All Episodes

#190. The History of the Opioid Trade, Legal and Illegal

#189. One of Ancient Rome's Most Powerful Women

#188. A Memoir that Explores the Tensions Between Devotion to Parents and Building One's Own Life

#187. Attachment Theory: A Cornerstone for Understanding Our Most Intimate Relationships

#186. The Death of Her Parents at Fourteen Years Old

#185. A Humane and Effective Method for Helping Disruptive Students

#184. The Conditions and Challenges of Post-War Europe

#183. A Neuroscientist Tells the Story of his Remarkable Overcoming of Profound Childhood Adversity

#182. Alternative Approaches to the Philosophy of Ethics

#181. Decisive Breakthroughs in Renewable Energy

#180. The Power and Dangers of Digital Self-Surveillance

#179. U.S. Efforts to Influence Values and Allegiances in the Middle East

#178. An Expedition into the Brazilian Amazon to Establish the Boundaries of a Totally Isolated, Uncontacted tribe.

#177. What African-Americans Endured Throughout the History of the Mississippi Delta

#176. Exposing How Financial Corruption is Tied to Environmental Destruction, Human-Rights Abuses, and War

#175. Maintaining Love Throughout Her Husband's Dementia

#174. Conundrums of the Mind-Body Problem and the Ethical Dilemmas of Possibly Conscious A.I.

#173. Scenarios for Another Civil War in the U.S.

#172. Positive Masculine Identity, As Nurtured by the Mother of a Boy Soprano

#171. The Remarkable Contributions of Unwed, Childless Women Throughout History

#170. The Origins and Remedies for the Rural-Urban Political Divide

#169. On Being a Wilderness Fire Watcher

#168. The Power of Followers to Restrain Toxic Leaders

#167. A BBC Journalist and News Anchor on How His Two Identities, as Journalist and Jew, Inform One Another

#166. Nature's Symbiotic Relationships, Some Mutually Beneficial and Others Parasitic

#165. Why the U.S. War in Afghanistan Failed

#164. An Actor/Playwright Reflects on Fifty Years of Deep Relationships with Holocaust Survivors

#163. The Rationale and Controversies of Gender-Affirmative Health Care

#162. How Developed Countries Perpetuate Their Economic Power (and the Obstacles to Joining Their Ranks)

#161. How Women Runners Refuted the Myth of Female Fragility

#160. The Concept of Race in Latin America

#159. The History of "Rule By Law" and How Autocratic Rulers Co-opt the Concept to Consolidate Power

#158. Black Entrepreneurship with a Social Conscience

#157. Racial and Other Biases in Scientific Research, Medical Practices, and Everyday Attitudes

#156. An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence

#155. Generating a Love for Math and Math History

#154. The Hazards and History of Forever Chemicals

#153. Jessy Randall's New Poems on Women in Science, The Path of Most Resistance

#152. How Games and Game Theory Shape Our Social World

#151. The Successful Struggle to Organize the First Union at Starbucks

#150. Out of My Skull: The Psychology of Boredom

#149. A Mother and Five Children, Upwardly Striving and Homeless

#148. Nearly Dying While Giving Birth, Followed by Seven Years of Recovery

#147. Fraud in Alzheimer's Research that Underpins the Dominant Model of the Disease

#146. The History of Antisemitism in the Arab World

#145. The Case for Government Supported Housing

#144. Native Alaskan Resistance to Russian Expansion into North America

#143. How American Capitalists Harnessed the American Work Ethic

#142. The South's Long War on Black Literacy

#141, Whether Dictatorship, Democracy, or Corporation: What It Takes to Stay in Power

#140. Malcolm Before X: Family Background, Childhood, and Incarceration

#139. The Amazing New Science of Smell

#138. The History and Enduring Effects of the 2022 Uprising in Iran

#137. Science, Pseudoscience, and the Co-opting of Quantum Physics by the New Age Movement

#136. The Complicated History of Native American Identity

#135. Where Does Economic Inequality Come From?

#134. Reflecting on (an Unusally) Long Career as a Child Protective Worker

#133. Benjamin Franklin's Scientific Dimension Underpinned Everthing Else

#132. A Religious Movement that is Reshaping American Politics and is Threatening Our Democracy

#131. A Daughter of Holocaust Survivors Reflects on Intergenerational Trauma, Memory, and Listening

#130. State Laws that Promote Vigilante Intimidation

#129. An Evangelical Mega-Church that Fights Racism

#128. Space, Time, and the Universe

#127. White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy

#126. The Paranoia and Drama of the McCarthy Era

#125. Immigrant Workers Take on America's Largest Meatpacking Company

#124. Hypochondria: A Personal Story and Historical Exploration

#123. Space Archaeology: Preserving Artifacts on the Moon

#122. The Life, Times, and Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, a Founding Thinker of the Enlightenment

#121. Doing Philosophy with Children

#120. A Muslim Scholar, Who Converted to Islam, Promotes Interfaith Dialogue

#119. A History of American Inequality.

#118. Unjust Inequities in Bankruptcy Law

#117. A Cause Fraught with Peril: Exposing Abusive Medical Research

#116. What is the Universe Made of and What is its Destiny?

#115. Women and War

#114. Real World Harms Created by Advances in Artificial Intelligence

#113. A Renaissance Man Reflects on the Creative Process and the Honing of Artistic Skills

#112. Reclaiming the Vietnamese Heritage Her Refugee Father Never Shared

#111. The National Park Service, Its Mission, and How it was Co-opted by the South to Celebrate the Confederacy

#110. Research that Proved the Toxic Effects of Lead in Our Gasoline and in Our Drinking Water

#109. Finding Meaning After Catastrophic Illness or Injury

#108. The Amazing Auditory World of Sea Creatures

#107. Teaching Social Justice Issues to White Students in a Wealthy Suburb of Boston

#106. The Incredible Potential and Daunting Risks of Stem Cell Therapy

#105. How Mandela Averted Civil War in South Africa

#104. The Promise and Shortcomings of Massive Open Online Courses

#103. Cognitive Biases that are Amplified by Social Media

#102. How Bayesian Statistics Underpins Both Scientific Prediction and Everyday Functioning

#101. Schadenfreude (Pleasure From Someone Else's Misfortune)

#100. What Life Was Like in the Prehistoric Past

#99. Ethical Dilemmas of Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing

#98. Re-examining the Evidence for the Genetic Basis of Mental Illness

#97. How to Best Help the Most Vulnerable Children? Start Before They're Even Born!

#96. Compassionate Care for a Devastating Disease

#95. The Amazing Grit and Determination of the First Women Doctors

#94. Can Trauma Be Inherited?

#93. An Evolutionary Perspective on Mental Illness and Human Suffering

#92. The Trailblazers of the Dance Theatre of Harlem

#91. The Corporatization of American Health Care

#90. Symbiotic Relationships with Bacteria

#89. The History and Continued Threats of White Supremacist Terrorism

#88. The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America

#87. Hard Choices that the Green Revolution Poses

86. How Religious Practice Creates Faith, Rather than the Other Way Around

#85. The History of Myanmar (Burma)

#84. Reflections of a Human Rights Leader

#83. Unseen, Unheard, Yet a Clear Sense of Another’s Presence

#82. Why Is It So Difficult to Promote Social Mobility and Equality of Opportunity?

#81. The Neurology of Memory in the Continuity of Experience and Personal Identity

#80. Political Dynamics of the Drug Cartels of Mexico

#79. A Long-Neglected Form of Government with the Potential to Revitalize Democracy

#78. Life-Affirming Ritual and Poetry for Believers and Skeptics Alike

#77. The Challenges of Facilitating Conflict Resolution

#76. The History of the Theory of Evolution

#75. Antisemitism, Clear and Not-So-Clear

#74. The Historical and Intellectual Roots of our Current Political Crisis

#73. Media Literacy for Older Children

#72. Media Literacy for Young Children

#71. Disgust, the Emotion of Aversion

#70. A Close Look at the Brief History of East Germany

#69. Genes Are Only One Part of the Story

#68. The Communal Nature of Knowledge

#67. Ecologist Carl Safina on his Relationship with an Owl

#66. A Window into the History of U.S.-Latin American Relations

#65. How Evolution Gave Us Free Will (the Real Thing, Not an Illusion)

#64. How Terrorism Ends

#63. Period. End of Sentence: A New Chapter in the Fight for Menstrual Justice

#62. A Photographer and Poet of Volcanoes

#61. Emerging Uses of A.I. for Social Control and Weapon Systems

#60. How Powerful People Get Away With It

#59. The Neuroscience of Time

#58. The Science and Meaning of Touch

#57. The Neurology of Individual Differences

#56. Philosophical Examination of Concepts in Psychology and Psychiatry

#55. How to Best Encourage Individual Action on Climate Change

#55. Creative Approaches to Asynchronous Online Learning

#54. Speaking Truth to Power: Physicians for Human Rights

#53. The Assumptions Upon Which Science Rests

#52. The Spanish Conquest of Mexico

#51. An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom

#50. Culture and Justice Among the Maasai of Tanzania

#49. How the Brain Processes Pain... and its Relief

#48. The Challenges of Being a Single Woman in India

#47. A Child of Holocaust Survivors

#46. Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Making of Gender Equality Law

#45. Bizarre, Counter-Intuitive, and Seemingly Impossible, Yet True: Quantum Physics

#44. Breaking Out of the Underclass in India

#43. The Complexity of Gender Differences

#42. The History and Science of Dreaming

#41. The Philosopher Who Tried to Save (Secular) Morality

#40. Alabama Sues the New York Times for Reporting on Racism and Civil Rights Protests in the Early 1960s

#39. A Successful Recovery from Dissociative Identity Disorder (D.I.D.)

#38. Black Holes, the Big Bang, and Intriguing New Data from the James Webb Space Telescope

#37. A V.A. Surgeon Channels His Richly Varied Life Experiences Into Community Activism

#36. The People’s Hospital: Better and Less Costly Medical Care, Putting Patients’ Needs Above Profit

#35. Past Cataclysmic Changes in Climate Across the World Since its Beginning, with Lessons for Today

#34. The Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy

#33. On Climbing Everest and Denali

#32. Values in Science? You Bet!

#31. The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism

#30. The History of the Right to Privacy

#29. The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market

#28. On the Receiving End of (Six!) Psychiatric Misdiagnoses

#27. Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began

#26. Sixty-Six Years of Figuring Out How the Brain Makes a Mind

#25. How Did Life Originate on Earth?

#24. The Demands of Classical Violin, Time Distortion within Performance Anxiety, and the Wonder of Musical Improvisation

#23. Aztec History and Culture Before the Spanish Conquest

#22. Common Misconceptions About the Relationship Between Sleep and Mental Health

#21. Two Identities: A Physicist-Administrator at Los Alamos and Also a Rabbi

#20. The Awesome Benefits and Potential Dangers of Recent Advances in Gene-Editing Technology

#19. The High-Stakes Work of a Pediatric Neurosurgeon

#18. Land Conservancy in the Private Sector: Values and Process

#17. Human Waste: Underappreciated Treasure for Energy Production, Water Reclamation, Medical Interventions, and the Tracking of Epidemics

#16. The Transition of Hong Kong to Chinese Rule

#15. Ethical Complexities in Assisted Dying

#14. A Neuroscientist Challenges the Prevailing Model of Physiological Regulation

#13. Human-Wildlife Conflict: Ill-Fated Attempts at Control vs. Cultivating an Attitude of Coexistence

#12. Congressman Jamie Raskin’s Inspiring Response to Two Unthinkable, Juxtaposed Traumas: The Insurrection of January 6th, the Day after Burying His Beloved Son

#11. How Does the Brain Enable Us To Perceive, Make Sense Of, and Learn From Sound?

#10. Coming Soon(ish): Human Hibernation!

#9. An Audacious Vehicle for Fostering Math Appreciation and Fascination

#8. The Momentous Lawsuit that Determined Who Owns Your DNA

#7. Civilization and Water

#6. How Placebo Effects Complicate Medicine

#5. Early Women Scientists: Their History and a Poem for Each

#4. Race Relations in Post-Apartheid South Africa

#3. Recently Disclosed Vatican Records about Pius XII, the Pope During WWII

#2. A Promising Approach to Schizophrenia

#1. The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe