Every day, we consume a mind-boggling amount of information. We scan online news articles, sift through text messages and emails, scroll through our social-media feeds — and that’s usually before we even get out of bed in the morning. In 2009, a team of researchers found that the average American consumed about 34 gigabytes of information a day. Undoubtedly, ... Show More
Yesterday
Ian Bremmer on the Risks America Poses to the World
Over the past month, there have been two dominant stories in American foreign policy. One, of course, is the war with Iran. The other is the much-anticipated summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping of China. And I think if you look closely at both of these stories, you see ... Show More
1h 31m
Jun 2022
How the Human Brain Learned to Read
<p>The human brain doesn't come wired to read. Remarkably, recognizing, decoding, and comprehending a single word takes many different repurposed brain circuits working together. Dr Maryanne Wolf, Dir. of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA brea ... Show More
36m 2s
Dec 2024
The Books We Read in High School (Part 1)
Recently, professors at elite colleges told Atlantic writer Rose Horowitch that their students don’t read whole books anymore. They blamed cell phones, standardized tests, and extracurriculars, and they mostly agreed that the shift began in high school. In this episode of Radio A ... Show More
25m 27s
Oct 2025
Overthinking About The Algorithm
If the algorithm knows what we want before we do… who’s really in charge? This week, host Amanda Montell(@amanda_montell) is joined by linguist, creator, and internet culture observer Adam Aleksic (@etymologynerd) to spiral deep into the invisible yet all powerful force shaping o ... Show More
42m 30s
Feb 2025
188. Mind Reading 101: To Know What Your Audience Thinks, Just Ask
How to really know what your audience is thinking.To be a great communicator, you have to get out of your own head. But that’s not all, says Matt Lieberman. According to him, you also have to get into the head of someone else.“Mind-reading is this remarkable ability that humans h ... Show More
27m 50s
Mar 2025
M. Chirimuuta, "The Brain Abstracted: Simplification in the History and Philosophy of Neuroscience" (MIT Press, 2024)
This book is available open access here. The Brain Abstracted: Simplification in the History and Philosophy of Neuroscience (MIT Press, 2024), Mazviita Chirimuuta argues that the standard ways neuroscientists simplify the human brain to build models for their research purposes mi ... Show More
50m 44s