A Cup of Knowledge: With Guests A.J. Jac...

Are your instincts talking you out of your own happiness? Every day, we make split-second decisions to avoid the people around us. We put in our earbuds on the train, stare at our phones, and assume the stranger next to us prefers to be left alone. Our brain tells us that reachin ... Show More

How did small index cards help a high school football team pull off a legendary 151-game winning streak? And what can a 1960s Queens housewife teach us about sticking to our goals? In this episode of Choiceology with Katy Milkman, we explore why some goals are easier to achieve t ... Show More

What happens to our judgment when we measure our success against others? How might the language we speak shape the way we save money and make health decisions? And why are our expectations about connecting with other people so often wrong? In the new season of Choiceology, host K ... Show More

<p>Why don’t rockets fly straight up? What’s really happening when you make toast? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice break down the science of making toast, boiling water, and the Brachristochrone problem. </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire ep ... Show More

<p>How literally should we take the US Constitution? What about the bible? Should we experiment with radical honesty with strangers? Those are just some of the questions human guinea pig A.J. Jacobs spends his life trying to answer. An author and journalist, he regularly immerse ... Show More

Why are the numbers 1, 2, and 3 across the top of a phone keypad but across the bottom of a calculator? It’s not random — and once you hear the logic, you’ll never look at a keypad the same way again. That’s just one of three quirky mysteries I explain at the start of this episod ... Show More

<p>Is it possible to make something invisible? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore transparency, how we measure time on Earth, and how airplanes have changed. </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free.</p><p>Thanks to our Pat ... Show More

Original broadcast date: February 19, 2021. When A.J. Jacobs set out to thank everyone who made his morning cup of coffee, he realized the chain of thank-yous was endless. This hour, Jacobs shares ideas on gratitude—and how to make it count.See pcm.adswizz.com for information abo ... Show More

<p>Why do rational people believe irrational things? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice break down media literacy, the psychology behind conspiracy theories, and how to combat our cognitive biases with author and science historian, Michael Shermer.</p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons c ... Show More

<p>What is the Magnus Effect? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly explore physics through spin, banking, and angular momentum. Why are race tracks banked? </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commerci ... Show More

<p>What is the Sun’s ecliptic? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice break down the things you thought you knew about spheres in the universe, navigating the sky, and taking spacecraft out of orbit. </p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial ... Show More

<p>What happens if Earth’s core is slowing? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice explore the spinning of Earth’s core, the physics of tire pressure, and the science of toast.</p><p>NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: <br />https: ... Show More