PODCAST · science
Chasing the Why
by OkButWhy
It always starts with a simple question: ok, but why?Chasing the Why is OkButWhy's conversational podcast where two voices explore science, philosophy, art, and culture by following ideas — not just explaining them. It doesn't lecture; it thinks out loud. Like two curious friends going down a rabbit hole over coffee, the conversation flows naturally and playfully until something clicks — and then comes that "oh, that's why" moment.For the endlessly curious who'd rather chat than cram.Read the articles that sparked these conversations at www.okbutwhy.org. Episodes are produced with AI-assisted voice generation.
Episodes
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A History of Fascism: The Ideology of Hitler and Mussolini
The Six Pillars of Fascism Welcome to the first installment of our series on the history of ideologies. Our goal here is to introduce you to the ideas that have left their mark—for better or worse—on world history. Please note that throughout this series, and indeed in everything we publish here…
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The Strongest Cats: Tigers
Why tigers evolved to hunt alone The fluffy cats we keep in our homes have some pretty wild relatives out in the world. And lucky for us, these relatives are each more powerful, agile, and noble than the last: lions, leopards, jaguars, and, of course, tigers. Tigers stand out even among their...
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Epicurus and Death
Why death is a logical error Ancient Greece was a hotbed for philosophers and, by extension, a wealth of radical ideas. As Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and a host of other giants lived out their days along the Aegean coast, they developed their philosophies in relative prosperity. Epicurus was one...
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The Evolution of Language: From Signs to Grammar
Why we risk choking to talk “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.” – Theodosius Dobzhansky Communication is a cornerstone for the survival and flourishing of any species. But language is more than just a tool for exchange; it’s a cognitive system that shapes how we...
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A Captivating Fiction: The Stanford Prison Experiment
Why the Stanford Prison Experiment turned cruel Hello there! What would you say if we invited you to our artificial prison and asked you to live there for two weeks, taking on a role we assigned you for $15 a day? You’d either be a guard or a prisoner. Sounds pretty bizarre, right? But why would…
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Why Is Being Being?: Aristotle
Aristotle's Four Causes for Human Purpose A thunderous opening, isn’t it? We’re looking at a philosopher who dared to ask why existence is, well, existence. That philosopher is Aristotle, a student of Plato. He was a thinker who would completely reshape Ancient Greece and pave a brand-new path.…
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Pascal and the Concept of God
Can You Logically Hack Into Heaven What if someone told you they could give you a logical reason to believe in God? Sounds like a tall order, right? After all, the mechanism we call "faith" doesn't always rely on logic. Think back to your childhood: if you watched Toy Story and spent the next few...
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How Will the Universe End? Scientific Scenarios
Five Ways the Universe Ends We’re fed a lot of information throughout our lives. Some of it gets so deeply ingrained in our minds that it turns into a cliché. One of those is the classic: “Everything has an end.” This phrase is usually applied to life itself. Every living thing has a lifespan…
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Gentle Giants: Elephants
The biological machinery of elephants Elephants are the largest land mammals on Earth, which means they’ve managed to become the most majestic of the roughly 6.5 million species out there. You’ll mostly find them in savannas, grasslands, and forests, but they are surprisingly adaptable, thriving…
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The Philosopher of Unhappiness: Schopenhauer
The blind engine of human desire In philosophy, many famous thinkers become synonymous with the ideas they champion. For instance, even if it’s often misunderstood, we immediately associate Kant with the Categorical Imperative. Similarly, the mere mention of the World of Forms brings Plato to…
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Reality or Simulation? Nick Bostrom
Is our reality a computer simulation There’s a question that has popped up in just about every friend group at least once: “Is reality actually real, or are we just living in a simulation?” While it might sound like something ripped straight from a sci-fi flick, it’s a topic being debated with...
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A Financial Collapse: The 2008 Economic Crisis
How subprime mortgages broke global finance Every year seems to have a defining event, doesn't it? Mention 1789, and we think of the French Revolution; 1881, and it’s the birth of our founding father; mention 2008, and it’s the economic crisis that sent shockwaves across the globe. Naturally, if…
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The Poet of Conscience and Society: Tevfik Fikret
Tevfik Fikret's Coded Poetry and Tragic Son If you only know Tevfik Fikret from school textbooks and a few scattered lines, you’ve likely pegged him as a bit too stern, a bit too distant. But as we’ll see in this piece, Fikret wasn't just a man staring into the darkness and complaining about it…
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Why Was Prince Mustafa Executed?
How a beard killed Prince Mustafa In our previous pieces, we explored the death of Prince Mehmed, the favored son of Suleiman the Magnificent, and tried to determine whether his passing was the result of a calculated conspiracy. In this article, we’re focusing on another of Suleiman’s sons—one...
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A Reading Guide: Thinking, Fast and Slow
Why Your Brain Cuts Mental Corners Welcome to our new series! In this series, we’re going to dive into the works of some truly great minds—authors who have shaped how we think about literature, philosophy, and science. Now, when we say "dive into," we can't exactly promise a comprehensive,...
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In the Shadow of Desert Storm: The 1991 Gulf War
America's first test as the lone superpower Ready to take a quick trip back through recent history? If you said yes, today is your lucky day! We’re diving into the Gulf War. This image was generated by artificial intelligence. As the calendar turned to 1990, the world was still trying to wrap its...
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Flightless Seabirds: Penguins
How Penguins Rewrote the Biological Rulebook "Flightless seabirds" sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, doesn't it? Yet, it’s the most fitting way to describe penguins. Despite being birds, they can’t fly—in fact, they are some of the most gifted swimmers you’ll find in our oceans. Let’s dive into…
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Can Germs Get Germs?
Viruses that hunt bacteria The word “germ” usually sets off alarm bells in our minds. It typically conjures up images of harmful bacteria or viruses, which we immediately associate with illness, infection, and threats—like invisible enemies. However, from a scientific perspective, “germ”…
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Playing with Genes: Are GMOs Really as Bad as We Think?
Why genetic engineering triggered superweeds When we hear the term "Genetically Modified Organism" (GMO), most of us immediately think of crops and the food on our plates. But, contrary to what many believe, the concept of GMOs wasn't originally designed for food production at all. At its core, a...
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Analytic Philosophy: The Language, Logic, and Quest for Clarity of Thought
The Engineering of Human Language If you’re one of our epic readers who follows our philosophy posts closely, there’s a good chance you’ve already read our previous piece on Continental Philosophy! And if you did, you’ll at least recognize the term “Analytic Philosophy,” which kept popping up...
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Nobel Chemistry Award – 1905 – Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer
From blue jeans to glowing eye exams "In recognition of his services in the advancement of organic chemistry and the chemical industry, through his work on organic dyes and hydroaromatic compounds." Born in 1835, the German chemist won the fifth Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Baeyer, known simply as...
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God of War: Ragnarok
Kratos and the Fine Art of Violence There are many definitions of art and many ways of showing it. According to some, art is just drawings that imitate the beauties of nature. According to some, art is the expression of our inner intuitions, while according to others, art is only what pleases the...
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Star Game of the Year 2023: Baldur’s Gate 3
Why Baldur's Gate 3 made waiting intense There are genres that everyone knows in the gaming world. The most played genres are FPS (First Person Shooter) , RPG (Role Playing Games), and MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online Games). The biggest examples of these genres are action games like Halo…
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The Trolley Dilemma: Journey on the Tracks of Goodness
Why Your Brain Abandons Moral Math Philosophy is such a bottomless pit that the answer you give to any question involuntarily requires you to answer dozens of questions. For example, when you say that killing is wrong, you also involuntarily answer dozens of judgments. When you say that killing…
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SCRUM Method in Business Life
Why SCRUM sprints beat rigid workflows We know that authoritarian systems no longer yield results in the family, at school or in business life. While the word of parents, teachers or bosses used to be law, this system has slowly changed and new generations have begun to chart their own paths....
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Nobel Chemistry Award – 1904 – Sir William Ramsay
How William Ramsay Found the Noble Gases "In recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air, and his determination of their place in the periodic system." The fourth Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Scottish chemist Sir William Ramsay. After working as an...
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Hanami Tradition: A Fragrant Tradition
Why Japan Values Falling Cherry Blossoms Have you ever noticed the transience of life and the importance of staying in the moment by watching a flower? The details in its petals, the way it sways freely in the air, the meaning of its falling to the ground... It seems that the Japanese have…
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Invitation to Dance: A Strange Epidemic
Why 400 people danced to death In the summer of 1518, a mother in Strasbourg throws her baby in her arms into the river. She thinks she is doing a favor to herself and her baby while doing this, because the other options for the baby are to starve to death or to be eaten. The mother, who is in…
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Louis Pasteur: Father of Microbiology
How an artist invented modern medicine Louis Pasteur, a microbiologist and chemist known for discovering the rabies vaccine, was born in Dole, France, in 1822. Both his parents dreamed of making their only son a scientist, but Louis was not in a position to meet these expectations. Young Louis…
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Agility and Agile Processes in Business Life
How Agile methods prevent business collapse As we know, business life is generally an order consisting of strict rules and clear roles. At least, it has continued this way until now. Especially between 1960 and 1990, this order experienced its most rigid period. This order, which started with...
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Nobel Chemistry Award – 1903 – Svante August Arrhenius
How Salt and Spite Won a Nobel "due to the electrolytic theory of decomposition" Born in 1859 in Sweden, Svante August Arrhenius was connected to the Nobel Committee long before he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1903. In 1900, he was part of the team preparing for the establishment of…
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Is Playing a Musical Instrument Really Important for Brain Development?
How learning an instrument rewires your brain Many of us have had an interest in art at some point in our lives. Some of us have continued this interest, while others have given up on it for various reasons. Music is just one of the branches of art, and those who are involved in music know that...
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A Technique That Makes Peace with Time: Pomodoro
Why Forced Breaks Make You Faster In these days when everything is moving much faster, our efforts to catch up with time can make us feel like we have to race against time. So, is it possible to be a winner in such a race? It is possible if we change our perspective! What if we do not race…
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World War II
Hitler's Kingmaker and the Axis Collapse The history of world wars has witnessed many bloody wars, crimes against humanity, and interesting events, but there is nothing like World War II. Moreover, 25 years before this war, the whole world was saying the same thing about World War I. Up until…
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Founders of Turkish Literature: Gokturks and Karakhanids
How Turkish Warriors Became Academic Scholars We may have seen Turkish tribes and states briefly in middle school, high school, or university history classes. Asian Huns, European Huns, Karakhanids, Ghaznavids, Ottoman Empire… We remember all these states with more than one important title due to...
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The Seligman Experiment: Getting Used to Helplessness
How past failure rewires your brain Have you ever heard of the Seligman experiment? For those of you who haven't heard of it, the Seligman experiment is not the first chemistry-related experiment we think of. It's much more abstract and psychological! Let's expand a bit more on this. Do you try...
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Nobel Chemistry Award – 1902 – Hermann Emil Fischer
Why coffee and DNA share a shape "for his work on sugar and purine synthesis" The second Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1902. The prize in the field of chemistry was awarded to Hermann Emil Fischer. The German chemist was 50 years old when he received the prize. Until then, he had worked on many...
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The Fallen’s Friend: The Accidental Discovery of Viagra
How a Failed Heart Drug Became Viagra Today, we are going to learn the story of the accidental discovery of the well-known blue pill that is always taken "for a friend "! Let's get to know a medicine that can make you choose the "blue pill" without even thinking about Morpheus' offer, even if you...
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I Think Therefore I Am: Descartes and His Meditations
Why Descartes Doubted His Own Existence "I think, therefore I am," or in Latin, "cogito ergo sum," is perhaps the most famous saying in the history of philosophy, told by Descartes. But what if we tell you that many people actually misunderstand this saying? The real meaning of this saying is…
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Atatürk and His Worldview
How Atatürk Built Turkey From Scratch World history has seen many great leaders. Napoleon, Tsar Ivan of Russia, Frederick the German monarch, Mehmet the Conqueror, and many more. All of these leaders, in one way or another, have influenced both the world and their countries. Some of them won…
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World War I: The Story of a Global Catastrophe
How Wilhelm II ruined Bismarck's peace World War I was a war of such magnitude that it caused a global catastrophe. There have been many bloody wars throughout history. This was the case even before states. Even when living in tribes or small groups, people considered other groups as enemies and...
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Oppenheimer: Father of the Atomic Bomb
Oppenheimer's poisoned apple and the atomic bomb Oppenheimer is a name we come across wherever we look these days. We have always remembered him as the "Father/Inventor of the Atomic Bomb", but Oppenheimer was someone who had an important place in the world of science before his work on this...
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1901 Nobel Chemistry Award – Jacobus Henricus van’t Hoff
Why dissolved particles behave like gases The 1901 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was the first Nobel Prize in chemistry in history, and it was awarded for the following work: "for distinguished services in the discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions." The winner of...
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America’s Dark Entertainment King: P.T. Barnum
How P.T. Barnum Built American Show Business When talking about PT Barnum, we need to forget the word mediocrity. Barnum, we can say, by refusing to act in accordance with the dictionary meaning of the word "normal", created a frightening and strange circus. Having devoted his life to surprising,...
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The Asch Conformity Experiment: The Power of Herd Psychology
Why We Abandon Our Own Reality I'm sure many of us have had to conform to the majority in some situations in our social circle, keeping our own wishes and thoughts in the background. This can be interpreted as small sacrifices made in order to adapt; It can also be seen as lying in order to not…
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If You Are Unhappy, You Are Immoral: Ethics of Virtue
Why Aristotle Says Unhappiness Is Immoral If you are unhappy, you are immoral: Ethics of Virtue You think the title sounds surprising and pointless, don't you? Why would being unhappy be immoral? It's like we're giving the fallen one another a kick, right? Interestingly, a name you know well,...
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Why Do We Laugh? Discover the Secret of Laughing!
Why your brain only laughs when safe You may have noticed that we have entered a subject that may seem strange to many people. We are talking about a question that seems to have a very simple answer but has a rather tricky explanation. Maybe when we read this question, “Because we find something...
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Hindenburg Disaster: Reason for Not Using Zeppelins
How the Hindenburg killed the airship Flying airships or zeppelins, which we see only in commercials or old movies today, were quite popular for a while. Especially in the early 1900s, many zeppelins circled in the sky, and most of the transportation was provided by these zeppelins. So why isn't…
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Biological Clock: The Internal Balance Mechanism That Doesn’t Run Out of Battery
How your internal clock dictates health Let's say we went on a world tour and went through many different time zones quickly. Our perceptions are confused, we do not know whether it is day or night or whether we are hungry. Or, we are in finals week, and we stay awake until the morning because we...
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Sulfur Hexafluoride: Sound Thickening Gas (SF6)
The 3200 Year Threat Of Sulfur Hexafluoride Have you ever heard the sulfur hexafluoride? You must have seen videos of people thinning their voices by inhaling helium. Today, we will examine a gas with the opposite effect of helium. Also known as anti-helium, the name of this gas in the chemical...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
It always starts with a simple question: ok, but why?Chasing the Why is OkButWhy's conversational podcast where two voices explore science, philosophy, art, and culture by following ideas — not just explaining them. It doesn't lecture; it thinks out loud. Like two curious friends going down a rabbit hole over coffee, the conversation flows naturally and playfully until something clicks — and then comes that "oh, that's why" moment.For the endlessly curious who'd rather chat than cram.Read the articles that sparked these conversations at www.okbutwhy.org. Episodes are produced with AI-assisted voice generation.
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OkButWhy
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Chasing the Why have?
Chasing the Why currently has 135 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Chasing the Why about?
It always starts with a simple question: ok, but why?Chasing the Why is OkButWhy's conversational podcast where two voices explore science, philosophy, art, and culture by following ideas — not just explaining them. It doesn't lecture; it thinks out loud. Like two curious friends going down a...
How often does Chasing the Why release new episodes?
Chasing the Why publishes regularly with 135 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Chasing the Why?
You can listen to Chasing the Why on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Chasing the Why?
Chasing the Why is created and hosted by OkButWhy.
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