become Themselves. Horowitz’s book examines how a dog�...
This week we talk to cognitive neuroscientist Chantel Prat about her new book The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours. The book is the result of Prat’s...
This week we talk to philosopher and animal ethicist David Peña-Guzmán about his new book When Animals Dream: The Hidden World of Animal Consciousness. David explores the idea that there really...
This week we’re joined by podcaster, journalist, and author David McRaney to discuss his latest book How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion. It’s a deep l...
This week we welcome back James Beard award winning food science writer J. Kenji López-Alt. He talks about growing up around science, studying architecture at MIT, and how, strangely enough, bo...
You might not be aware of it, but the UK is experiencing a wildlife crisis. Ecologist Derek Gow joins us this week to talk about what we ought to do about it and how he’s trying to rewild the c...
On the show this week we’re joined by naturalist, author, and returning guest Sy Montgomery. Throughout her career, Montgomery has repeatedly shown an incredible ability to understand, befriend...
On the show this week we’re joined by Brian Butterworth, emeritus professor of cognitive neuropsychology and author of the new book Can Fish Count? What Animals Reveal About Our Uniquely Mathem...
How do you feel fear and be creative anyway? How is letting your mind wander key to coming up with, and following through on, creative ideas? Returning to the show this week is journalist Matt Ri...
How do you define how painful something is? On the show this week we welcome back physician, writer, and clinical researcher Haider Warraich to talk about his new book The Song of Our Scars: The ...
This week we’re joined by Benjamin Ehrlich, author of The Brain in Search of Itself: Santiago Ramón y Cajal and the Story of the Neuron. It’s a book about the discoveries and life of Spani...
This week, we examine a recent discovery that certain types of cancer cells may allow us to better understand how cells adapt to the intracellular environment (and explain what the intracellular ...
During the pandemic, one thing we’ve had a little more of--at least sometimes--is time. Time to panic and stress and worry, but also time to think and reflect. This week, in the spirit of ref...
We can never know what it’s like for a bat to be a bat. Or even if there is something that it is like for a bat to be a bat. But if there is something, we would speculate that the bat has some ...
One of the fascinating things about neuroscience is that it gives us something tangible to study in the biology of the brain that can tell us something about the mind, which is so intangible. But...
More than a hundred million people watched the Netflix movie Don’t Look Up, which focused on our fear that something could crash into our planet from space and destroy it. But what if things th...
In this week’s episode, Indre revisits a topic that has been covered a couple of times on the podcast: addiction. This time, she’s joined by addiction physician and bioethicist Carl Erik Fish...
In this last episode of 2021, Adam Bristol joins Indre to talk about the major highlights of 2021, one being the journey through COVID. They map out the key episodes of Inquiring Minds throughout...
The holidays are a time for storytelling, and what better story to re-experience than the greatest one of all: the history of the universe and life on Earth. In today’s episode, Indre is joined...
In this episode, Emily Willingham joins Indre to talk about tailoring the brain, a subject on which she’s an expert and about which she writes extensively in her book The Tailored Brain: From K...
In today's up to date episode, Adam Bristol is back to highlight three scientific papers that have caught his eye lately. The first two are about our evolutionary history of life on this planet, ...
In early 2020, experts predicted the development of the COVID-19 vaccine would take 12 to 18 months. Fast forward to today and there are at least five vaccines approved by the World Health Organi...
The topic of cancer is one that has been addressed more than once before on Inquiring Minds, and today Indre visits it once again, this time looking at the impact that exercise can have on those ...
Indre continues to pursue her fascination with the neural basis of consciousness in this week’s episode. In her never ending quest to understand how the biology of the brain gives rise to every...
On the show this week, Adam Bristol introduces Florida’s controversial genetically modified mosquito pilot program, and then delves into the details of the Dual Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)...
We think of consistent water consumption as a necessary component for life… but then there are tardigrades. Adorable and tiny, tardigrades can survive intervals of extreme drying or dehydration...
Nina Kraus, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist who has done groundbreaking research on sound and hearing for more than three decades. She's the Hugh Knowles Professor of Neurobiology, Communication Scien...
Who among us hasn’t, at some point, wondered just what exactly a bear manager or a danger tree feller blaster does? Well, Mary Roach, America’s funniest science writer, TED 20 Most Watched li...
Anxiety has become a staple of modern life, particularly over the past year and a half. It can be debilitating, but it is at its core a necessary component of our lives—if it can be managed. We...
This week we welcome back Sam Kean, the New York Times bestselling author whose previous books include The Bastard Brigade, Caesar's Last Breath, and The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons. Sam jo...
Of all the side effects of opioid use that exist, one that is only recently starting to get the attention it deserves is that of becoming amnestic. That doesn’t mean that this effect hasn’t b...
One side effect of the pandemic is that a lot of parents have spent more time than they were expecting to with their kids, and were sometimes left questioning their parenting decisions along the ...
This week we delve into a study with a citizen science element regarding the evolution of a social behavior in parrots, followed by a collaborative study regarding empathy in rodents, particularl...
In the summer of 2019—before Covid-19 had emerged—author, researcher, and ‘Gastropod’ co-host Nicola Tilley and her husband and co-author Geoff Manaugh told a rapt audience, “You and ev...
Among COVID-19’s many side effects are two that seem to be in direct conflict – on the one hand we’ve all become armchair epidemiologists, and on the other, conspiracy theories are at an al...
Over the years, music producers have tried to predict what audiences want to hear while at the same time advances in science and technology have taught us a lot about what happens in the brain wh...
What are your thoughts regarding the relationship between the mind and the brain? For that matter, what are your thoughts? Iris Berent has definitely done some deep thinking on these questions, u...
When was the last time you thought about geometry? Unless you're an architect or a kindergarten teacher, you probably don't spend a lot of time thinking about shapes. But mathematician Jordan Ell...
Joining Indre on the podcast today is University of Virginia Professor, Leidy Klotz. A former professional soccer player, Leidy has gone on to pursue his interest in studying how we transform thi...
We all know how babies are made, but science is only now exploring how mothers are. Abigail Tucker discusses her latest book, exploring the factors that shape the behaviors of mothers and other c...
Andy Weir, science fiction writer and author of The Martian, joins us to talk about his new book Project Hail Mary: A Novel. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to writer and technologist Gary Bengier about AI and his new science fiction novel Unfettered Journey. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to president and CEO of Lumina Foundation Jamie Merisotis about his new book Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to neuroscientist and computer pioneer Jeff Hawkins about his new book A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to New York Times reporter and author Cade Metz about his new book Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
This week: New research on the first known interstellar object in our solar system, A/2017 U1—or Oumuamua—suggesting it’s probably a chunk of a Pluto-like planet, and not from aliens; resea...
We talk to acclaimed science writer and return guest Carl Zimmer about his new book Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmin...
On the show this week we talk to professor of story science Angus Fletcher about his new book Wonderworks: The 25 Most Powerful Inventions in the History of Literature. Support the show: https:...
On the show this week we talk to professor of genetic epidemiology Tim Spector about his new book Spoon-Fed: Why almost everything we’ve been told about food is wrong. Support the show: https...
This week: We look at new paleogenetic research on mammoth molars; delve into the biological drive for napping; and talk about a surprising new study on memory that involves transcranial magnetic...
We talk to behavioral scientist and former lead researcher at Google's behavioral economics unit Logan Ury about her new book How to Not Die Alone: The Surprising Science That Will Help You Find ...
Your voice is much more than just the medium by which your thoughts can be heard—it's as fundamental to who you are as your face or your fingerprints. This week we talk to journalist John Colap...
We talk to Jay Bhagwan from the International Water Association about his work reinventing how we think about sanitation. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week we take a look back at some of our favorite episodes from 2020 and talk about what’s next for the podcast. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to cosmologist and writer Katie Mack about her new book The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking). Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to historian of medieval science Seb Falk about his new book The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to journalist Kermit Pattison about his new book Fossil Men: The Quest for the Oldest Skeleton and the Origins of Humankind. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to orthopedic surgeon Roy A. Meals about his new book Bones: Inside and Out. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett about why the idea that you have a lizard brain and a rational brain is completely wrong, how you can fight against implicit biases by swamping your...
This week we explore the implications of there being much more water on the moon than we previously thought; a new study that looked at the possibility that our brains have an underlying propensi...
A special drop of the first episode of the new season of Indre’s other podcast, Cadence—which is about what music can tell us about our minds. This new season explores how music influences us...
We talk to Columbia professor of mechanical engineering P. James Schuck about the released film Tesla, starring Ethan Hawke as Nikola Tesla, for which he was the science advisor. Support the sh...
This week: new research on how climate change is affecting autumn wildfires; a study that attempts to use a biologically inspired and technically enhanced enzymatic solution to break down plastic...
We talk to journalist and author Lee van der Voo about her new book As the World Burns: The New Generation of Activists and the Landmark Legal Fight Against Climate Change. Support the show: ht...
This week we talk to Stephan Crawford about The ClimateMusic Project, an organization that hopes to, through music, tell the urgent story of climate change. Support the show: https://www.patreo...
This week we talk to Sara Hendren, an artist, writer, and professor at Olin College of Engineering about her new book What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet the Built World. Hendren's book explores the...
This week: A deep look into new research on the relationship between how you sleep and the likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s disease, including an interview with the study’s author, Matt W...
We talk to psychologist Katherine Kinzler about her new book How You Say It: Why You Talk the Way You Do—And What It Says About You. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Scottish psychologist Stuart Ritchie about his new book Science Fictions: How Fraud, Bias, Negligence, and Hype Undermine the Search for Truth. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
We talk to mathematician and epidemiologist Adam Kucharski about his recent book The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread—And Why They Stop. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiri...
This week: A new study showing how you can, as a way to control their population, change blood-drinking female mosquitoes to male, non-biting mosquitoes by changing just one gene; research into n...
We talk to science reporter Zach St. George about his new book The Journeys of Trees: A Story about Forests, People, and the Future. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to environmental attorney Barbara Freese about her new book Industrial-Strength Denial: Eight Stories of Corporations Defending the Indefensible, from the Slave Trade to Climate Change. ...
We talk to science writer Wendy Williams about her new book The Language of Butterflies: How Thieves, Hoarders, Scientists, and Other Obsessives Unlocked the Secrets of the World's Favorite Insec...
This week: New astrophysics research on the likelihood of there being intelligent life on other planets in our solar system; a study in which atomic force microscopy was used to study the biology...
We talk to Tony Wagner, a globally recognized expert in education and senior research fellow at the Learning Policy Institute, about his new book Learning by Heart: An Unconventional Education. ...
We talk to Robert Rosencrans, an MD/PhD student at the The University of Alabama at Birmingham about the history of structural racism in medicine and the problems with race-based medicine. Supp...
In her book, The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another, materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez explores how eight inventions—clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables...
We talk to astrophysicist Mario Livio about his new book Galileo: And the Science Deniers. A NOTE BEFORE TODAY’S EPISODE: We have all been watching the escalation of police violence against...
We talk to noted historian Bart Ehrman about his new book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Lulu Miller, cofounder of NPR's Invisibilia, about her new book Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/i...
We talk to writer Keith Law about the behavioral economics of baseball and his new book The Inside Game: Bad Calls, Strange Moves, and What Baseball Behavior Teaches Us About Ourselves. Support...
This week: New research on a biological enzyme that can break down the plastic we use for water bottles; a brief look into the history of egg decorating; a new study on the social consequences of...
We talk to journalist and founder of the Neurodiversity Project Jenara Nerenberg about her new book Divergent Mind: Thriving in a World That Wasn't Designed for You. Support the show: https://w...
We talk to social psychologist David Dunning about his well-known 1999 study on why people are so bad at knowing how smart they are. He explains what people get wrong about it today, and what he�...
We talk to linguist Gretchen McCulloch about her new book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Ben Cohen about his new book The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to French neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene about his new book How We Learn: Why Brains Learn Better Than Any Machine … for Now. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...
We talk to Jessica Powell, a writer and former VP of Communications for Google, about her new book The Big Disruption: A Totally Fictional but Essentially True Silicon Valley Story. Support the...
This week: scientists successfully germinated 2,000-year-old date palm seeds and we might soon know what 2,000-year-old dates taste like; another group of researchers 3D modeled a 3,000-year-old ...
We talk to science journalist Deborah Blum about her new book The Poison Squad: One Chemist's Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Support the show: https...
We talk to wildlife researcher and writer Adele Brand about her new book The Hidden World of the Fox. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to professor of information studies at UCLA and director of the UC Digital Cultures Lab Ramesh Srinivasan about his new book Beyond the Valley: How Innovators around the World are Overcom...
Indre, along with fellow neuroscientist and person who is her husband, Adam Bristol, recap their favorite science stories and interviews of 2019. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inqui...
We talk to oncologist, professor of medicine, and director of the MDS Center at Columbia University Azra Raza about her new book The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last...
We talk to environmental journalist Beth Gardiner about her new book Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Michael Casey, Senior Advisor for Blockchain Opportunities at MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative, about his new book, co-authored with Paul Vigna, The Truth Machine: The Blo...
We talk to neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, author of the new book The Deep History of Ourselves: The Four-Billion-Year Story of How We Got Conscious Brains. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
We talk to cognitive scientist Lera Boroditsk about how language can influence the way we think. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to cardiologist, writer, and clinical researcher Haider Warraich about his new book State of the Heart: Exploring the History, Science, and Future of Cardiac Disease. Support the show: ...
We talk to author and journalist Joe Posnanski about his new book The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to New York Times writer and journalist Matt Richtel about his new novel, written under the pen name A. B. Jewell, called The Man Who Wouldn't Die. Support the show: https://www.patreon...
We talk to theoretical physicist Sean Carroll about his new book Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds...
We talk to parasitologist and co-author of Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything, Kelly Weinersmith. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmin...
We talk to professor of conservation biology Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson about her new book Buzz, Sting, Bite: Why We Need Insects. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
After nearly 5 years of co-hosting Inquiring Minds, Kishore is heading off to conquer the rest of the science world. He has been an incredible friend to us at the show, and we’re sad to see him...
We talk to science journalist David Robson about his new book The Intelligence Trap: Why Smart People Make Dumb Mistakes. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to sports and science writer David Epstein about his latest book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to ocean conservationist William McKeever about his new book Emperors of the Deep: Sharks--The Ocean's Most Mysterious, Most Misunderstood, and Most Important Guardians. Support the sho...
We talk to author Annaka Harris about her new book Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to writer Dan Albert about his new book Are We There Yet?: The American Automobile Past, Present, and Driverless. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to celebrated speculative fiction writer Neal Stephenson about his latest book Fall; or, Dodge in Hell: A Novel. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to bioethicist Travis Rieder about his new book In Pain: A Bioethicist’s Personal Struggle with Opioids. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
Neuroscientists found an on-off switch in mice brains that makes them sing; new research on the genetics of people who have six fingers on one hand and whether or not your brain could handle an e...
We talk to neuroscientist and former president of MIT Susan Hockfield about her new book The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution. Support the show: htt...
We talk to mathematician and former NFL player John Urschel about his new book, co-written with Louisa Thomas, called Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football. Support the show: https://www...
We talk to Katja Brose, neuroscientist and Science Program Officer at the Chan Zuckerberg Science Initiative about the latest, best prospects in neurodegenerative disease treatment. Support the...
Former guest of Inquiring Minds, Bill Nye, is on a mission to change the world—one phone call at a time. On his new podcast, Science Rules!, he tackles the curliest questions on just about anyt...
Indre talks to marine biologist Marah Hardt about her book Sex in the Sea: Our Intimate Connection with Sex-Changing Fish, Romantic Lobsters, Kinky Squid, and Other Salty Erotica of the Deep. S...
New research on 3D printing vasculature around which organs could be created; recent work on the effects of genetics on the way you taste things; and a new way to stop the effects of the world’...
We talk to influential evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson about his new book This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmi...
Indre talks to science writer Abigail Tucker about her book The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...
Indre wrote a book! It’s called How Music Can Make You Better and this week we hear all about it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
A careful look into research on whether or not we can generate new neurons as adults; new research into using machine learning to predict premature death; and a new technique to reshape cartilage...
We talk to Jeremy Lent about his book The Patterning Instinct: A Cultural History of Humanity's Search for Meaning. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Christie Aschwanden about her new book Good To Go: What the athlete in all of us can learn from the strange science of recovery. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmi...
We talk to Matt Richtel about his new book An Elegant Defense: The Extraordinary New Science of the Immune System: A Tale in Four Lives. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds...
A study taking a deep look into insect populations and their decline; bad news about global warming four generations from now, new research showing why older mice benefit from receiving younger b...
We talk to Jennifer Ouellette, science writer and former director of The Science & Entertainment Exchange, about last year’s best and the worst science movies and tv. Support the show: https:...
We talk to Blake J. Harris about his new book The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...
The science behind the polar vortex, a new study attempting to directly translate brain signals into speech, and an update on the incredible work of neuroscientist Ed Boyden. Support the show: ...
We talk to New York Times best-selling science writer Maria Konnikova about her book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquirin...
We talk to psychologist Ellen Winner about her new book How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to bestselling author Daniel Pink about his latest book When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week: The New Horizons spacecraft took pictures of an object in the Kuiper belt; a study that brings up questions about how to define death; there’s a major upcoming scientific study that ...
We talk to David Amodia, a social neuroscientist and psychology professor at NYU and the University of Amsterdam, about the science of prejudice. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inqui...
This week: Kishore looks back through 2018 and lays out his favorite science stories of the year. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Dave Williams, a Canadian astronaut, neuroscientist, physician, and author of the new book Defying Limits: Lessons from the Edge of the Universe. Support the show: https://www.patreo...
This week: A study looking into how male hummingbirds divebomb fast enough that their tail feathers make high-pitched squeaks; and new evidence explaining why sea levels were 6-9 meters higher ab...
We talk to author Robert Greene, most known for the bestselling The 48 Laws of Power, about his new book The Laws of Human Nature. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week: A look into quorum sensing, a field of research looking into if bacteria, particularly bacteria that are trying to invade another host, can communicate with each other—and new resear...
Carl Zimmer is a New York Times columnist and author of 13 books about science. We talked to him about his latest book, She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Hered...
This week: The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Heath released a new report that busts some common migration myths; and a scientist at Oxford University has come up with an alteration to ...
Dr. Concetta Tomaino is a pioneer in the field of music therapy and the executive director and co-founder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function. On the show this week we talk to Dr. ...
This week: A study that tracked ants using little backpacks and a look at a new study suggesting a connection between differences in the DNA of our neurons and Alzheimer's. Support the show: ht...
We follow up last week’s dino-episode by talking to paleontologist at University of Edinburgh Steve Brusatte about his new book The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World...
We talk to science writer David Quammen about his new book The Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
Up To Date: 10/19/2018 Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to paleontologist, professor, expeditioner, and science communicator Ken Lacovara about his book Why Dinosaurs Matter. Ken has unearthed some of the largest dinosaurs ever to walk our pla...
This week: Stingrays are especially affected by oil spills because they’re so good at smelling; and research into using a spicy cactus to treat pain. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com...
We talk to evolutionary biologist and managing editor at New Scientist Rowan Hooper about his new book Superhuman: Life at the Extremes of Our Capacity. Support the show: https://www.patreon.co...
This week: A look into what the midterm election results mean for science; moths developed a ‘stealth shield’ to hide from bats; and the kilogram is retiring. Support the show: https://www....
We talk to journalist, geologist, and author Betsy Mason about her latest book, co-authored with Greg Miller, All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com...
This week Kishore catches up with previous guests Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti to talk about their new book True or Poo?: The Definitive Field Guide to Filthy Animal Facts and Falsehoods. Sup...
We talk to science writer at Wired magazine Matt Simon about his new book Plight of the Living Dead: What Real-Life Zombies Reveal About Our World—and Ourselves. Support the show: https://www...
This week: A new study attempts to extend the life of worms and what it might mean for us; and a detailed look into the recent failed Soyuz rocket launch. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
We talk to Arnold Van de Laar, a surgeon in the Slotervaart Hospital in Amsterdam, about his new book Under the Knife: A History of Surgery in 28 Remarkable Operations. Support the show: https:...
This week: We recap the 2018 Nobel Prizes and look at a study exploring a new way to use electrical stimulation to regenerate nerves. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to mathematician and science writer Hannah Fry about her latest book Hello World: Being Human in the Age of Algorithms. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to artificial intelligence expert and former president of Google China Kai-Fu Lee about his recent book AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. Support the show:...
We talk with cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker about his recent book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquir...
We talk to writer and historian Dan Flores about his book Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week: Kishore takes a closer look at some of the health claims made during the recent Apple Keynote. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to celebrated science journalist Richard Harris about the “reproducibility crisis” in science and his new book Rigor Mortis: How Sloppy Science Creates Worthless Cures, Crushes Hope, ...
We talk to political scientist Eric Oliver about the surprisingly high percentage of people who believe in conspiracy theories and the reasons behind those beliefs. His forthcoming book is Enchan...
This week: A new study shows we only focus on something a few milliseconds at a time, but we don’t notice because we’re pulsing that focus; and research on how ants avoid traffic jams so perf...
We talk to author Andrea J. Buchanan about her experience with a brain injury and how she used playing the piano to recover. Buchanan’s new book is The Beginning of Everything: The Year I Lost ...
This week: A jury decided that Monsanto’s Roundup caused a man’s cancer but the science is murky and a new study shows that children are susceptible to peer pressure by robots. Links: htt...
We talk to chemist Joseph Meany about his book Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inq...
This week: A Standford study used Google Glass to help kids with autism understand others people’s emotions; and breaking news regarding the way dogs pee. Links: http://med.stanford.edu/new...
This week: A new study from the University of Bristol showing the way plants accumulate sugar helps them tell what time it is; scientists have successfully transplanted lab-grown lungs into pigs;...
Ben Goldfarb is a writer covering wildlife conservation and fisheries management. We talk to him about his new book Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter. Support th...
This week: Italian scientists found a body of liquid water on mars using radar; a new study suggests that while dogs do feel empathy for us, training them to be therapy dogs doesn’t make them c...
We talk to Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the pediatrician who first proved that Flint’s kids were exposed to lead about her new book What the Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope i...
This week: New research suggests labeling can increase GMO acceptance; Elle Macpherson’s terrible new boyfriend (it’s relevant, I swear); and research looking into the personality of caught f...
We talk to sports and business journalist Zach Schonbrun about his new book The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience Is Redefining Athletic Genius. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inq...
This week: New research into using CRISPR to destroy cancer cells with other cancer cells and a study suggesting rodents aren’t immune to the sunk cost fallacy. Links: https://www.sciencene...
We talk to author Richard Munson about his new Nikola Tesla biography Tesla: Inventor of the Modern. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week: New research exploring the link between air pollution and diabetes; the huge potential of doing large scale microbiome studies; and a look into why driving makes babies (and the rest o...
We talk to Randi Hutter Epstein, M.D, lecturer at Yale university, writer in residence at Yale Medical School, and author of the new book Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Jus...
This week: New research shows mortality rates level off if you can reach a certain age; the problem of methane gas leaking from power plants; and a new likely candidate for where California’s n...
We talk to biologist and science writer Carin Bondar about her latest book Wild Moms: Motherhood in the Animal Kingdom. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week: New research into controlling robot arms with your brain, a surprising link between a common virus and Alzheimer's Disease, and remembering Koko the gorilla. Support the show: https:...
How do we create artificial intelligence that isn't bigoted? Can we teach machines to work exactly like our brains work? “You don’t program a machine to be smart,” says our guest this week,...
We talk to Peter Rubin, editor at Wired and author of Future Presence: How Virtual Reality Is Changing Human Connection, Intimacy, and the Limits of Ordinary Life. Support the show: https://www...
This week: New research shows a 6-month treatment for breast cancer is nearly as successful as the previously-standard 12-month course; the surprising effects that clay can have on your body; and...
We talk to Carl Zimmer, New York Times columnist and author of 13 books about science about his latest book She Has Her Mother's Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity. Suppo...
In this mini-episode, Kishore talks to neuroscientist and author Dean Burnett about his new book Happy Brain: Where Happiness Comes From, and Why. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inqu...
We talk to Adam Alter, author and marketing and psychology professor at NYU's Stern School of Business about his book Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us...
We talk to planetary scientist and New Horizons’ mission leader Alan Stern and astrobiologist David Grinspoon about their new book Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto. ...
This week: There are reports that scientists have ‘transferred a memory' in snails—what does the research actually say?; we examine a study that suggests people can form a “sphere a sensiti...
We talk to Danna Staaf, a science writer with a PhD in invertebrate biology from Stanford University, about her new book Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods. Support the show: ht...
This week: A study looking at how much actionable information pre-pregnancy genome sequencing can actually give you; the benefits and consequences of mass mass prescribing antibiotics; and a new ...
We talk to science writer and neurobiologist Lone Frank about her latest book The Pleasure Shock: The Rise of Deep Brain Stimulation and Its Forgotten Inventor. Support the show: https://www.pa...
University of Copenhagen scientists managed to genetically delete an enzyme in mice that made it impossible for them to get fat, even on a very fatty diet; Alan Turing wrote a paper in 1952 that ...
We talk to astrophysicist Brian Keating about new his book Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science's Highest Honor. Support the show: https://www.patre...
This week: Scott Pruitt’s fight against anonymous study subjects, a debate on should be regulating genetically engineered livestock, and new research that shows asteroids could have delivered w...
We talk to biologist Kenneth R. Miller about his new book The Human Instinct: How We Evolved to Have Reason, Consciousness, and Free Will. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmin...
This week: new research shows being a night owl might mean you’re at a greater risk of dying early, multiple interesting space launches are happening, and there’s new research into using phos...
We talk to the founding director of Stanford University's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Jeremy Bailenson. Bailenson’s lab studies how virtual reality can affect empathy—how it makes you feel...
Kishore talks to Nick Caruso and Dani Rabaiotti, authors of Does It Fart?: The Definitive Field Guide to Animal Flatulence. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to astrophysicist Adam Becker about his new book What Is Real? The Unfinished Quest for the Meaning of Quantum Physics. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We're introducing a new, additional weekly episode! Every Friday, listen to Indre and Kishore do a quick recap of some of the week's most interesting science news. Today, we talk about why shri...
We have a big announcement! After 220 episodes, we are striking out on our own. Thanks to Mother Jones for being our home for the past 5 years. Look for new segments and episodes as we expand cre...
We talk to ocean scientist and science writer Juli Berwald about her new book Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/in...
We talk to Rhett Butler, editor-in-chief and CEO of Mongabay, a nonprofit organization which seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of ...
We talk to Stanford law professor and economist John Donohue who for the better part of the last 20 years has been doing research into understanding gun violence. Support the show: https://www....
We talk to Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering Mark Jacobson about his research that shows it’s possible for the world to be using 100% clean, renewable energy by 2050. ...
We talk to journalist and science writer Hamilton Morris about his Viceland docuseries “Hamilton's Pharmacopeia” and the history and science of psychoactive drugs. Support the show: https:/...
We talk to Alex Hutchinson, author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to marine biologist, policy expert, and conservation strategist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson about why we need to rethink ocean conservation. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquir...
We talk to science journalist and author Angela Saini about her latest book Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong and the New Research That's Rewriting the Story. Support the show: https://www....
We talk to Jess Phoenix, a volcanologist, geologist, and 2018 Democratic candidate seeking election to California's 25th Congressional District. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquir...
We talk to neuroscientist Lucina Uddin about her work mapping human brains. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
Happy new year! It’s a bonus podcast: episode one of the second season of Indre’s other podcast, Cadence. Subscribe to Cadence here: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cadence/id...
We talk to professor of psychology & neuroscience Abigail Marsh about her new book The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, and Everyone In-Between. Support the show: h...
We talk to Ken Holmes, who worked in the Marin County Coroner’s Office for thirty-six years, starting as a death investigator and ending as the three-term, elected coroner. A new book, The Educ...
We talk to celebrated Stanford economist Raj Chetty about his work focusing on using empirical evidence—often big data—to inform the design of more effective governmental policies. Support ...
We talk to Sheril Kirshenbaum, executive director of Science Debate (sciencedebate.org), a nonpartisan organization that asks candidates, elected officials, the public and the media to focus more...
We talk to theoretical astrophysicist Janna Levin about her book Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to paleontologist, professor, expeditioner, and science communicator Ken Lacovara about his recent book Why Dinosaurs Matter. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to pediatric neuroscientist Moriah Thomason about her research into what we can learn by imaging the brains of fetuses before they're born. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inq...
We talk to sports writer Erik Malinowski about his new book Betaball: How Silicon Valley and Science Built One of the Greatest Basketball Teams in History. Support the show: https://www.patreon...
In a joint production with Stevie Lepp and the Reckonings podcast we hear from Jerry Taylor, a former professional climate change skeptic who switched sides entirely. Support the show: https://...
We talk to cartoonist and author Zach Weinersmith about his latest book, Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything, co-written with his wife, parasitologist Kelly ...
We talk to renowned psychiatrist Allen Frances about his latest book Twilight of American Sanity: A Psychiatrist Analyzes the Age of Trump. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmi...
We talk to science writer Sam Kean about his latest book Caesar's Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Oliver Uberti and James Cheshire, authors of the new book Where the Animals Go: Tracking Wildlife with Technology in 50 Maps and Graphics. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/i...
We talk to journalist, scholar, and prize-winning author Robert Wright about his latest book Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment. Support the show: ...
We talk to clinical psychologist Ali Mattu about the psychology of dehumanization and hate. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to award winning writer and director Jonathan Lynn about his latest novel, Samaritans, which is a satirical look at the US healthcare system. His films as director include Clue, Nuns on t...
We talk to astronomer Andrew Fraknoi about the upcoming total solar eclipse—the first total solar eclipse over North America in decades—on August 21st, 2017, and how you can best enjoy it. ...
We talk to English comedian and writer Helen Keen about her new book The Science of Game of Thrones: A myth-busting, mind-blowing, jaw-dropping and fun-filled expedition through the world of Game...
We talk to acclaimed astrophysicist Mario Livio about his new book Why?: What Makes Us Curious. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to entomologist Brian Fisher about his his research on ants in Mozambique and his new initiative to get entomologists more directly involved in conservation—a big part of which involves...
We talk to Jason Silva, host of National Geographic Channel’s new show Origins: The Journey of Humankind. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to journalist Jennifer Latson about Williams syndrome and her new book The Boy Who Loved Too Much: A True Story of Pathological Friendliness. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/i...
We talk to Zeynep Tufekci, writer and associate professor at the University of North Carolina School of Information and Library Science, about her book Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragili...
We talk to neuroscientist Dean Buonomano about his new book “Your Brain Is a Time Machine: The Neuroscience and Physics of Time.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to psychologist Ty Tashiro about his new book “Awkward: The Science of Why We're Socially Awkward & Why That's Awesome.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Mike Drucker, co-head writer for Bill Nye Saves the World, writer for Adam Ruins Everything, the Tonight Show, and much more about incorporating science into comedy writing. Support ...
In this second and final special collaborative episode with the Cited podcast, Indre and guest host Alexander B. Kim focus on women in engineering and the obstacles they face throughout their car...
In this special collaborative episode with the Cited podcast, Indre and guest host Alexander B. Kim look into the “leaky pipeline” of women in science. There are many stages you go through fr...
We talk to associate professor of surgery at Indiana University Teresa Zimmers about her work on whether or not lethal injection drugs actually provide a humane, painless death as promised. Sup...
We talk to Bill Nye about his approach to communicating climate change and what he hopes will change in the future. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Paul Doherty, senior staff scientist at San Francisco’s famed Exploratorium Museum about his new book “And Then You're Dead: What Really Happens If You Get Swallowed by a Whale, Ar...
We talk to science writer Sharon Begley about her new book “Can't Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to James Beacham, particle physicist with the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN about what it’s like to hunt for strange new subatomic particles. Support the show:...
It's the first episode of Indre's new podcast, Cadence! (Don’t worry, she’s not leaving Inquiring Minds.) Cadence is a podcast about music and how it affects your mind. What is music? How wo...
We talk to science writer Mary Roach about the science of your guts and her book “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal.” Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Dan Ariely, the James B Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University about what actually motivates us to get things done—to finish that novel, to stick to...
We talk to Siddhartha Roy, a PhD student and graduate researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. Roy is a founding member of the Virginia Tech Flint Wat...
We talk to Dr. Steven Hatch, a specialist in infectious diseases and immunology about his latest book “Inferno: A Doctor's Ebola Story,” an account of his time in Liberia during the height of...
We talk to neuroscientist, music producer, and best-selling author Daniel Levitin about his recent research into how playing music in the home affects us. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
We talk to researcher in Animal Genomics and Biotechnology at UC Davis Alison Van Eenennaam about the science of gene editing livestock. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds...
We talk to physician, writer, and clinical researcher Haider Warraich about his most recent book "Modern Death: How Medicine Changed the End of Life." Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/...
We talk to Alan Burdick, staff writer and former senior editor for The New Yorker, about his most recent book "Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation.” Support the show: https://ww...
We talk to Nate Allen, chemist and head moderator of one of the internet’s largest science communities: Reddit’s r/science subreddit. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...
We talk to author and Wall Street Journal reporter Alexandra Wolfe about her new book Valley of the Gods: A Silicon Valley Story. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
This week, as we near the inauguration of Donald Trump, we revisit a conversation with science journalist Dave Levitan about his book Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and U...
We welcome back cognitive scientist Paul Bloom to talk about his new book Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to American chess Grandmaster Patrick Wolff. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to physicist and oceanographer Helen Czerski about her new book Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to astrobiologist David Grinspoon about his latest book Earth in Human Hands: Shaping Our Planet's Future. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to investigative journalist Lee van der Voo about her new book The Fish Market: Inside the Big-Money Battle for the Ocean and Your Dinner Plate. Support the show: https://www.patreon.co...
We talk to science writer Erik Vance about his new book Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/i...
We talk to marine biologist and marine mammal specialist Heather Hill about her work on marine mammal training and why it might disagree with much of what we covered in episode #146 with John Har...
We talk to Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield and his son Evan Hadfield about their recent exploration into the Arctic and Greenland on the legendary icebreaker, Kapitan Khlebnikov. Su...
We team up with Stephanie Lepp from the Reckonings podcast and talk to sociologist Arlie Hochschild about whether or not this election is causing more people than usual to change their minds abou...
We talk to ecologist, conservationist and wildlife photographer Merlin Tuttle about his book The Secret Lives of Bats: My Adventures with the World's Most Misunderstood Mammals. Support the sho...
We talk to science writer Abigail Tucker about her new book The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...
We talk to Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Professor at the University of California Davis MIND Institute, Director of the NIH-funded UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center, and co-founder of Projec...
We talk to Stuart Firestein, chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, about his latest book Failure: Why Science Is So Successful. Support the show: https://www.pa...
We talk to exoplanetary astronomer Sarah Ballard and congresswoman Jackie Speier about sexual harassment within the scientific community. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmind...
We talk to science journalist Judith Schwartz about her new book Water in Plain Sight: Hope for a Thirsty World. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to science journalist Dave Levitan about his new book Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inqui...
We talk to former Senior killer-whale trainer for SeaWorld and supervisor of Killer Whale Training for Marineland in the South of France about his book Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorl...
We talk to biologist Carin Bondar about her new book Wild Sex: The Science Behind Mating in the Animal Kingdom. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to award-winning British science writer Ed Yong about his recent book I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/...
We talk about the significance of collection museums with Emily Grasile, Chief Curiosity Correspondent at the Field Museum; Shannon Bennett, Chief of Science at the California Academy of Sciences...
We talk to Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford University’s School of Medicine about his new book The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction. ...
We talk to Marek Glezerman, professor emeritus of Obstetrics and Gynecology and currently chairman of the Ethics Committee at the Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University about his book Ge...
We talk to Janna Levin, professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College and author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquirin...
We talk to Peter Willcox, Captain for Greenpeace for over 30 years and author of Greenpeace Captain: My Adventures in Protecting the Future of Our Planet. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
We welcome best-selling science writer Mary Roach back on the show to talk about her latest book Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiring...
We talk to professor of marketing and New York Times bestselling author Jonah Berger about his latest book Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior. Support the show: https://...
We talk to cancer physician and researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee about his latest book The Gene: An Intimate History. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to theoretical physicist Sean Carroll about his latest book The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquirin...
Does it take 10,000 hours to become an expert at something? Probably not, says our guest this week—who happens to be the author of the paper which was the basis for Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 ...
We talk to Ben Beard, associate director for climate change and chief of the bacterial diseases branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Support the show: https://www.pat...
This week we talk to geobiologist Hope Jahren about her recent book Lab Girl. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
Evidence is mounting that Greenland is melting at a faster and faster rate. We talked to Josh Willis—senior scientist at NASA JPL’s Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) project—about how changing...
We talk to Bill Nye about climate change denial and what we can do to fight it. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Dr. Greg Marcus, the Director of Clinical Research for the UCSF Division of Cardiology about heart disease and how things like smart watches might help us learn more about it. Suppor...
We talk to naturalist and author Sy Montgomery about her latest book The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com...
We talk to science writer and New York Times columnist Carl Zimmer about viruses. Viral fragments make up 8% of our entire genome—how much do we actually know about them? Support the show: ht...
We talk to Maria Konnikova about her new book The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
We talk to Anthony James, distinguished professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at UC Irvine about the most deadly animal to human beings: the mosquito. Support the show: https://www.pa...
We talk to Joanne Ruthsatz and Kimberly Stephens, authors of The Prodigy's Cousin: The Family Link Between Autism and Extraordinary Talent. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringmi...
On the show this week we talk to J. Kenji López-Alt, managing culinary director of Serious Eats and author of The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. Support the show: https://www.p...
On the show this week we talk to social epidemiologist Nancy Krieger about her research that suggests we should start tracking law enforcement involved deaths as public health data. Support the...
On this special Valentine’s Day episode we talk to marine biologist Marah Hardt about 8-foot long whale penises, shark ejaculation systems, vagina mazes, fish orgies, and all the other crazy se...
On the show this week we talk to bestselling author Eric Weiner about his latest book The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley....
On the show this week we talk to science reporter Kara Platoni about her new book We Have the Technology: How Biohackers, Foodies, Physicians, and Scientists Are Transforming Human Perception, On...
On the show this week we talk to climate scientist Kim Cobb about the science of El Niño and climate change—and how studying coral can help us understand both. Support the show: https://www....
On the show this week we talk to neurobiologist Douglas Fields about his new book Why We Snap: Understanding the Rage Circuit in Your Brain. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringm...
On the show this week Indre and Kishore share their predictions for what some of the big science stories of 2016 will be. http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.patreo...
On the show this week we return to the topic of violence in video games. We spoke to psychologist Chris Ferguson who offers a contrasting view on the subject. For more discussion, check out epis...
On the show this week we talk to Mark Schatzker, author of The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor, “a lively and important argument from an award-winning journalist p...
Robert Sapolsky is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research at the National Mu...
Ed Lu is a former astronaut and current CEO of the B612 Foundation. On the show this week we talked to him about the threat of asteroids hitting our planet—and what we can do about it. http://...
On the show this week we talk to UC Berkeley astronomy researcher Steve Croft about the science of supermassive black holes. http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.pat...
On the show this week we talk to astronaut Dr. Cady Coleman about the human side of space exploration. “Leaving the planet is just something people are going to do because we live off the plan...
Dava Newman is the Deputy Administrator of NASA. On the show this week we talked to her about the future of space exploration. http://patreon.com/inquiringminds Support the show: https://www.p...
On the show this week we talk to Adam Galinsky and Maurice Schweitzer about the research behind their new book Friend & Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both. “A...
Ariel Waldman makes “massively multiplayer science”, instigating unusual collaborations that spark clever creations for science and space exploration. On the show this week we talk to her ab...
On the show this week we talk to psychologist Brad Bushman about the science of gun violence. Brad Bushman is a professor of communication and psychology at The Ohio State University and a prof...
The website for neuroscientist Brad Voytek’s lab begins like this: “Do not buy into the false belief that neuroscientists actually know what the brain is doing.” On the show this week we ta...
In 2014 there were 585 magnitude three or above earthquakes in Oklahoma. In 2013 that number was only 109. And it turns out we’re to blame for the increase. On the show this week we talk to Re...
On the show this week we talk to M. R. O'Connor about her book Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things. Support the show: https://www.patreon....
How do you clone a mammoth? We asked Beth Shapiro. Shapiro is associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the author of How to Clone a ...
This week we have an extra special episode: It was recorded live on stage in Atlanta for this year’s Dragon Con. We talk about the science of Archer—the hit FX series TV series created by Ada...
This week, on our 100th episode, we remember Oliver Sacks, neurologist, author, and mentor to Indre. We talk to Steve Silberman—who was also close with Sacks, about his legacy and influence on,...
Marc Lewis is a neuroscientist, professor of developmental psychology, and author of the new book The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease. On the show this week we talk to Lewis abo...
The science behind genetically modified food is a very divisive issue for a lot of people. We’ve already talked about it a few times on the show, but this week we sought out a new perspective a...
Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis was trained as a concert pianist and is now the director of the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas. On the show this week we talk to Margulis about her ...
On the show this week we talk to David Casarett, M.D. about his latest book Stoned: A Doctor's Case for Medical Marijuana. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
On the show this week we talk to journalist and educator Wade Roush about how disasters can affect our appreciation of the science behind them—and what we can do to be sure the right story gets...
On the show this week we talk to Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Michael Hiltzik about his new book Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Comple...
On the show this week we talk to Nobel Memorial Prize winning economist Alvin Roth about his latest book Who Gets What—and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design. Support the...
On the show this week we explore the future of 3D Printing. To do so, Indre goes to SolidCon—a conference about “Hardware, Software & the Internet of Things”—and talks to people from two ...
Rachel Kalmar is a neuroscientist, data scientist, and world record holder for number of wearable sensors worn daily. On the show this week we talk to Kalmar about the power of collecting data fr...
On the show this week we talk all things virtual reality with Will Smith and Norman Chan from Tested.com. Did VR fail in the 90s?How many times does it have to fail to succeed? What’s it useful...
Eric Cheng is an award-winning photographer and publisher, and is the Director of Aerial Imaging and General Manager of the San Francisco office at DJI, the makers of the popular Phantom aerial-i...
Alan Levinovitz is an assistant professor of Chinese philosophy and religion at James Madison University and author of The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat. On the show this week we...
On the show this week we talk to Stephen Dubner, award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality. He is best-known for writing, along with the economist Steven D. Levitt, Freakonom...
Adam Rogers is an editor at Wired and the author of Proof: The Science of Booze. On the show this week we talk to Rogers about alcohol and the science behind it—from yeast, to bourbon, to Star ...
James Krupa is a professor of biology at the University of Kentucky. On the show this week we talk to Krupa about a recent article he wrote for Orion magazine called Defending Darwin, in which he...
Ivan Oransky is vice president and global editorial director of MedPage Today and co-founder of Retraction Watch. On the show this week we talk to Oransky about retractions and the gospel of the ...
On the show this week we talk to Traci Mann, professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota and author of the new book Secrets from the Eating Lab: The Science of Weight Loss, the Myth of...
Alex Garland is the writer and director of Ex Machina, a recently released film about what happens when someone is asked to interact with what might be the world's first true artificial intellige...
On the show this week we talk to Sanjoy Mahajan, Associate Professor of Applied Science and Engineering at Olin College of Engineering, Visiting Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and ...
Norman Doidge, M.D., is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher, author, essayist and poet. He is on faculty at the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry, and Research Faculty at C...
On the show this week we talk to Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist working for the Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University. He investigates issues re...
On the show this week we talk to Bill Gifford, author of the new book Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (or Die Trying). Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds
On the show this week, we talk to Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Professor of Medicine and Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at San Francisco General Hospital. She’s part of a ne...
On the show this week we talk to evolutionary biologist Jonathan Eisen, who studies the evolution and ecology of microbes and genomes. We delve into the tiny world of the microbiome—the thousan...
On the show this week we talk to Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired magazine and former editor of the incredibly influential Whole Earth Catalog. We talk about the agenda and biases ...
On the show this week we talk to Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The APPC runs FactCheck.org, which now includes SciCheck...
On the show this week we talk to David J Morris, former Marine infantry officer, war correspondent, and author of The Evil Hours: A Biography of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. We explore the his...
On the show this week we talk to author Andy Weir about The Martian, his hit science fiction novel about a man stranded on Mars—which is now being made into a film directed by Ridley Scott and ...
Ed Boyden is the head of the MIT Media Lab’s Synthetic Neurobiology research group and he wants blow up the brain. Sort of. He and his team have discovered a way to examine brain tissue by phys...
Brian Fisher is really into ants. And after listening to him talk about them on this week’s show, I suspect he might convince you to appreciate them more than you probably do right now. Fisher ...
Dark matter: it makes up 80 to 85 percent of the matter in the universe, it’s invisible, you can’t touch it, and according to this week’s guest astrophysicist Katie Mack, it’s probably pa...
On the show this week we talk to Matt Walker, Principal Investigator at UC Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab. Walker opens our eyes to exactly how important (and bizarre) sleep is—from th...
On the show this week we talk to Professor of Psychology Gabriele Oettingen about her new book Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation. Oettingen has over twenty years ...
On the show this week we talk to Mythbusters host and friend of the show Adam Savage. We caught up with Savage shortly after our live show with him (episode 58) at his workshop in San Francisco. ...
On the show this week Indre talks to mathematician and comedian Matt Parker about how math is way more fascinating that you probably think—and how it's connected to everything from credit card ...
On the show this week we talk to nature and science writer Sharman Apt Russell about citizen science—real scientific research done by people who are not professional scientists. We talk about h...
On the show this week guest host Cynthia Graber talks to paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson, most well known for discovering the fossil of a female hominid australopithecine, or "Lucy.” iTunes...
On the show this week we talk to journalist and science writer Christine Kenneally about her latest book, The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our...
On the show this week guest host Cynthia Graber talks to George Church—a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and the author of Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature ...
On the show this week we talk to cognitive scientist Paul Bloom about the morality of babies. Most of us think of babies as selfish, impulsive, and for the most part out of control. We tend to th...
On the show this week we welcome guest host David Corn, political journalist and Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones. Corn interviews astrobiologist David Grinspoon about the science behind ...
On the show this week Indre talks to Adam Savage about the future of science communication (and why it’s terrifying TV networks), why he’s worried Elon Musk might become a Marvel supervillain...
On the show this week we talk to author William Gibson about time travel, cronuts, and his new 22nd century novel. We also talk to infectious disease doctor and co-founder of Wellbody Alliance, D...
On the show this week we talk to Steven Johnson, author of the new book How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World. In it, Johnson argues that seemingly mundane scientific brea...
On the show this week we talk to cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, musician, and writer Daniel Levitin about his new book The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Ove...
San Francisco! Come see us interview Adam Savage live on Oct. 28! http://www.bayareascience.org/event/im-story-collider/ On the show this week we talk to celebrated Harvard cognitive scientist an...
Come see us interview Adam Savage live in San Francisco on Oct. 28! http://www.bayareascience.org/event/im-story-collider/ On the show this week we talk to author and social activist Naomi Klein ...
On the show this week we talk to former Vice President Al Gore. He shares his thoughts on President Obama's global warming record, the upcoming United Nations climate meeting, the impact of frack...
On the show this week we talk to Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan, who has focused much of his research on employing the tools of social science to study fact-checking—why it so ofte...
On the show this week we talk about randomness with science writer William Poundstone, author of the new book Rock Breaks Scissors. Poundstone explains why we’re so terrible at trying to come u...
"Its Islam over everything." So read the Twitter bio of Douglas McAuthur McCain—or, as he reportedly called himself, "Duale Khalid"—the San Diego man who is apparently the first American to b...
One of the most difficult parts of getting a Ph.D. is finishing your dissertation. Beyond the mountain of work a dissertation requires, graduate students also have to face feelings of inadequacy,...
On the political right, it's pretty popular these days to claim that the left exaggerates scientific worries about hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." In a recent National Review article, for in...
On the show this week we talk to University of Pennsylvania professor of medicine David Casarett about his book Shocked: Adventures in Bringing Back the Recently Dead. Casarett explains the scien...
Charles Dickens, perhaps the greatest of the Victorian novelists, was a man of strict routine. Every day, notes his biographer Claire Tomalin, Dickens would write from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm. After t...
What makes a great athlete? Talent? Training? Or is mostly genetic? On the show this week we get some answers from sports writer David Epstein while discussing his new book The Sports Gene: Insid...
You don't know it yet. There's no way that you could. But 400 years from now, a historian will write that the time in which you're now living is the "Penumbral Age" of human history—meaning, th...
On the show this week we welcome Arthur I. Miller—physics Ph.D., science historian, philosopher—and an art aficionado to boot. We talked to Miller about his new book, Colliding Worlds: How Cu...
It's the 4th of July, and you love your country. Your likely next step: Fire off some small scale explosives, and drink a lot of beer. But that last word ought to trouble you a little. Beer? Is t...
There's nothing quite as satisfying as a really good joke. Someone has made a clever new connection between two mundane things that we've all encountered—and suddenly we have a lovely "aha" mom...
Chances are that when you think about math—which, for most of us, happens pretty infrequently—you don't think of it in anything like the way that Jordan Ellenberg does. Ellenberg is a rare sc...
We've all been mesmerized by them—those beautiful brain scan images that make us feel like we're on the cutting edge of scientifically decoding how we think. But as soon as one neuroscience stu...
Remember those stick-figures of chemical compounds you were forced to memorize in high school? Remember how useless it seemed at the time? Can you still articulate the difference between a covale...
Remember "Climategate"? It was the 2009 non-scandal scandal in which a trove of climate scientists' emails, pilfered from the University of East Anglia in the UK, were used to call all of modern ...
If you want to truly grasp the scale of the Earth's polar ice sheets, you need some help from Isaac Newton. Newton taught us the universal law of gravitation, which states that all objects are at...
In late April, former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver kicked off his HBO news-satire program, Last Week Tonight. Oliver, who spent nearly eight years at The Daily Show and has a solid backgr...
When the audio of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to "bring black people" to his team's games hit the Internet, the condemnations were immediate. It was clear to all ...
Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian, has had quite the run lately. A few weeks back, she was featured in the first episode of the Showtime series The Years of Living Dang...
Mary Roach has been called "America's funniest science writer." Master of the monosyllabically titled bestseller, she has explored sex in Bonk, corpses in Stiff, and the afterlife in Spook. Her l...
Jared Diamond, author of a suite of massive, bestselling books about the precarious state of our civilization (including the Pulitzer-winning Guns, Germs, and Steel), calls himself "cautiously op...
We all know the Darwin fish, the clever car-bumper parody of the Christian "ichthys" symbol, or Jesus fish. Unlike the Christian symbol, the Darwin fish has, you know, legs. Har har. But the Darw...
Thomas Jefferson was a smart dude. And in one of his letters to John Adams, dated June 27, 1813, Jefferson made an observation about the nature of politics that science is only now, two centuries...
How do you become a scientist? Ask anyone in the profession and you'll probably hear some version of the following: get a Bachelor's of Science degree, work in a lab, get into a PhD program, publ...
We all heard the cosmos-stretching news this week. On Monday, a team of researchers working with a special telescope at the South Pole confirmed that they had observed evidence of "inflation," th...
Last week, Fox's and National Geographic's new Cosmos series set a new milestone in television history. According to National Geographic, it was the largest global rollout of a TV series ever, ap...
Who are you? The question may seem effortless to answer: You are the citizen of a country, the resident of a city, the child of particular parents, the sibling (or not) of brothers and sisters, t...
As Edward Frenkel sees it, the way we teach math in schools today is about as exciting as watching paint dry. So it's not surprising that when he brings up the fact that he's a mathematician at d...
Just when weather weary Americans thought they'd found a reprieve, the latest forecasts suggest that the polar vortex will, again, descent into the heart of the country next week, bringing with i...
With historic drought battering California's produce and climate change expected to jeopardize the global food supply, there are few questions more important than what our agriculture system shou...
You're a busy person. Keeping up with your job, plus your life, is the very definition of multitasking. It doesn't help that when working, you're distracted not only by your mobile devices, but a...
Most expecting women ask their doctors whether it's okay to eat blue cheese, or have the odd glass of wine, while they're pregnant. Or maybe whether to stay away from fish, because of the mercury...
In recent decades, there have been countless infringements, and attempted infringements, upon accurate science education across the country. The "war on science" in national politics has nothing ...
The Paleo diet is hot. Those who follow it are attempting, they say, to mimic our ancient ancestors—minus the animal-skin fashions and the total lack of technology, of course. The adherents esc...
As a writer, Deborah Blum says she has a "love of evil chemistry." It seems that audiences do too: Her latest book, The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age ...
For Mark Ruffalo, environmental activism started out with something to oppose, to be against: Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. It all began when the actor, perhaps best known for his role as Br...
On Valentine's Day 1990, from more than four billion miles away, the Voyager 1 spacecraft snapped our photo. From that distance, there wasn't much to see; the resulting shot simply showed several...
Americans don't like atheists much. It's something we get reminded of every December, as Fox News commentators decry a secularist "war on Christmas." But the distrust spans seasons: Barely half o...
It's an old distinction: Science tells us what the world is like, but it can never tell us how we ought to behave in such a world. That's the realm of morality, and here we consult ethicists or p...
It's flu season. And we're all about to crisscross the country to exchange hugs, kisses and germs. We're going to get sick. And when we do, many of us will run to our doctors and, hoping to get b...
Simon Singh isn't exactly your average fan of Fox's The Simpsons. He has a Ph.D. in particle physics from Cambridge, and made an award-winning documentary about Fermat's Last Theorem. Let's be fr...
On the show this week we talk to climate researcher Michael Mann about how he, as a self-described math and computer nerd working in an esoteric field known as paleoclimatology, wound up front an...
This week we feature a conversation with psychologist Alison Gopnik, recorded live at the 2013 Bay Area Science Festival. Gopnik talks about her latest book, The Philosophical Baby: What Children...
This week, we speak with veteran science journalist George Johnson, whose new book The Cancer Chronicles: Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery helps turn much traditional thinking about cancer on...
Why is America so polarized? Why are our politicians so dysfunctional? Why do they sometimes even seem to downright hate each other? In this episode of Inquiring Minds, moral psychologist and bes...
As two top researchers studying the science of science communication—a hot new field that combines psychology with public opinion research—Dan Kahan and Stephan Lewandowsky agree about most t...
This week we talk to Randy Schekman, the University of California-Berkeley cell biologist who was just awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine for his work on how cells regulate the protein “t...
This week we talk to scientist and explorer Sylvia Earle, a woman who has spent almost a year of her life under water. She explains why the oceans are "not too big to fail." But she also says tha...
This week, Chris Mooney talks to environmental journalist Alan Weisman, who explains why, following on his 2007 New York Times bestseller The World Without Us, he decided to centrally take on the...
There aren't many people on Earth who have spent more of their life in space than Marsha Ivins. A veteran of five space shuttle missions, Ivins has spent a total of 55 days in orbit, on mission...