The path to discovery is paved with bureaucracy. Einstein was a patent clerk when he first proposed his famous equation that explained our universe…something that could never happen today. This week, we’re calling out the slow, tangled mess that is academic science. Why do some of the best ideas never leave a lab notebook? Why are 20-somethings with world-ch ... Show More
Aug 20
How A Neurologist Thinks about The Self, ft. Masud Husain
Dave's got a brain — he's pretty sure, anyway, since the MRI never mentioned otherwise — and this week he, with M3 Gizzy Lundquist and M2s Akshaj Joshi and Isa Perez-Sandi sit down with University of Oxford neurologist Masud Husain to talk about what happens when that brain stops ... Show More
59m 55s
Nov 2021
12. Where Do All the Bad Ideas Go?
Ideas are currency. This couldn't be more true in academia, where it's the job of researchers to think of questions and, hopefully, find answers. Bapu talks with economists Steve Levitt and Emily Oster about how they come up with ideas for studies, why most never make it off the ... Show More
34m 3s
Jul 2022
178. I Didn’t Even Know “Research” Was a Thing!
<p>For some students, graduate schools is a foregone conclusion. Perhaps they’ve wanted to ‘be a scientist’ since they were nine, and along the way, they learned that a PhD is a stepping stone on that path. Or perhaps they knew their career prospects with a Bachelor’s degree were ... Show More
50m 1s
Jan 2024
#438 | Bad Science | When Scientists Got It Wrong
Millions worldwide dedicate their lives to research, striving for medical breakthroughs and enhancing our understanding of the human body. But occasionally, they make mistakes. In this episode, we'll explore three instances where scientific breakthroughs were announced but later ... Show More
19m 20s
Oct 2021
Research Bias: Sort It Out, Science
<p>There’s a sticky issue scientists have to deal with – science is carried out by humans. We humans have flaws (and how) and they can end up in our work. Fortunately, science is waking up to research bias. In the meantime, here’s what to look out for.</p><p> </p> Learn more abou ... Show More
53m 2s
Apr 2021
Time Travel Part 4 - Feeling Bad about our Accomplishments
On this episode we finally do away with the idea of the luminiferous aether, and get to the biggest name in all of Science, Albert Einstein. What does Relativity mean, in the context of the aether, electromagnetism, and the studies of lights motion? What does it mean for time? Le ... Show More
52m 11s