Aphantasia is the inability to see with your mind’s eye. And its discovery has made scientists ask a surprising question: What is the mind’s eye even for? (First published in 2022.)
Guests: Alice Coles, artist; Adam Zeman, cognitive neurologist at the University of Exeter Medical School; Joel Pearson, professor of neuroscience at the University of New South ... Show More
Aug 18
Nightmare at the end of the universe
Dark energy is the strange stuff that makes up the vast majority of the universe and will ultimately lead to the end of everything. Unless it doesn't exist at all. Guests: Adam Riess, astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University, and Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille, director of the ... Show More
26m 9s
Aug 13
Life in plastic — not fantastic?
Much of our modern world is made of plastic, but as more signs point to its dangers to human health, what can we even do about it? Guest: Annie Lowrey, Atlantic writer and author of I fought plastic. Plastic won. For show transcripts, go to vox.com/unxtranscripts ... Show More
29m 35s
Jul 2021
Sleep, with Dr Matthew Walker
Dr Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience, tells us about how sleep evolved and what happens when we don’t get enough.
Once you’ve mastered the basics with Instant Genius, dive deeper with Instant Genius Extra, where you’ll find longer, richer discussions about the most exciti ... Show More
31m 7s
Mar 2025
Magic, Skepticism, and Success w/ Dr. Richard Wiseman
This week, Scott is joined by Dr. Richard Wiseman, a psychologist renowned for his work on magic, illusion, deception, luck, and self-development. As the UK's only Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, Dr. Wiseman has published ov ... Show More
1h 6m
Oct 2024
Consciousness and the limits of science PART 2 | Sean Carroll, Ellen Langer, and Tamar Gendler
Mind, matter, and everything - PART TWOCan science ever solve the problem of consciousness? Do our methods look for answers in all the wrong places? Join Sean Carroll, Ellen Langer, and Tamar Gendler as they debate the possibility of science providing answers to the hardest probl ... Show More
27m 34s
Jul 2017
Lisa Feldman Barrett - The Neuroscience Behind Emotions
LISA FELDMAN BARRETT, PhD, is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Psychiatry and Radiology. She received a NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for her research on ... Show More
59m 29s
Feb 2025
Does Telepathy Exist? w/ Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell
This week, Scott is joined by Dr. Diane Hennacy Powell—an integrative medical doctor, neuropsychiatrist, and researcher of extraordinary states of consciousness. Dr. Powell's research explores the neuroscience behind psychic phenomena, telepathy, and the incredible abilities of a ... Show More
1h 2m