Shankar Vedantam, host of NPR’s “Hidden Brain,” joins us to talk about the myriad ways we lie to ourselves on a daily basis and how that might actually help lead to a much happier life.
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Why Scientists Experiment With Demons (Yes, Really)
Jimena Canales of the University of Illinois joins us to talk about the scientific thought process of some of the world’s most brilliant minds, a wild journey into imagination, fear, and theory to make the impossible, possible.
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Your Ancestors Were Not Helicopter Parents
Michaeleen Doucleff, correspondent for NPR’s Science Desk, joins us to discuss her journeys with her daughter, from the Arctic to the Yucatan, to understand parenting best practices around the world and why American parents may be getting it all wrong.
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Can Hospitals Survive Covid?
Vivian Ho is James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics and director of the Center for Health and Biosciences at Rice University, and she joins us to talk about the knock-on effects of the pandemic, from possible health-care bankruptcies to staffing issues, that hospitals are bracing for after the storm.
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Why Is It Taking So Long To Get Your Covid Shot?
Kaiser Health News correspondent Rachana Pradhan joins us to explain the very complicated process of producing these vaccines – a process money or even executive orders can only do so much to speed up.
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Better Loving Through Chemistry
Brian D. Earp joins us to argue that drugs that can help strengthen – and sever – relationships are out there now, and it’s time to understand the ethics and morals behind their use.
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The Scammers On The Other End Of The Line
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee is a contributing writer at National Geographic, and he joins us to talk about his journey into the world of telemarketers and their phone mills selling dubious products.
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You Can Achieve So Much More – Here’s How
Steven Kotler, executive director of the Flow Research Collective, joins us to offer accessible strategies for unlocking the potential of our minds and bodies.
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How The Medical Research System Gets Around Informed Consent
Harriet A. Washington, a lecturer in bioethics at Columbia University, joins us to talk about her research into a patient’s right to decline a procedure and the ethics of forcing experiments or new treatments in the name of research.
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The ABC’s Of STD’s
Dr. Ina Park is a medical consultant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of STD Prevention, and she joins us for an open conversation about how STDs are spread and how they affect the body.
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Extra! Extra! Read All About It! (On Nextdoor)
Will Oremus joins us to talk about how as local newspapers die out, the social media site Nextdoor is filling that need.
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A Post-Mortem On Texas’s Colossal Energy Failure
University of Houston energy fellow Ed Hirs and Texas Water Resources Institute associate director Wendy Jepson join us to explain why one of the toughest weeks in Texas history was likely preventable – and what the state needs to do to make sure an energy disaster doesn’t strike again.
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