Alexandra Filindra, associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois, Chicago, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how 21st Century gun culture is a product of the 18th Century.
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Did you know that curiosity is your superpower?
Scott Shigeoka, who has taught at UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss what he calls deep curiosity, which pushes people to move beyond biases to see the value in another person’s worldview.
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Beyoncé, Björk and Donald Trump: What makes divas tick
Spencer Kornhaber, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the magnetism, narcissism and perfectionism of the people we call divas … and why they matter so much to the rest of us mere mortals.
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Why are spray tans OK but Botox isn’t?
Wired contributor Sheon Han joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss lookism – the well-established idea that attractive people get social status benefits.
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The evolution of marriage
Devorah Baum, an associate professor at the University of Southampton, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why marriage is left out of philosophical discussion.
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When social movements march into your relationship
Clinical psychologist Orna Guralnik talks about what she’s seen in her practice, where couples are bringing to the table issues of race and privilege and trauma like she hasn’t seen before.
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For old-school conspiracy theorists, QAnon crossed a line
Conspiracy theory researcher Annie Kelly discusses how old-school skeptics raised on late-night call-in radio fear modern day conspiracy theorists are giving their passion a bad name.
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The devilish decade: A look back at the 2000s
Critic Kristian Vistrup Madsen makes the case that the aughts were marked by sexualization, obscenity and war – and why we ate it up.
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Why you love your favorite song
Cognitive neuroscientist Susan Rogers joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why our brains respond to certain music, our music personality types, and how music can shape identity.
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The beauty of the bilingual brain
Washington Post columnist Theresa Vargas and Sarah Phillips, a postdoctoral neurology scholar at Georgetown, join host Krys Boyd to discuss bilingualism in our culture and the neurological pathways that allow language switching to flow so freely.
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The history of secret societies in America
Colin Dickey discusses why our democracy has conspiracy theories woven into it and how to spot magical thinking so we can work to shut it down.
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It’s giving linguistics: How young people slay English
Linguistics professor Valerie Fridland discusses why she thinks we should embrace our changing language — slang, vocal fry, and all — and celebrate its ingenuity.
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