Professor Woo-kyoung Ahn discusses confirmation bias and other forms of subconscious thinking that can get in the way of us being better versions of ourselves.
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Could a brain implant treat addiction?
Zachary Siegel of Harper’s Magazine discusses the details of deep brain stimulation, an experimental treatment for addiction. Plus, a special blog post from the show!
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Wasps are ‘pests’ worth protecting
Professor Seirian Sumner discusses the wild world of wasps, which she says have an undeserved reputation as nature’s bad guys.
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Why your rituals make you feel better
Anthropologist and cognitive scientist Dimitris Xygalatas discusses how both very small and very elaborate customs connect human behavior across centuries.
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We know more about the moon than the ocean floor, but that’s changing
Scientific American senior editor Mark Fischetti discusses the science emerging from below the surface, from bioluminescence to the potentially life-saving drugs being discovered from the chemical defenses of sea creatures.
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How to read people, even when they’re lying to you
Psychotherapist David J. Lieberman explains how to pick up on subtext in spoken and written words, how to sniff out lies, and where to find the devil in the details.
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How to heal your broken heart
Journalist Florence Williams talks about her painful divorce and how that led her to uncover the latest research on loneliness and its connection to health.
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Your fun could be so much funner
Science journalist Catherine Price discusses her definition of true fun and why she feels it can lead us to happier, more fulfilling lives.
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Rising seas, floods or droughts: Living with water as nature intended
Think broadcasts today from the studios of WWNO in New Orleans. Erica Gies discusses the Slow Water movement, an idea that pushes back on methods that speed water away so that floods and droughts find natural systems that work with today’s infrastructure needs.
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Why blood mystified doctors for centuries
Dr. Dhun Sethna explains how advancements in our knowledge of blood circulation and the heart have shaped today’s medicine.
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Robots are lifelike, but they’re not alive
Cade Metz from The New York Times joins guest host Courtney Collins to talk about how we want our tech to talk back to us and have feelings and why we are still so far away from that even being in the realm of possibility.
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Why you should care about this missing salamander
Vox environmental reporter Benji Jones joins guest host Courtney Collins to discuss why it’s so hard to protect animals when the scientific community isn’t sure if they still exist.
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