Sometimes a seemingly silly question gets stuck in your craw and you can’t shake the feeling that something big lies behind it. We are constantly collecting these kinds of questions from our listeners, not to mention piling up a storehouse of our own “stupid” questions, as we lovingly call them. And a little while back, we noticed a little cluster of questio ... Show More
Mar 13
Return of the Flesh-Eaters
If a species is horrible enough, do we have the right to kill it forever? Seventy years ago, a nightmare parasite feasted on the live flesh of warm-blooded creatures in North America: the screwworm. That is, until a young scientist named Edward F. Knipling discovered a crucial sc ... Show More
42m 29s
Jul 2023
Brains Learning About Brains
Consciousness remains a final frontier of neuroscience and psychiatry…and even immunology M2s Trent Gilbert, Olivia Jenks, PA1 Faith Anton, and M4 Sarah Costello discuss what it might mean that doctors recently discovered a group of patients, previously diagnosed with schizophren ... Show More
1h 6m
Jan 2022
A scientist's case for "woo-woo"
Sean Illing talks with David Hamilton, a scientist and former research chemist turned author, about his new book Why Woo-Woo Works, in which he offers a scientifically-grounded defense of alternative practices like meditation, crystals, and the law of attraction. They discuss the ... Show More
58m 34s
Nov 2022
Your identity is a story you tell yourself
Sean Illing talks with neuroscientist Gregory Berns, author of The Self Delusion. Berns claims that the idea of a unified, persistent self is a kind of illusion, and that we are better understood as multiple selves at different moments in time, tied together by a story — which is ... Show More
43m 8s
Sep 2022
646: Brain Damage Jokes, Flat Earth Athletes, & Butt Ogling
<p>Susie watched an old clip on YouTube of an actor acting strangely, and realized later that he was a literal psychopath. We discuss Shaquille O'Neal's insistence that the Earth is flat. Susie goes over a list of ADHD traits to see if Sarah can relate with them. We hear about a ... Show More
56m 9s
Apr 2023
From Problem to Publication
The process of “doing research” is a methodical slog AJ has finished up some interventional radiology research and gotten it published recently. He and Daniel, Jeff, and Mallory–who’ve all been down that road–walk Dave through the research process, step by step.The crew discusses ... Show More
1h 5m