Kelly Weill explains why people are drawn to the idea that the world is a pancake surrounded by ice and our contemporary moment that leads them there.
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In Big Tech, work is religion
Carolyn Chen discusses her research in Silicon Valley, where she found spiritual practices like mindfulness are used to increase production while affiliations with places of worship outside the office are slipping away.
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A wandering mind is a creative mind
Cognitive neuroscientist Moshe Bar explains why divided attention can lead to bigger discoveries — from lessening anxiety to better connecting the dots of our daily lives.
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How the first Americans really got here
Anthropologist Jennifer Raff discusses new research into early migration patterns and what it may say about human history.
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Is your personality permanent?
Olga Khazan talks about her quest to change five traits of her personality and the lessons she learned along the way.
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How your brain navigates
Neuroscientist Christopher Kemp explains our brain’s ability to orient ourselves in space and find our way through a confusing world.
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Humans didn’t evolve to exercise (but we should anyway)
Daniel E. Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University, joins us to talk about why we exercise and how that’s changed, the myths and realities of its benefits, and helpful motivations for getting off the couch.
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Regrets… thankfully we’ve had a few
Author Daniel Pink discusses research drawing on regret that shows how it can be a force for improvement, even providing greater meaning to our lives.
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What do we really know about spacetime?
Adam Becker joins us to discuss theories about the space-time continuum and why they are important if we want to achieve a much deeper understanding of how the universe works.
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Could we bring back mammoths?
Beth Shapiro, an associate professor of evolutionary biology, discusses cutting-edge DNA research and decisions about which animals might be brought back.
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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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Rediscovering the world beyond your devices
Journalist Johann Hari discusses why we’re only able to focus on tasks for minutes at a time, what happened to our attention span, and how these racing thoughts can be monetized by big tech.
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