Inside our heads we carry around an infinite and endlessly unfolding map of the world. Navigation is one of the most ancient neural abilities we have―older than language. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation (Norton, 2022), Christopher Kemp embarks on a journey to discover the remarkable extent of what our minds can do.
Fueled by his ow ... Show More
Oct 4
Gerta Keller, "The Last Extinction: The Real Science Behind the Death of the Dinosaurs" (Diversion Books, 2025)
The story behind Dr. Gerta Keller’s world-shattering scientific discovery that dinosaur extinction was NOT caused by asteroid impact, but rather by volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula, a discovery that highlights today’s existential threat of greenhouse gasses and climate ... Show More
59m 52s
Sep 27
Mark Vellend, "Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More than We Think, from Proteins to Politics" (Princeton UP, 2025)
How the science of evolution explains how everything came to be, from bacteria and blue whales to cell phones, cities, and artificial intelligence Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More Than We Think, from Proteins to Politics (Princeton UP, 2025) reveals how evolution ... Show More
1h 5m
Sep 10
Armin W. Schulz, "Presentist Social Functionalism: Bringing Contemporary Evolutionary Biology to the Social Sciences" (Springer, 2025)
Humans live in richly normatively structured social environments: there are ways of doing things that are appropriate, and we are aware of what these ways are. For many social scientists, social institutions are sets of rules about how to act, though theories differ about what th ... Show More
1h 5m
Feb 2023
Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind
Do psychologists know anything? Psychologist Paul Bloom says yes--but not the things that you might think. Bloom discusses his book Psych with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and what the field of psychology can teach us about human intelligence, consciousness, and unhelpful instincts. T ... Show More
1h 13m
Sep 2024
Mariana Craciun, "From Skepticism to Competence: How American Psychiatrists Learn Psychotherapy" (U Chicago Press, 2024)
From Skepticism to Competence: How American Psychiatrists Learn Psychotherapy (U Chicago Press, 2024) offers an examination of how novice psychiatrists come to understand the workings of the mind - and the nature of medical expertise - as they are trained in psychotherapy. While ... Show More
1h 48m
Jan 2025
The Psychology of Serial Killers
Dr. Rachel Toles, a licensed forensic psychologist, delves into the psychology of criminals, addressing the motivations behind some of the world’s most notorious killers. Her expertise spans trauma, addiction, and impulse control, culminating in her upcoming U.S. theater tour, Th ... Show More
1h 59m
Oct 2024
E209: Wind Goodfriend: Blazing new trails--Teaching, writing, and living fearlessly
In this episode Garth interviews Wind Goodfriend from Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, IA. Discussing her personal challenges, such as undiagnosed mental health issues and her keen interest in social justice from an early age, Wind reveals how these experiences shaped her c ... Show More
1h 11m
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
Feb 2025
How academia’s ‘lone wolf’ culture is harming researcher mental health
Academia’s focus on individual achievement can be a breeding ground for poor mental health, says astrophysicist Kelly Korreck.Korreck, who experienced pandemic-related burnout while working on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, describes a competitive and ultimately damaging ‘lone wolf’ ... Show More
30m 17s
Sep 25
Busting Viral Mental Health Myths w/Joe Nucci
This week, Scott speaks with psychotherapist and writer Joe Nucci, whose work tackles the intersection of mental health, misinformation, and pop psychology. Joe has built a large following by debunking viral myths and bringing nuance to conversations that are too often oversimpli ... Show More
1h 8m